people in motion

people in motion

lundi 29 avril 2013

Eurobonds et Eurosceptiques

L'Allemagne devrait elle sortir de l'Euro ?

Si nous partageons quasi sans réserve son analyse au plan économique, il nous semble omettre sur le plan politique et social que les humains ne sont pas des abstractions, ce sont des êtres vivants, pas toujours intelligents, plutot « sheople », dociles, mais jusqu’à un certain point . Dans l’analyse il faut réintroduire l’humain, la société, la société civile, l’effort, le sang, les larmes, bref il faut remettre du concret.

Le réponse de  Hans Werner Sinn Should Germany Exit the Euro? est comme à l’accoutumée remarquable. Il démystifie les propositions de Soros  de défendre les eurobonds. La logique y règne en maitre en montrant que les eurobonds sont la solution des debtocrates qui veulent faire leur plein sur le dos des peuples. 
Il trace l’articulation entre la crise financière et les problèmes économiques sous-jacents comme la sous compétitivité des pays du sud et de la France. Car l’essentiel est là. Faire l’économie d’une restructuration économique ne permet que de gagner du temps, les problèmes restent intacts, mieux ils s’enracinent , et Sinn le montre bien. 
Il nous fournit le chiffre colossal déjà consenti :  1,2 trillions ont été consentis à ce jour. 
Là ou Hans Werner Sinn pêche, c’est lorsqu’il aborde la politique. Il ne considère pas que les demandes des eurosceptiques doivent être prises en compte, il faut les balayer, il faut faire contre elles, contre la volonté, finalement, des peuples. Cela le conduit à prendre ses désirs pour des réalités :  Le redressement par l’austérité et la dévaluation interne sont possibles. Il néglige la politique et donc le social, ce qui est une faiblesse considérable. 
De la même façon , il écarte la possibilité que l’Allemagne sorte de l’euro, non en se situant au niveau économique , mais en se situant au niveau de la politique étrangère, la frontière avec la France, C’est une pirouette! Ce n’est pas parce que le mythe de la réconciliation forcée entre la France et l’Allemagne a la vie dure qu’il faut y souscrire. Le peuple Français ne se rapproche pas du peuple Allemand, il s’en écarte , mieux , l’animosité se développe des deux cotés du Rhin. L’euro forcé, l’euro à tout prix, dresse les peuples les uns contre les autres , il ne les rapproche pas. Donc l’argument de Sinn ne résiste pas à l’analyse. 

see also Germany is not profiting from the eurozone
Auditer la dette !
Il y a une voie que Sinn n’a pas encore explorée dans ses réflexions, c’est celle de la restructuration européenne concertée des dettes et des créances. C’est la seule voie qui permet de traiter le passé,. de libérer l’avenir, de libérer les énergies , de s’attaquer au problèmes conjoints de la compétitivité et de l’investissement. 
On ne peut à la fois solder les comptes du passé et  préparer l’avenir, Il faut choisir. Les ressources sont rares, si on les consacre à payer des dettes et solvabiliser des créances fictives, on ne peut en même temps avoir les capitaux pour investir.  Le refus de restructurer les dettes condamne à plus de 10 ans de régression. 
La restructuration concertée des dettes serait la contrepartie qu’il faudrait donner aux peuples pour qu’ils acceptent l’effort de la productivité, de la mise à plat des systèmes sociaux. Elle serait la pierre angulaire d’un grand projet  qui redonnerait un avenir à l’Europe et un sens aux efforts demandés aux citoyens.
Si nous partageons quasi sans réserve son analyse au plan économique, il nous semble omettre sur le plan politique et social que les humains ne sont pas des abstractions, ce sont des êtres vivants, pas toujours intelligents, plutot « sheople », dociles, mais jusqu’à un certain point . Dans l’analyse il faut réintroduire l’humain, la société, la société civile, l’effort, le sang, les larmes, bref il faut remettre du concret.
On ne peut raisonner en stricte économie car l’économie c’est bon en rythme de croisière, de beau temps. Derrière l’économie, ce qui se dissimule et n’apparait que dans les périodes de crise et de dislocation , c’est la force, la violence.
Notre idée est que nous approchons d’une de ces périodes. Ce ne sera pas linéaire, progressif comme le pensent les politiques et les économistes, non, ce sera en rupture. En tout ou rien. Un jour on supporte,  les idiots croient à la linéarité et puis le lendemain, c’est le fétu de paille sur le dos du chameau, la goutte qui fait déborder le vase et les réactions non linéaires, les réactions de foule s’enclenchent. C’est cela la vie, c’est cela l’humain… Bien sûr cela se situe en dehors de la capacité d’entendement des  Bernanke , des Enanistes, des socialistes de la sociale démo . Et c’est pour cela que la crise précisément a éclaté en 2008, la non linéarité, les phénomènes de foule.
Quand c’est trop, c’est trop.

