Russian prepaid cards startup IQcard announces that it has raised $2.5 million in a Series A round from new investors Paradigm Investments and TA Venture and current investors Fastlane Ventures and Direct Group.
Per the press release put out by Fastlane with this news, IQCard was established last March as a joint project of Fastlane and Direct Group. The purpose of the card is to enable any individual to use IQcards, which are pre-paid cards, without having an open bank account. Instead of using a traditional bank account, users can manage their money through an “internet bank” as well as analyze their expenses and pay for purchases internationally and online.
The co-founder and CEO of the company, Ekaterina Konovalova, says that the funds raised will be directed towards developing the CRM system, realization of partner projects, and furthering channels of direct sales. IQcard’s partners include X5 Retail Group, Interflora, Expert Clinics, and LeFutur.
Though not necessarily direct competitors, NetSpend and Green Dot are established services which IQcard attempts to largely replicate on the Russian market.
A few weeks ago, we did a post about MOBI.money, a service which allows users to make payments and transfer money with their mobile phone accounts. IQcard seems to be founded on largely the same principle. The business is different, but the idea is that people should be able to access their money more easily and without having to go through a bank.
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