Rocketbank

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Rocketbank (Russian: Рокетбанк; sometimes «Rocket» Russian: Рокет) is a Russian neobank founded in 2012 by a group of entrepreneurs, such as Viktor Lysenko, Oleg Kozyrev, Alexey Kolesnikov, and Mikhail Provizion. The project originated as a mobile application for transfers and payments, aimed at a youthful demographic, and entered beta testing in March 2013 under the auspices of Intercommerce Bank's license. By 2014, the service had secured investments from the venture capital firm Runa Capital totaling $2 million, facilitating enhancements to its features and broader regional outreach, with transaction volumes surpassing 1 billion rubles. In 2015, the revocation of Intercommerce Bank's license compelled Rocketbank to pursue a new operational partner. In April 2016, Otkritie FC Bank acquired 100% of the service's shares from its founders and Runa Capital for 300 million rubles, incorporating it into its framework as a digital platform designed to draw in a younger clientele. This transaction exemplified the ongoing consolidation within Russia's fintech landscape, wherein established banks increasingly embraced mobile innovations; at the point of acquisition, Rocketbank boasted roughly 100,000 users. In August 2017, the QIWI Group purchased the Rocketbank brand, its technologies, and client base—alongside the business-oriented service Tochka—from Otkritie Bank for 700 million rubles amid the latter's sanitization by the Central Bank of Russia. The migration of clients to QIWI Bank's license concluded in July 2018, after which the service grappled with operational hurdles, such as account transfers and alignment with the new ecosystem. Under QIWI's stewardship, Rocketbank persisted as a retail digital bank yet accrued losses attributable to elevated costs for client retention amid intensifying rivalry. In March 2020, QIWI announced the curtailment of Rocketbank's operations due to the absence of a viable buyer and the misalignment of its business model with the group's strategic objectives, projecting losses up to 1.5 billion rubles for...