Qiwi Venture, the investment arm of Russian electronic payment giant QIWI Group, has committed itself to invest an estimated $150,000 in Krawlly, as reported by Russian tech blog Firrma. This Russian startup is developing an Android mobile app, christened “AnyBalance,” that displays in one interface the balances of a user’s bank, mobile or ISP accounts.
The startups claims to offer information from more than 1,200 providers, including MTS, Beeline, Megafon, Tele2, Velcom, Onlime, Dom.ru, Domolink, Alfabank, Sberbank, Life and others.
The details of Qiwi Venture’s investment have not been disclosed but, according to Firrma’s sources, the funds will be received in two tranches and the investor will obtain from 8 to 13% of the company.
In mid-May the two partners launched a pilot project to allow AnyBalance users to make payments using Qiwi’s in-house electronic currency, the Visa QIWI Wallet.
“From day 1 users began using Visa QIWI Wallet, which suggests that the service can be in demand,” stated Qiwi Venture head Olga Turzhanskaya. “The Krawlly team is very efficient and we believe they can bring the project to break-even in just a few months,” she added.
This past February Qiwi Venture launched Universe 2.0, a new acceleration program. Like its predecessor, the program is intended to facilitate the quick launch of pilot projects which are looking to work in partnership with the company.