sources BB

jeudi 25 avril 2013

Russian Evolution


A Russian Rebound

Our Russia-based investment correspondent shares some of his personal insights on the country.

see also Doing Business in Russia and Russian Evolution
                Emerging Chronicle : Russia   

Moscow is finally seeing the sort of multiplication of small service businesses seen in Eastern Europe two decades ago (there are a good 30 lower/mid-market Sushi places within walking distance of our Kurskaya apartment – as opposed to zero a decade ago). 

After more than a decade of trying, the merged RTS/MICEX will finally allow the direct participation of those foreign investors not yet scared off by the abuse of minority shareholders.

Russia is the world’s biggest exporter of natural gas and the second-biggest exporter of oil. It is also the third-largest exporter of steel and primary aluminum. However, it was one of the hardest-hit countries during the recent global economic crisis, largely due to its huge dependence on commodity prices. Oil prices plummeted and rating agencies lowered their credit ratings on several Russian banks, while the country’s GDP shrunk by 7.9% in 2009 and stock prices plunged significantly from their peak. The government had to recapitalize the banking system and bail out several large state companies, thus putting further pressure on its own finances.

Many companies are still reeling from the aftermath. During the thriving years of economic growth, we saw many start-up companies emerge, flourishing in a very favorable environment. However, tested in challenging times, some companies’ business models turned out not to be viable and failed to see them through.

However, we have already seen a sharp recovery for Russia’s GDP growth recently when commodity prices stabilized. Russian oil supply experienced significant growth in past years.

Skolkovo, a high-tech hub

Russia’s avenue for growth is plentiful. A key government priority is to diversify into technology. The Russian government earmarked 170 billion rubles (5.5 billion U.S. dollars) for the establishment of Skolkovo, a high-tech hub outside Moscow and Russia’s answer to Silicon Valley. Several US, EU and Asian technology companies will be taking part in the Skolkovo project, with one American multinational pumping in US$1 billion worth of investment. This project is enjoying strong governmental support, which could create a strong platform, take the budding tech industry to a new level, and bring in fresh state, institutional and private investments in a sector that seems immensely promising.


We have also seen the government take a number of initiatives to attract investors such as abolishing capital gains tax on long-term direct investments. However, significant comfort for foreign investors can only be achieved by reducing state involvement in businesses. Corruption is still prevalent and we believe the government should create clear rules to help protect private businesses. 

While Russia diversifies and integrates with manufacturing and services, it is imperative to bear in mind that with more global industrialization, natural resources demands are increasing dramatically. It is challenging for a country so abundant and reliant on oil and natural gas for revenue to reduce this dependency. For oil and gas companies to weather economic storms and stay ahead of its competitors, they should have a strong exploration base, professional operations and low production costs. For instance, one such company is one of the world’s largest and lowest-cost producers of nickel and palladium as well as a leading producer of platinum and copper. It also produces various by-products such as cobalt, rhodium, silver, gold and many others. Its resource base is well over fifty years ahead, and it enjoys great demand for its products. Such companies that have outstanding business models could garner a lot of credibility for Russian investments.



