Earlier this month Otkrytie, a major Russian bank, announced that it was in the process of fully acquiring mobile banking startup Rocketbank. The move follows a strategic partnership inked in December 2015.
“This partnership has already allowed Rocketbank to attract customers more efficiently, thanks to our strong brand, and accelerate the development of its product. On the other hand, Rocketbank is providing us with benefits in terms of technology, service and customer communications,” Otkrytie’s CEO Elena Budin stated.
The terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but earlier media reports put Rocketbank’s price at some $4.5 million.
In an exchange with East-West Digital News, Rocketbank’s co-founder Victor Lysenko declined to confirm this figure, but he indicated that the company’s valuation will ultimately depend on the achievement of certain goals.
Mobile banking pioneers
Launched in 2012, Rocketbank has been a pioneer on the Russian mobile banking scene. The startup raised several million USD from Runa Capital in 2013, then from Life.SREDA in 2014.
In September 2015 Oleg Tinkov, a prominent Russian businessman, offered to buy the startup for $1 million “to let my children toy with it at school,” as he wrote on his Facebook page.
Rocketbank’s founders declined the offer.
While Otkrytie announced Rocketbank’s acquisition, Instabank, another mobile banking startup with a strong social dimension, announced that it was ceasing activities.
“One year after launch, it became clear that developing [such a project] required not hundreds of thousand, but tens of million [US dollars],” Instabank’s founder Roman Potemkin told FutureBanking.ru.
Having failed to raise such amounts or generate sufficient revenues by itself, the startup has transferred its technology and client base to Russian bank VPB.
Launched in 2012 with plans to develop in Russia and beyond, Instabank was backed by Life.Sreda.
