Raketas (formerly Rocketbank)

Performance indicators

2018: Rocketbank's loss for the year reached 1 billion rubles

In 2018, Rocketbank's loss reached 1 billion rubles. QiwiSergey Solonin CEO linked cash losses to a lack of investors and high costs of attracting customers.

There are few investors, especially in the middle segment, where it is necessary to invest $20-50 million in order to bring the project to some next stage, from which it begins to find monetization structures, he said in an interview with Inc.

According to him, Rocketbank suffers losses due to the costs of client service, including marketing.

Rocketbank's loss reached 1 billion rubles

A set of clients always generates some expenses that you are forced to reflect on your balance sheet in the form of losses, - said the businessman.

At the same time, Solonin noted that he did not consider the project unsuccessful. In his opinion, Rocketbank is actually a "good project," but all neobanks in the world are unprofitable.

At the same time, the board of directors of Qiwi recommends getting rid of Rocketbank. According to Kommersant, VimpelCom is interested in the project. Qiwi confirmed negotiations with potential investors on the sale of the bank.

In October 2019, on the sidelines of the Finopolis forum of innovative financial technologies, Qiwi CEO Andrei Protopopov told TASS that the company would decide to sell Rocketbank or attract investments in it by the end of the year.

Protopopov also said that Qiwi is considering the sale of the project of installment cards "Conscience" and does not see the point of attracting new partners to the project, since it goes to the planned indicators.

We continue to invest in the project, but we are also considering different options for further development... We have different options on the table, we are considering the development of the multi-bank model and different options for selling the portfolio, "he added[1]

History

2025: Announcement of reopening 4.5 years after shutdown

In May 2025, Rocketbank announced a relaunch in July 2025, nearly 4.5 years after leaving the market. The company will operate under the license of Sovcombank, but at the same time will remain an independent brand with an "independent team." The co-founders of Blank Bank and former top managers of Modulbank Anton Zakharov and Robert Sabiryanov will resume the work of the credit institution. Users will have access to debit cards, deposits, savings accounts, cash credits and credit cards.^[2]

2024: Sovcombank bought "Rocket"

Sovcombank acquired the fintech platform "Rocket," formerly known as Rocketbank. This became known on November 15, 2024. The project will be revived under a historic brand using the new owner's banking license.

According to Kommersant, the transaction amount is estimated at $1 million. The perimeter of the acquisition included the brand and the development team. To restart the project, an investment of ₽1 -3 billion will be required.

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Фото: Freepik

Pavel Samiev, General Director of the analytical agency Businessdrom, explains the preservation of brand independence by the complementarity of the product line and the potential to attract new client segments that are not covered by Sovcombank.

The Rocketbank project, founded in 2012 by Oleg Kozyrev, Viktor Lysenko, Alexei Kolesnikov and Mikhail Provizion, has gone through several stages of development. In 2015, Interkommerts Bank, on whose license the project worked, lost its license.

In 2015, Otkritie Bank acquired Rocketbank for ₽300 million. In 2017, the project came under the control of the Qiwi group, continuing to work on the licenses of Kiwi Bank. In 2019, the business was separated into a separate legal entity "Rocket."

Alexey Kupriyanov, director of the Aspring Capital investment bank, notes that the main asset of Rocket is a recognizable brand that previously successfully competed with Tinkoff.

Sergey Loktev, CEO of Pampadu service, emphasizes the importance of the preserved team of specialists at the junction of banking technologies and IT development, on the competence of which Sovcombank plans to rely.

In the future, the project does not exclude obtaining its own banking license by analogy with Tochka Bank. At the time of termination of activities in January 2021, Rocketbank served about 43 thousand active accounts.^[3]

2021: Rocketbank in the past

Rocketbank announced in January 2021 the final closure. He published on his page in social networks "Vkontakte" and Instagram a farewell appeal to his clients, thanking them for their support and for using his services until the very closure. 'We're closing down. Now finally, "- says the text of^[4] "died^[5].

The project lasted nine years - the bank was founded in 2012 by entrepreneurs Oleg Kozyrev, Viktor Lysenko, Alexei Kolesnikov and Mikhail Provision. However, the start date of his work is 2013, when he began to operate under the management of Interkommerts Bank. The creators of Rocketbank conceived it as an online service for exclusively remote service of their customers.

Rocketbank did not have its own branches, the entire bank service was provided through a proprietary mobile application. In other words, Rocketbank was based on the infrastructure of the partner bank, which Interkommerts became at the time of its launch.