Doing business in Russia is getting easier

International investors still have little interest in Russia. Many seem to have failed to notice that the country is currently implementing an ambitious reform agenda, which is to make doing business much easier.

We have received lots of feedback after having had the privilege of talking to many of our correspondents and clients. All are often at least just as passionate about and interested in investments  as we are. It was clear that many of them are interested in lowering their exposure to bonds and increasing their proportion of share investments. Except for Russia, which is constantly front and centre in the majority of the questions we are asked, the number of questions concerning the recovery in China has increased significantly. Many clients are interested in China, but have been waiting to see a turnaround in GDP figures, which we recently saw quarter-on-quarter.


One big reason for the success of the Turkish stock market is the country's effective inflation control policy and its focus on bringing down the country's interest rates to more manageable levels. The effect this has on the economy, which previously had been living under hyperinflation, is enormous.

Russia is in a similar situation with regard to interest rates and inflation control, and can also boast of record-low unemployment. In spite of that, interest from international investors is scant. The questions that come up repeatedly concern corruption and political instability. What many people failed to notice is that President Putin campaigned on an ambitious reform agenda. One of the most measurable goals was that he wanted to move Russia from no. 120 to no. 20 on the World Bank's ease of doing business index. Russia already took a small step up to no. 112 in the first year. We are convinced that Russia, similarly to other former Soviet republics, has the ability to move far up on the list. For example, the former Soviet republic of Georgia is ranked no. 9.

Speaking of the success of former Soviet republics, it's hard to overlook the Baltic States. We still think there’s a special feeling when paying with euros in Estonia, and soon people will be able to use the euro in the rest of the Baltic states too, with Latvia aiming to convert to the Euro in January 2014 and Lithuania in January 2015. We'll already know how things look for Latvia this summer, which is when it will be decided whether the Latvians fulfil the criteria. If they do, it would mark an incredible recovery from the 2008–2009 crisis!

Russian equity and bond investors – worlds apart
The equity market is putting an almost historically large discount on the Russian market, whereas bond investors are valuing Russia at an all-time high. This discrepancy does not only hold for comparison with other emerging markets, but also with Russia’s own history
It is difficult to see how both groups of investors can be right, as the most commonly cited problem in Russia is related to governance in a broad sense, which should have an impact on valuations of equities as well as sovereign bonds.
Let’s begin by taking a look at the valuation discrepancies, starting with the spread between Russian bonds and equities over time. The spread between the implied 10-year bond yield and the equity earnings yield used to be around 5%, and stayed well below 10% before the global financial crisis. But it has widened to almost 20% today.
Russian bonds vs. Russian equities



Source: Bloomberg
The trend is the same when studying equities alone. The Russian discount on the global emerging markets (GEM) average has risen to an all-time high of 64%, which is almost twice as high as the 10-year average. Although this long-term data may not be fully robust (due to a sharp revision in the trailing P/E estimates), the trend is clear. Russian equities are also roughly 50% cheaper today than their own 10-year average.

Russian equities vs. global emerging markets equities (trailing P/E)
Source: Bloomberg, East Capital

