QIWI Venture, the investment arm of Russian electronic payment technology company QIWI Group, has launched a new acceleration programme, Universe 2.0.
Like its predecessor, QIWI Universe, Universe 2.0 is intended to facilitate the quick launch of pilot projects which are looking to work in partnership with the company.
QIWI hopes the accelerator will attract both major, established companies and startups which are still in the early stages of development.
Participating startups will receive up to $16,000 in the first round of the programme, which must be put towards launching a pilot project that works reciprocally with QIWI. If a project is able to demonstrate good results, QIWI is prepared to invest up to $95,000 in setting up a joint project with the company.
The programme is looking particularly to work with startups in the big data, e-commerce, mobile commerce, user identification and virtual and enhanced reality sectors.
QIWI’s first business accelerator, run in partnership with the Moscow State University business incubator, saw 12 startups receive a total of $700,000 investment. You can find more information about the first QIWI Universe and the 12 startups to receive investment here.
– This story first appeared in East-West Digital News, the international source on Russian digital industries.