The Google of Russia is Yandex, and it is preparing for an IPO on Nasdaq in the fall with the hopes of raising $1.5 billion to $2 billion, reports Reuters. That would give the company a $5 billion valuation. Yandex was founded 15 years ago and the last funding I can find was only $5.3 million back in 2000, according to Quintura CEO Yakov Sadchikov (Quintura is a smaller search engine also based in Russia). If that is all the company raised, it will be a huge payday for investors ru-Net Holdings, Baring Vostok Capital Partners, and Tiger Technologies.
Yandex has a bigger search market share in Russia than Google (it is the biggest site in Russia overall). And in Europe it is the No. 3 search engine, ahead of Yahoo and Microsoft. Globally, it is in the top 10.
Its revenues, though, are not that large, considering its ranking. In 2007 it reported only $167 million in revenues, which was a 130 percent increase from 2006. Founders Arkady Volozh (CEO) and Ilya Segalovich (CTO) still run the company.
Yandex’s valuation of $5 billion would imply a value of Quintura of over $50 million, based on a number of searches in June
Russian market is very specific. Search is not everything. Especially additional services like email, news, directory, web counter, rankings, dating services, community etc seem to be important as well. It is not only about finding things, mainly because the russian internet is not that large in terms of number of websites and I would assume 70% of all traffic is collected by the big websites. The larger the russian net will become, the higher the importance of a good search technology.
** http://www.speed.io – Innovative DSL broadband speedtest **
Wow, I guess as Russia, India and China are becoming bigger in tech there they’ll have the markets to become strong competitors to Silicon Valley.
Peter
do you follow me?: Peter Urban @ Twitter
In Russia, Internet searches you.
Sorry, couldn’t help myself.
good to see yandex finally been recognised.
I like their approach and they actually give alot back to the community unlike some other companies. Since the beginning Yandex developers and Tech chiefs have always been open about their tech and many of the tweaks in their algo’s
Congrats to the Yandex guys for all the years of hard work
Yakov, no it would not. Unlike Quintura, Yandex owns its own search and monetization.
For sure, Quintura does own its search and monetization. See it, for instance, in the right sidebar on AltSearchEngines.com (http://altsearchengines.com)
Yakov, I just checked, Quintura is showing Yandex Direct ads.
As for search, I may be wrong — and I apologize if I am — but there was a search engine focusing on UI innovation. Isn’t it Quintura? I remember it was definitely piggybacking on Yandex, which may no longer be the case. I admit I lost sight of this market for a while, since not much seemed to be happening there.
But having your own ad platform is a pretty big deal, wouldn’t you say?
I think its a good thing for them to do the IPO now. That site looks horrible, so their projections probably tell them that Google will take over their market soon so they want to cash out before that happens
> That site looks horrible
http://ya.ru – an alternative home page, which existed long before Google was even launched
Russians have a huge credibility problem, not to mention rampanr corruption. Anyone participating in the ipo is simply playing ‘______ Roulette”…
Russians have a huge credibility problem, not to mention rampant corruption. Anyone participating in the ipo is simply playing ‘______ Roulette”…
yes we know u are anti-russian.
“nemrut” – in this case higher risks=higher returns
It sounds like no one has put it together that this is an “insiders dream.” Russian oil tycoons, politicians and mafia are all getting in to “loot the system.”
I’m glad to see that they’re listing on NASDAQ. (Maybe there is no direct translation for Sarbanes-Oxley). This is definitely a better outcome than being acquired by Gazprom.
Great news for Yandex and Russia, where only web gives independent information.
Are you shitting me? This ugly piece of crap with no internationalization is the #3 search engine in Europe? How many Russians are there (falling birthrates, 46 year male life expectancy and all) that this can even be true.
Seriously Arrington, you’ve been duped. Typical.
higher returns is not good
Yakov, now tell us what “Powered by Yahoo XML” does at the bottom of your searches, mate?
As far as Yandex goes, it’s a dead horse and will loose to Google.
Back in 2000 I was still using Yahoo until someone told me about Google. I see the same trend in Russia – people use Yandex until they discover Google.
To me Yandex search results sucks. Sorry.
Another indicator is the trend in what SEOs are saying.
A year ago when I tried to get into the Russian market very few SEOs had any idea of how to target Google. Now they put Google at the same level or above Yandex.
Only yesterday I’ve found a few JS injections in some of my old, non-updated blogs. It’s interesting you’re writing this the same day they appeared on those blogs. The JS injection redirected the visitor from my blogs’ homepages to Yandex, so, if this is how they’re doing business and secure traffic levels…
@20 I suggest checking Quintura in-site search on AltSearchEngines.com
That’s an example of what I am talking about when I refer to Quintura’s own search..
