Русский
The Kazakhstan based fintech group Kaspi.kz has entered into a partnership agreement with Alipay+ to launch a payment service in China using Kaspi’s mobile application and QR code, Kaspi has stated in a press release.
Kazakhstan’s citizens that live or travel in China will be able to make payments using the QR code from the Kaspi.kz mobile application in more than 80 million locations in China, according to the company.
Kaspi operates a two-sided Super App business model: the Kaspi.kz Super App for consumers and the Kaspi Pay Super App for merchants and entrepreneurs. Kaspi’s offerings include payments, marketplace and fintech solutions for both consumers and merchants. The Kaspi Group is comprised of Kaspi Shop LLP, Kaspi Bank, Kaspi Pay LLP and Kaspi Travel LLP. As at April 1, 2024 the company’s main shareholders were Baring Vostok Funds (24.24%), Mikheil Lomtadze (21.53%) and Vyacheslav Kim (20.39%).
Baring Vostok are Russia’s largest independent private equity firm and are focused on investments in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. They are based in Moscow. Mikheil Lomtadze is a Harvard educated, Georgian tech billionaire, while Vyacheslav Kim is a Kazakh billionaire and Chairman of Kaspi.
Alipay, founded in 2004 and part of Alibaba Group, is one of the world’s largest payment systems, serving over 460,000 companies internationally.
The investment by Barings Vostok in particular illustrates how Russian companies are investing in businesses from friendly countries that can act as a bridge between Russia and China when US sanctions make direct financial transfers difficult.
