QIWI, a Russia-based payment service provider, has launched a $30m seed fund and an accelerator. The accelerator, QIWI Universe, has launched in partnership with Moscow State University.
The fund, Run Capital, will be managed by Andrey Romanenko, QIWI’s founder and president, his father Nikolay Romanenko, and QIWI executives Igor Mikhailov and Sergey Fedyushenko.
Run Capital is Romanenko’s second fund. His first, the $100m iTech Capital, was launched in 2011 and focuses on established startups.
The acceleration programme will last four months, with projects receiving up to $20,000 each, as well as office space, an educational programme and access to mentors. The accelerator will take an 8% stake in the companies.
QIWI Universe will select residents through a series of regional hackathons, to be held in Minsk, Novosibirsk, Moscow and Kazan in the coming months. The winners, along with the best applications submitted electronically, will be invited to take part in a final selection day in mid-June.
Both the seed fund and the accelerator come as good news for Russia’s venture market, which has been set back by the departure of a number of Western investors as a result of the ongoing political crisis in Ukraine.