2020: Qiwi closes Rocketbank

On March 24, 2020, Qiwi announced the closure of Rocketbank after not finding buyers for it.

From March 24, 2020, new customers are no longer attracted to Rocketbank. Although the virtual bank continued servicing current customer accounts, the tariff policy and loyalty program for them will be revised. From April 1, 2020, all customers will be transferred to paid tariffs.

Qiwi decided to curtail the work of Rocketbank

The Qiwi report reported that company executives considered the option with both a partial and full sale of Rocketbank, and in the end "could not find a suitable buyer." Following the meeting on this topic, the Qiwi Board of Directors decided to "curtail its activities."

Qiwi expects to completely close Rocketbank by the end of 2020 and hopes that the total net losses from the project will not exceed 1.5 billion rubles. By winding down Rocketbank's business, the group intends to end marketing activities (including the cancellation of the loyalty program), reduce the number of full-time employees and increase tariffs. This should lead to a reduction in the number of Rocketbank customers and a reduction in the range of services offered.

Rocketbank assured that they would work "until the last client leaves." In addition, the company did not rule out that other investors could still purchase the project.

Qiwi is going to use the developments of Rocketbank in the field of the b2b2c segment - servicing the self-employed. For this, IT systems and resources of Rocketbank will be used, but Qiwi no longer wants to invest in the project as in the b2c service.

Along with the announcement of plans to close Rocketbank, Qiwi announced a joint action with Tinkoff Bank. As part of this action, Rocketbank customers will be able to move to the Tinkoff ecosystem while maintaining their bonuses accumulated in the service loyalty program. The promotion applies to both existing and new Tinkoff customers^[6]

2019

Rocketbank changed its name to Rocket and became a fintech company

On August 19, 2019, it became known that the board of directors of Qiwi decided to separate Rocketbank into a separate fintech company, which will be called Rocket. Although Qiwi will remain the owner of the organization, other investors will be able to enter it.

For existing clients, nothing has changed, their money is still stored in Kiwi Bank. The management of "Rocket" does not deny the possibility of cooperation and the launch of joint projects with other banks.

Rocketbank became a fintech company and changed its name

We have always been more than just a bank, and our interests and projects demanded more freedom. Transformation into a fintech company will give us a bunch of opportunities for development, development of new banking and non-banking products. So... wait for new services, applications and surprises, says Rocket.

The Qiwi report for the second quarter of 2019 states that Rocketbank's business plan is not compatible with the level of risk that Qiwi is ready for. At the same time, the service does not have enough potential for synergy with Qiwi's key business.

According to Kommersant, Rocketbank attracts significant amounts of client funds and wants to direct them to its products, and not to shareholder projects, in particular the Conscience installment plan card. Experts believe that Qiwi is not ready to continue to bear the costs of long-term development of neobank alone.

All current and future Rocket products that require a bank license will operate under Qiwi, users will not have to move to other banks. Also in "Rocket" did not rule out the connection of services based on other banks with a license.

Logo of "Rocketbank." By August 20, 2019, the "Rocket" logo was not presented

At the same time, the board of directors of Qiwi came to the conclusion that the investment profile of the Rocket business plan is incompatible with Qiwi's risk appetite and instructed specialists to study the possibility of partial or full sale of the financial service. This is stated in the financial report of Qiwi.^[7]

Whether there are applicants for the bank and what the value of the transaction may be, Qiwi does not comment: by August 19, 2019, the search for investors had only begun.

Founders moved away from operational management of Rocketbank

On March 13, 2019, information appeared that the founders of Rocketbank moved away from the operational management of a credit institution of their own free will, and Anastasia Uskova was appointed to the place of managing director in February, who was responsible for integrating the bank into the Qiwi group of companies, the press service of Rocketbank told RIA Novosti.

The founders of Rocketbank Alexey Kolesnikov, Oleg Kozyrev and Mikhail Provision moved away from the operational management of the company. This is a joint decision of the founders, and Qiwi supported him, the bank said.