The equity market has been volatile over the years, but was nevertheless one of the best markets in the world during the 2000s. Whereas it was the bond market that failed back in 1998. So before answering who’s right and who’s wrong, it is relevant to discuss if bond investors are too naive and equity investors too sceptical of Russia.
There is a prevailing view among equity investors that there is a deep governance deficit in Russia, in the public (politics) as well as in the private (corporate governance) sector. Anecdotal evidence – based on discussions with a large number of investors – suggests that equity investors have a problem with corruption, corporate governance and the cost of doing business in Russia. Put differently, they have the same view of the Russian market as the Economist magazine, where next to nothing in Putin’s Russia is good. The resilient economy and excellent public finances are only a function of high oil prices – the transformed monetary policy and strong consumption trend are conveniently overlooked – whereas any attempts to fight corruption and improve governance are either ignored or dismissed as dead on arrival or destabilising. It is rarely mentioned that Russia already scores better than both Brazil and India in the World Bank’s Doing Business Survey, and that Putin has made it a goal of his third term to move from place 120 in 2012 to 20 by 2018. Instead, equity investors focus on Pussy Riot and dismiss Russia as a prefix democracy, while happily investing in China, which is not a democracy by any standards.
Equity investors also seem to have missed the fact that Russia joined the WTO last year and has pushed through a series of financial market reforms over the past year. More surprisingly, they seem to have ignored how dividend payments have increased substantially and that all listed companies now must use Western accounting standards. These used to be discount factors in Russia, and suggest that the discount on its own historical average should have decreased rather than increased. And equity investors do not seem willing to give Russia the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the fight against corruption. Or they could be simply unaware, as most of the Western press has failed to report on the anti-corruption drive that started last autumn with the firing of Defence Minister Serdyokov. The news outlets that were very quick to report on the legislative changes that made life difficult for the opposition last summer seem more hesitant to report the new legislation that is limiting the reach for corrupt officials.
A certain dose of scepticism is not necessarily a bad thing, but it sometimes seems that equity investors are overly emotional when it comes to Russia. It is probably fair to say that much of the Western establishment has a problem with Putin’s Russia, and this is increasingly reflected in public opinion as well.
The latest survey from Pew Global suggests a dramatic shift in opinion towards Russia over the past year. The percentage of respondents with favourable views of Russia dropped by almost 14 percentage points on average in the UK, US, France and Germany, while those with unfavourable views increased by almost 13 points. The result is that majorities in all four of these countries now have unfavourable views against Russia, and the negative bias is very pronounced in France and Germany. In 2011, it was only Germany that had an unfavourable majority, and the negative bias was rather small. There is reason to believe that this has had an impact on the equity market, as Russia has a small domestic investor base and a lot of the external capital comes from financial centres like London, Frankfurt and New York. But if this is the case, why has it only affected the equity market and not the bond market? This leads us to the second question.
Opinion of Russia
Source: Pew Global
Few people would characterise the sovereign bond market as naive, as it is normally very sensitive to macroeconomic and political issues. So why aren’t bond investors more concerned about the situation in Russia? It is tempting to argue that they are more short-term, as the economy is on solid ground as long as the oil prices are high, which most analyst believe will remain the case in the short to medium term, and no political change is better than an uncertain change in the short term. A related explanation could be that bond investors are more cynical than their peers in the equity space; they do not care about host market governance or home market public opinion, as long as the risk-reward is appealing.
Moreover, the Russian bond market has benefitted from the general interest in emerging market bonds during the past year. There has been a virtual flood of capital moving into EM bonds in search of yield, and a certain amount of that also reached Russia. It has also become easier for foreign investors to buy Russian bonds through the introduction of Euroclear. The same process will be introduced for equities in 2014, so the bond market is in many ways an earlier mover compared to the equity market.
All of this only gives a partial explanation of the valuation discrepancy. I actually believe that both groups of investors are wrong. Russian bonds should perhaps not trade at a premium on other bond markets, or at an all-time high. And the equity discount is just too large right now. The prices should meet, as these kinds of discrepancies are difficult to maintain over time. There comes a time when equities simply become too cheap to ignore (even for the sceptical equity investors), and the global rotation from bonds to equities, which has only just started, should have an impact on Russia as well. Moreover, Russia should be able to surprise on the upside in terms of governance, as the expectations in Western Europe and the US are close to zero. It is extremely difficult if not impossible to say where the new equilibrium will be, as it will not necessarily move back to the historical average. But the trend should be one of convergence rather than continued divergence.
Stock Market Recovery

Russian stocks have been in a slump this past year, and deservedly so. But the Russian market usually recovers nicely after a bad year, and the government is even helping it along this time.