Yakov. go use that widget on AltSearchEngines yourself! It only shows keywords and not a single search result for keywords shown on the same page.
)
it’s JavaScript widget, you will likely need to adjust Norton (or other) internet security settings on your computer to see results loaded..
Hey Michael,
thanks for the effort but the service really cuts out a lot.Since you invest the time to attend a lot of events, why not get a leg up above everyone else in terms of mobile web broadcasting with a little investment into this http://www.grou..._ig2500_001.htm
You can have your TC RV parked outside any event and provide a superb service to your readers.
Peter
do you follow me @ http://twitter.com/peterurban
Arthur K wrote:
>> Russian market is very specific.
Actually, every market is specific
Yandex is the legitimate search leader. Google isnt even #2, it’s rambler.ru which was very much a Yahoo but is in the middle of transforming into a bunch of search verticals. As I understand it, the Russian economy makes it pretty hard for a startup to move forward without investment from big companies, because of limited access to credit, and a bureaucracy that requires connections to navigate.
I think this could turn out to be a great competitive landscape for everyone. If Yandex can gain share worldwide, and branch into SEM/SEO like all the other 3 big players, it will create a healthier market and more challenges for existing technologies. Should be interesting to see how such new and emerging Search Engines from other parts of the world shape up the overall Search Engine Marketing Industry in the next few years.
PS: It would be nice if people could keep their emotional, political, and personal views about countries to themselves on such forums.
>> Alex Cristache
>> Only yesterday I’ve found a few JS injections
Alex, can you please provide me a link?
Thank you, Ilya
@iseg
At this time, every malicious piece of code has been removed from all pages and a clean backup has been restored, so unfortunately I cannot provide you with a live sample.
Instead, I remember the name of the JS function used in the injection. Run a Google search for this one (with quotes): “function iban(x)”.
I couldn’t see any URL in it, as it was probably encripted in that number sequence, but after 2-3 seconds it redirected the browser to Yandex’s search.
Hope it helps!
About only $5 mln of investment in Яndex – it’s true. Voloz himself told about it for my colleague (http://www.vedo...07/12/18/138252). It was money from ru-Net Holdings and BVCP
for 35,7% of company. There were some deals between shareholders then (in 2004-2006). And they say Tiger Technologies the first who wants IPO and sell shares. Also Tiger wants sell shares in Mail.ru (second e-portal in Russia). There are some news about IPO Mail.ru too last week.
2 Arthur K
You are kidding. The time when Russian Internet was so small, that people didn’t need good search engine, ended 8-10 years ago
And as at any other market, search and context ad is not the only way to monetize and to make money on the Web – but this is the most evident way and the largest single segment of the market. And Yandex has the largest revenue in Russian Internet
First of all, please add “according to the [persistent] rumors”, as there is no official information from the company itself.
Second, it is worth mentioning that Russia is one of those few places in the world, where traditional internet leaders from the West are having a really hard time. The local companies outcompete the best of the very best on multiple fronts. So, please do not be surprised if you see more players from Russia to come.
With all due respect,
TIKR.ru
Attn: Beneficiary,We saw your email ( in the Central Computer among the list of unpaid contractors,inheritance next of kin and lotto beneficiaries that was originated from Africa, Europe, Asia Plus Middle east, Americans ) among the list of individuals and companies that your unpaid fund has been located to the HSBC BANK LONDON BRANCH, UNITED KINGDOM.Your email appeared among the beneficiaries, who will receive a part-payment of your contractual sum and has been approved already for months.You are requested to get back to me for more direction and instruction on how to receive your fund.However, we received an email from one Mr. Virgle Lee Samples who told us that he is your next of kin and that you died in a car accident last week. He has also submitted his account for us to transfer the fund to him including his International passport, we want to hear from you before we can make the transfer to confirm if you are dead or not.Note you are to Re-confirm this form below for your claim: FULL NAME.:, ADDRESS:, DATE OF BIRTH:, MARITAL STATUS:, SEX:, AGE:NATIONALITY:,OCCUPATION:,TELEPHONE:,PRIVATE EMAIL:,DATE:,FAX. Once again, I apologize to you on behalf Of IMF (International Monetary Fund) for failure to pay your funds in time, which according to records in the system had been long overdue. Yours Sincerely, Mr. Ralph Brimley
Russian market is very specific. Search is not everything. Especially additional services like email, news, directory, web counter, rankings, dating services, community etc seem to be important as well. It is not only about finding things, mainly because the russian internet is not that large in terms of number of websites and I would assume 70% of all traffic is collected by the big websites. The larger the russian net will become, the higher the importance of a good search technology.