Sberbank, Russia’s largest savings bank, has just announced plans to put together a $100m fund to invest in technology start-ups with strong scientific backgrounds. In the endeavor, the bank is partnering with the government-owned Russian Venture Company (RVC) which is currently part of the sovereign Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).

Money from this new fund is expected to go to start-ups that are based in Russia or planning entry into the Russian market in a near future. To back start-up development, Sberbank and RVC want to build a broad network of RDIF’s international partners and capitalize on synergy with the already existing projects that form Sberbank’s technology ecosystem.