The MSCI Russia Index has gained just 6.9% this year, a little more than half of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index's 12.3% rise. And predictions of Russia's rally have proved premature in recent years, causing some investors to lose patience. Investors have pulled $48 million out of actively managed Russia funds this year, even as emerging-market stock funds generally have attracted $8 billion.

But Russia could surprise many investors in 2013. The two biggest reasons: Russia's stocks are cheap, and its government is finally embarking on some much-needed reform.
Let's start with valuation. Russia's market is among the world's cheapest. The Market Vector Russia exchange-traded fund (ticker: RSX), for instance, has a price/earnings ratio of 5.5 times 2013 earnings, according to Morningstar. The Shares MSCI Emerging ETF (EEM) has a P/E ratio of 11.3 times.

That isn't to say that the low valuations aren't deserved. Russia is notorious for treating investors as an afterthought, and it isn't so easy on local business, either. The bribes required to get electricity or building permits have placed Russia at 112th of 185 countries in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business rankings. "Reforms need to happen," says Simon Mandel, head of emerging Europe equities at Auerbach Grayson, a New York brokerage firm that deals predominantly with international stocks. "But given the course of Russian history, they won't happen quickly."

Still, Russia has made investing notably easier for foreigners, says Bruce Bower, a portfolio manager at Verno Capital. It recently agreed to set up a central depository, making the trading of Russian securities far easier. At the same time, the nation's central bank has been doing more to boost its credibility by targeting inflation and letting the ruble float more freely. Both should make Russia a more attractive locale for investor cash.

As "the perception of risk will diminish," Harris says, and oil will find a floor. "Even if the market is not flying, Russia will work against this global backdrop."
Russian stocks have generally outperformed following disappointing years, Harris says. Still, it wouldn't hurt to get exposure to Russian companies outside the oil and gas sector. Analyst favorites include Sberbank of Russia (SBER.Russia), one of the country's largest banks, and mobile-phone operators OJSC MegaFon (MFON.Russia) and Mobile Telesystems OJSC (MTSS.Russia).

The Market Vectors Russia ETF has returned 10% so far in 2012 and has an annual fee of 0.62%. The downside: It has 42% of its portfolio invested in the energy sector. But if investors do unleash their "animal spirits," it may not matter, says Société Générale's Benoit Anne. "As we start 2013 with a strong rally, I can see the Russian market taking off nicely."












Russia 2.0 : Names and links


Everything You Need To Know About 
The Startup Ecosystem In Russia And Eastern Europe


I have finally written this post summarizing the result of a year-long research project exploring the Russian and Eastern European startup ecosystem. The results will hopefully help those who weren’t invited to join the GOAP crowd to get a better sense of what is happening in the former socialist countries from Slovenia to Russia.

There is a lot of action in Eastern Europe, but for lack of time I simply cannot tell all the stories. Instead I have pulled together names and links, and created a few social media lists to connect startup entrepreneurs, accelerators, and investors in Russia and Eastern Europe on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. You can find these lists below.



