10 Russian start-ups that rocked the web in 2008

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, especially when you’re a web professional. Not reindeers, but lists keep flying around your head. On The Next Web, we already presented the Five Favorite Apps – now it’s time to be more specific.

We have an international focus at this blog. When The Next Web launched on January 7th, we told you we wouldn’t limit our coverage just to the Valley. I think it’s safe to say we’ve kept that promise. Also when it comes to Russia. With the help of Yakov Sadchikov, we’ve covered almost every million euro deal, emerging trends, and cool start-ups coming from Europe’s largest Internet market.

Let’s celebrate that with a list of Russian start-ups that rocked the web in 2008. It’s compiled by Yakov, whose blog you should definitely check out. He’s the CEO of visual search engine Quintura and managed to get articles from his corporate blog on Techmeme, TechCrunch, and The Next Web on a monthly basis. How’s that for a successful blogger? Alright, here we go:

List by Yakov Sadchikov

1. WomanJournal.ru, leading women-centric online site, raised €6 million from Ventech Capital, XAnge Capital and AGF Private Equity.
2. KupiVIP.ru, online shopping club, raised several million dollars from Mangrove Capital Partners, ABRT Fund and Arlan.
3. Tvigo (Tvigle.ru), online TV community and content production, raised $8 million from Moscow Venture Fund (Allianz Rosno Asset Management).
4. EZtalk, mobile call-back service operator, raised $4 million from VTB Venture Fund.
5. Mobile Direct, mobile internet advertising solution provider, raised several million dollars from Ru-Net II.
6. MoySklad (LogneX), online inventory management solution provider, raised seed round from Ambient Sound Investments.
7. MirTesen.ru, location-based social network, raised $5 million from Finam.
8. JS-Kit, social application widget provider, raised $3.6 million from Altos Ventures and TEF3.
9. EnterMedia, in-game advertising solution provider, raised first found from Mangrove Capital Partners and ABRT Fund.
10. Evernote, provider of electronic note applications, raised $5 million from Troika Venture Fund.