Russia's Yandex launches food delivery service in Armenia

VK

14/09/2022 17:10

* This content was produced in Russia where the law
restricts
coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine

    MOSCOW, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Russian tech giant Yandex
 YNDX.O  on Wednesday said it had launched food delivery service
Yandex Eats in Armenia, delivering on a promise to develop its
e-commerce offering after selling some other business lines to
rival VK  VKCOq.L . 
    Yandex last month agreed to sell its news aggregator,
content platform Zen and homepage yandex.ru to state-controlled
VK in a move that is expected to tighten the government's grip
on the internet.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2ZZ167
    That deal, which closed on Monday after receiving regulatory
approval, saw Yandex acquire VK's Delivery Club food delivery
service, complementing its e-grocery and food delivery Yandex
Eda offering, which includes Yandex Eats. 
    "Entering foreign markets is one of the priorities of
Yandex's foodtech-business," Roman Maresov, head of Yandex Eda,
said in a statement. "Yandex Eda already operates in Kazakhstan
and Belarus. 
    "Thanks to closing the deal on purchasing Delivery Club, we
will be able to allocate more resources on localising the
service, which is needed to launch in new countries," he said. 
    Yandex Eats has launched in Armenia in test mode, with 100
restaurants connected. 
    Like many Russian business, Yandex, which dominates Russia's
internet search and ride-hailing sectors, has faced significant
hurdles since Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into
Ukraine on Feb. 24. Yandex was not directly sanctioned by the
West, but some top managers were. 
    Yandex in August estimated the size of Russia's food
delivery market at 650 billion roubles ($11 billion) in 2021 and
sees annual growth of 20%.

 (Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov; Writing by Alexander Marrow;
Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
 ((alexander.marrow@thomsonreuters.com))