StartUp at the village


Success stories
Over the past decade the region has seen quite a few global tech and Internet success stories already. Russian Parallels and IPG Photonics, Hungarian LogMeIn, Czech AVG and Avast, Romanian BitDefender and Soft32, Serbian Nordeus, Lithuanian GetJar, Latvian Ask.fm, Polish Filestube, Estonian Skype … The list goes on but outside of their respective home countries there is little awareness of exactly how much innovation the post-socialist region has already produced.
So, whilst certainly far from complete, here is a Facebook list of Russian / CEE success stories that will be regularly updated with new success stories that hit my radar.
Startups
#Estonianmafia hash tag, coined by McClure last year, continued to make headlines in tech blogs and the general press, as the phenomenon of the unusually high number of global startups in a small country inhabited by 1,3 million people drew further attention to Estonian Internet businesses. On Twitter I found over a hundred Estonian startups and entrepreneurs, and together with Latvia and Lithuania the Baltic Rim accounts for nearly 220 Twitter startup handles. It did not come as a surprise, that McClure and GOAP made a stop-over in Tallinn this week.
Other Eastern European startups may not have seen the same level of publicity, but across 20 countries I found over 800 Internet businesses that are growing at various speeds.
To get connected with the regional startup ecosystem, adding Google+ circles is probably the easiest way. Here is a Google+ circle for Russian startups, and two (here and here) for Eastern European entrepreneurs and their companies.
There are more than 1200 Twitter handles across these three lists: RussiaEastern Europe 1 and Eastern Europe 2. The feed may end up being an alphabet soup, as many users tweet in their local languages.
The Facebook lists includes only Russian and Eastern European startups’ fan pages, as subscribing to individual founders was often not an option. With Facebook lists, including updates from the list into your newsfeed is optional. Finally, there is a Facebook group called New Europe Startups.
Most of the CEE countries have more or less active startup communities with the exception of Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania and Moldova, where I did not identify any startups.
Accelerators
On my Facebook list of startup accelerators, incubators and co-working spaces in Russia and Eastern Europe there are 50+ entities, with Estonia leading again based on the number of support organizations per country (Startup Wise Guys, Gamefounders, Garage48, Tehnopol and others). The oldest accelerator appears to be Hungarian European Entrepreneurs Foundation founded by Peter Zaboji. Most of the other accelerators have been launched in the course of 2011-2012. I am not sure there is space for more, although Croatian and Serbian entrepreneurs might disagree.
Inevitably, the list includes Seedcamp, which has been backing Eastern European startups from 2007 starting with Slovenian Zemanta (and also because Seedcamp’s Carlos Espinal’s Twitter handle is @cee, which should have been mine!). HackFwd has been backing many Eastern European teams primarily from the Baltic Rim, whilst Jon Bradford of Springboard is on board with nearly every Eastern European startup accelerator and the Russian TexDrive.
Unlike the Facebook list, the Google+ circle and the Twitter list of accelerators include company accounts as well as individuals’ profiles and Twitter handles.
Investors
New venture funds are opening up in Russia, with the rest of the Eastern Europe lagging behind. Global funds such as Accel, Index, Mangrove Capital Partners, Balderton, Tiger Global Management, VenTech, Intel Capital, Atomico, Kima Ventures, e.ventures and others are making big bets in Russia. Their latest investments included Avito, Ivi.ru, Ozon, Ostrovok, KupiVip, LaModa and many others. German EarlyBird, Danish Sunstone, Swiss Redalphine, and German Point Nine Capital have backed Eastern European companies in the past. Others, such as Vienna-based SpeedInvest and the Nordic Creandum are monitoring the local startup scene.
Increasingly, Eastern European startups get investors’ attention as well; backed are SocialBakers, Prezi, GrabCAD, TransferWise, Brainient, Farmeron and others.
Unlike startups and accelerators, the investors are harder to track in social media, but I did my best. Here are their Google+Twitter and Facebook lists.
The list of venture investors in Russia is led perhaps by Runa Capital based on the number of deals the fund has announced over the past year; Esther Dyson, the veteran of investing in Russia and CEE; and ru-Net, based on the size of the fund. Most notable Russian venture investors include (in alphabetical order): ABRTAddVentureAlmaz Capital PartnersBaring Vostok Capital Partners LtdFinam Capital PartnersForesight VenturesFrontier VenturesImi.vcItech Capital, Kite VenturesLeta GroupModernus Capital PartnersN Lab VenturesProstor CapitalRuna CapitalRuNetRUSNANORussian VenturesRussia PartnersRuvento Venture fund,Softline Venture PartnersStart FellowsSynergy Innovations, and VTB Capital.
In Central and Eastern Europe the number of players is much smaller and they often make investments outside of their home countries. Seed-stage venture funds include Credo Ventures (Prague), RSG Capital (Ljubljana), Day One Capital (Budapest), MTVP (Tallinn), RubyLight (Riga), 3TS Capital Partners (Vienna), Neveq (Sofia), Xevin Investments (Warsaw and Bucharest).
In Poland the supply of seed capital appears to be better than in the rest of Eastern Europe. Seed investors include (in alphabetical order): AIP Seed CapitalGiza Polish VenturesHardGamma VenturesIIF FundInnovation NestIQ PartnersSATUS VentureSpeedUp Group and Xevin Investments, although there are others that might have escaped my radar.
An emerging trend is the investment activities of the local serial Internet entrepreneurs. A number of successful Russian and Eastern European Internet entrepreneurs are investing in the new projects, leveraging their experience in building Internet companies, existing Internet traffic and cash flow. One of the better-known startup factories is Fast Lane Ventures, co-founded by Oskar Hartmann (Russian private shopping club KupiVIP).
In Poland, Arek Senko, the co-founder of Red Sky Group, the owner of Filestube search engine is now involved in more than 30 Internet projects. Latvian Draugiem Group, the owner of the successful local social network is working on a dozen projects as well.
Tom Cupr, the founder and CEO of the largest Eastern European daily deals company Slevomat Group, has set up venture arm Slevomat Ventures, which has already made its first investment into the food ordering portal PizzaTime. Also in the Czech Republic Tomas Matejcek and his partners at Miton.cz build Internet companies following a number of successful exits.
Some Eastern European funds, such as the Ukrainian TA Venture or Estonian Ambient Sound Investments back global rather than local companies. Russian late stage investor ru-Net also has a US arm called RTP Ventures, which funded Fab.com amongst others. And then there is Yuri Milner, who despite his global focus has created StartFellows, a seed-stage grant program for Russian entrepreneurs, together with the founder of Vkontakte Pavel Durov.
Google+, Twitter and Facebook lists
In conclusion, here are once again the lists of entrepreneurs, startups, accelerators and investors in Russian and Eastern Europe. To meet some of them, pay attention to the region’s startup conferences, many of which are taking place in the next couple of months. The list of local events can be found here.