In addition to integrating Rocketbank into the Qiwi group of companies, Uskova was responsible for the migration of the client base from Otkritie Bank. Marketing Director of Rocketbank Vasily Khozinov will be responsible for the development of the brand and attracting new customers.^[8]

2018: Move to Qiwi Group

On July 24, 2018, Rocketbank officially announced the transfer to Qiwi Russia, as well as the start of issuing Qiwi cards for its new customers. On July 25, the migration process of old clients should start (for those who do not want to wait long, a virtual queue has been created), and the end of the migration is scheduled for October 1.^[9]

2018: Deal to buy Rocketbank's Qiwi not completed due to reorganization of Otkritie Bank

In 2018, the Qiwi group acquired from Otkritie Bank the right to brands and software of online banks Rocketbank and Tochka for 700 million rubles. However, the sale transaction could not be fully completed due to the reorganization of Otkritie Bank.

2017

Qiwi buys Rocketbank and Tochka

Qiwi became the owner of the brand and software of Rocketbank and Tochka (before the introduction of temporary administration at Otkritie FC). But the deal may be revised, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation said.

Allotment of Rocketbank into a separate branch

In May 2017, the Supervisory Board of Otkritie decided to allocate Rocketbank to a separate branch as part of a credit institution.

2016: Otkritie Bank buys Rocketbank

Otkritie Bank reached an agreement in the spring of 2016 to buy 100% of Rocketbank from the founders of the company and the venture capital fund Runa Capital. The deal will close before the end of April 2016.

deal is in line with our strategy where digital direction is one of the key elements. For several months we have collaborated with Rocketbank in the format of a strategic partnership. During these months, we have seen that Rocketbank and its team create significant added value, can be successfully and effectively integrated into the structure of Otkritie. Our partnership already allows Rocketbank to more effectively attract customers due to the strength of the Otkritie brand, as well as significantly accelerate the development of the product. On the other hand, we see the potential to use the advantages of Rocketbank - both technological and in the field of service and client communications - for the development of other retail business areas of Otkritie, "said Elena Budnik, CEO of Otkritie Bank.

The article is devoted to the creation, development, operation and reliability of Otkritie Bank's information systems.

2015: The "bank for hipsters" valued by Tinkov at 1 ruble will be bought for $4.5 million

Khanty-Mansiysk Bank Otkritie bypassed Oleg Tinkov and his Tinkoff Bank in a deal to buy a "hipster bank" - Rocketbank. This was reported by RBC with reference to sources close to Rocketbank and Interkommerts Bank, which serves Rocketbank cards^[10].

The transaction amount will be 300 million rubles, or about $4.5 million, which is 4.5 times more than Oleg Tinkov was ready to pay for the "hipster bank."

Tinkov himself, through his press service, told RBC that Rocketbank investors came to him with an offer to buy the company. However, the owner of Tinkoff Bank considered that such a purchase for him "is not at all complementary." He explained that Tinkoff Bank already has options similar to those offered by Rocketbank. "Therefore, it made no sense to buy a second such product with such a team, part of which will inevitably leave," he said.

"RocketBank laundered. According to my calculations, the investor lost $4 million foundations, scoured EVERYTHING. Startups on the other hand, "Tinkov wrote on his Instagram page (the spelling of the original has been saved. - "Gazeta.Ru"^[11]."

2014: Turnover exceeded 1 billion rubles

As of August 2014, RocketBank itself does not have a banking license, it provides customers with an interface for communicating with the bank. The banking services themselves are provided by Interkommerts Bank. RocketBank operates on the principle of a virtual bank, without branches.

From June 2013 to the beginning of August 2014, RocketBank conducted transactions worth 1 billion rubles. This was told by CEO and co-founder of the company Viktor Lysenko on his facebook^[12]

Lysenko told Roem.ru that on average, the company's turnover is growing by 25% per month. In July 2014, RocketBank had a sharp jump - the volume of transactions increased by 44%, "in July 217 million out of 1 billion passed." Now the company, according to its own data, has distributed about 11 thousand cards.

RocketBank plans to hit the plus in 2015, says Lysenko. Now the company is raising a new investment round of $4 million, "to reach the point of operating profit." Andrey Bliznyuk, partner of Runa Capital, an investor in the company, said that the fund plans to continue "help Rocketbank grow as a company and support foundations in all endeavors."

2013: Service launch, $2 million investment from Runa Capital

Viktor Lysenko, co-founder and CEO of the company, in the past - co-founder and director of one of the first Russian clones of Groupon - the Darberry discount project. Less than six months after its launch, Groupon itself bought back a large stake in Darberry.

The service launched in test mode in March 2013, in August of the same year the official launch took place.

In October 2013, the Runa Capital venture fund invested $2 million in RocketBank - for the development of the service, scaling operations and expansion into the regions.

Notes