An award-winning fintech startup from Moscow, APIBank, has attracted 120 million rubles in Russia (some $1.6 million at the current exchange rate) from the Russian-Belarusian Investment Fund (RBF Ventures).

As reported by CNews.ru, this is the first external capital infusion — in the form of a convertible loan — in this startup launched in 2018. The money will be used “to develop products for payment aggregators and marketplaces, and to promote ready-made solutions for banks.”

With its embedded financial instruments and partner banking licensing offer, APIBank allows fintech companies to create their own “fancy financial services.” The startup also provides banks with solutions to develop digital and fintech activities.

The startup presents its end-to-end open banking platform as a means to “connect SMEs, developers, individual entrepreneurs, and end customers”. For example, online retailers and marketplaces may optimize payments between suppliers and customers, simplify and speed up cashback accrual, and create their own payment service.

“The share of services based on open banking standards in total bank revenue is expected to grow several times. Foreign platforms have already attracted significant investments, according to expert forecasts, the revenue of this segment in 2022 will exceed $9 billion,” notes Mikhail Fedotov, director of the RVC Infra Fund, a managing partner of RBF Ventures.

“The Russian open banking market is now on the verge of explosive growth,” CNews.ru quoted him as saying.

Among APIBank’s partners are Visa, Alfa-Bank, Gazprombank Group and Russian Agricultural Bank. The startup was distinguished at the Visa Everywhere Initiative in 2019 and a KPMG startup contest.