DST, Yuri Milner’s Russian investment firm, has decided to join a USD 100 million investment round in AirBnB. The round, led by Andreessen Horowitz, is considered to be a USD 1 billion plus valuation. AirBnB (www.airbnb.com) AirBnB is an online travel agency that offers overnight stays in apartments and homes, opposed to hotels, around the [...]

After a three year investment in Mail.ru Group, Elbrus capital has elected to divest its shares in the Russian Internet company formerly known as Digital Sky Technologies. Earlier this year Digital Sky changed its name to reflect its popular brand Mail.ru, in anticipation of an IPO on the London Stock Exchange. Elbrus Capital first invested [...]

Anticipating the expected November IPO of Mail.ru Group on the London Exchange, the company has been valued by book runners near USD $5 billion. VTB Capital goes slightly higher at USD $5.5 billion. Mail.ru Group, which until recently was known as Digital Sky Technologies, plans to float 10%-15% of its shares during the course of [...]

In anticipation of an October 2010 IPO, Russian internet investor Digital Sky Technologies has changed its name to Mail.ru Group. The name change takes advantage of the well-known reputation of Mail.ru in Russia, ahead of the London share sale which could generate as much as USD 6 billion. Mail.ru Group’s investment arm, DST Global, has [...]

Russia’s Digital Sky Technologies (DST) has taken complete ownership of Odnoklassniki.ru, acquiring the remaining 20% in the social networking site it did not already own. The stake was acquired from Albert Popkov, the site’s founder. Estimates put the value of the transaction anywhere between USD $14 million and USD $28 million. The deal, which has [...]

South Africa’s Naspers Limited has announced an agreement to acquire a 28.7% stake in Digital Sky Technologies (DST) through a combination of two strategic investments. Through subsidiary Myriad International Holdings, Naspers will give DST its current 39.9% stake in Mail.ru as well as invest USD $388 million in cash. Other Mail.ru minority investors will also [...]

After almost four months of negotiations with AOL, Digital Sky Technologies announced on 28 April they have reached a deal with the online to giant acquire ICQ for USD 187.5 million. As the leader in instant messaging in Russia, ICQ represents an opportunity for DST to strengthen its market position by providing a large new [...]

Recent speculation of Digital Sky Technologies’ (DST) interest in an investment with Groupon have been realized as the company announced it has led the fourth round of funding for the U.S.-based collective shopping operation. The total amount raised in the round was USD 135 million, with DST contributing the lion’s share. The remainder was provided [...]

American “deal-of-the-day” retailer, Groupon, may be on the verge of a new round of funding based on a valuation estimated to be near USD 1.35 billion. Late last year the company raised USD 30 million, on a valuation of USD 250 million, from New Enterprise Associates and Accel Partners. A lead investor for the new [...]

Looking to complete the sale of ICQ and put it behind them, AOL has accepted the bids of a limited number potential buyers for the pioneer internet chat service. Though at least seven legitimate offers came in, AOL has narrowed the list of buyers to Russia’s Digital Sky Technologies and ProfMedia, China’s Tencent, and possibly [...]

Nival Network, the Russian online social gaming company, has scored a big round of financing which raises the company’s post-money valuation to USD 32 million. As part of the deal previous investor 1C will contribute another USD 1 million, raising its stake to 26.56%; Digital Sky Technologies (DST) will invest USD 4 million for a 12.5% stake; [...]

Looking for the next big internet wave to ride, Digital Sky Technologies (DST) is apparently looking at the website of a 17 year-old student from Moscow. Andrey Ternovskiy’s Chatroulette.com is a video chat site whose daily usage is nearly 1.5 million users, an audience that has captured the attention of DST and other potential investors [...]

Mail.ru co-owners Digital Sky Technologies (DST) and Naspers appear to be engaged in talks that could result in a merger of the two companies’ social networking holdings in Poland. Russian-based DST owns a 75% stake in Nasza-Klasa.pl while the South African-based Naspers owns the Gadu Gadu instant messaging service. Naspers is believed to be looking [...]

Nival Network, the Russian online gaming company owned by Nival Group, has secured significant venture capital financing which is expected to be dedicated to their newest project, Prime World. The USD 5 million deal was reached with unknown investors who see good potential in the Russian online gaming market, an industry that has received hundreds [...]

Fresh from a spin-off from Time Warner, AOL’s Tim Armstrong is looking to sell the ICQ instant-messaging service for a possible USD 200 million to USD 300 million. Digital Sky Technologies, the global internet holding company, is currently engaged in negotiations with AOL though they are still in the early stages. Mirabilis, the parent company [...]

Russia’s leading internet portal, Mail.ru, has announced plans to acquire online gaming giant Astrum Online and merge the two companies. Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) recently gave Naspers, which owns a 43% stake in Mail.ru, the go-ahead to acquire between 38% and 100% of Astrum from majority shareholder Digital Sky Technologies. It’s unclear what the [...]

Russian internet investor Digital Sky Technologies (DST) has agreed to a deal enabling it to completely divest itself from Russia’s Kinopoisk.ru web portal. DST has agreed to sell its 40% share the popular movie information site to French internet concern, AlloCiné. The remaining 60% will remain with Kinopoisk’s founders, Vitaly Tatsiy and Dimitri Sukhanov. Though [...]

Digital Sky Technologies acquired Russian internet portal Mail.ru in early 2009 and is now poised to merge it with another web giant, Astrum Online Entertainment. Astrum, best known for its Legend and Allods online role-playing games, has been working with DST since the spring to promote the new Legacy of the Dragons game. Financial details [...]

Yuri Milner, founding partner and CEO of Digital Sky Technologies (DST), has recently put forth the possibility of his company offering an IPO within the next three years. Specific dates have not been mentioned since market conditions will play a big role in the decision when the time comes. The company was recently valued at roughly [...]

Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov has increased his stake in Digital Sky Technologies (DST), through a purchase of half of Renaissance Partners’ 4% stake. Renaissance Partners, part of the international investment firm Renaissance Group, has been a shareholder in DST since 2007. Details of the purchase have not been released. The purchase increases Usmanov’s stake from [...]