And the Winners are... 

At the end of 2012 RusBase has put together an unusual review: they have looked at the winners of all Russian start-up conferences, competitions and awards and determined the most active start-ups, based on the amount of received prizes and experts’ mentions.
They have therefore gathered a list of startups that classify as the best in 2012 according to Russian start-up contests. In order to do this, we have collected the results of all the major startup events of the year: RIW UpStart Conf, The RuNet Prize, IDCCE, Startup of the Year, the Technovation Cup, Web Ready, BIT, Startup Rating of Digital October and RBTH.ru, TC Moscow in 2012, the Forum Apps4All, Russian Startup Index, and Devgeneration 2012.
The highest number of awards this year went to the project "RealTimeBoard", receiving five prizes in various competitions and events. RealtimeBoard is based on the latest technology MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online – a technology for browser multiplayer games), where you can visually work with images, photos, videos, documents, and other types of Digital Content. In order to develop further, the company is planning to increase its functional capabilities, including the improvement of corporate accounts and security settings that they need for business decisions.
Other startups that won the international competition held in Russia and the CIS are “Kuznech” and “Excursiopedia”. The first project Kuznech, funded as part of an innovative project aiming to create a visual image retrieval system on the Internet, won IDCEE.
According to the TC MOSCOW 2012 contest, however, the best project was Excursiopedia, offering a huge choice of excursions that can either be physical or cognitive. The service is similar to Airbnb in its tours service: you can choose your type of excursions wherever you go. The service offers travelers the option to contact private guides as well as travel agencies.
Below you can see a graph of the main Russian startups of 2012 according to the various competitions. The graph shows the number of times these startups won prizes in various events.