Russia’s Sberbank moves into driverless cars with joint venture
Sberbank, Russia’s largest lender, is moving into driverless cars with a new investment in AI transport startup Cognitive Technologies.
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The state-owned bank will take a 30 per cent stake in a new company, Cognitive Pilot, while Cognitive Technologies will take a 70 per cent stake.
The new company will focus on developing “digital economy projects in transport, agriculture, computer vision and artificial intelligence,” the pair said.
Financial terms of the deal, which is expected to complete in December, have not been disclosed.
The new venture will be headed by Cognitive Technologies founder Olga Uskova.
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Sberbank has recently expanded its technology offerings through a series of investments in young firms, including digital media company Rambler and grocery delivery company Instamart.
The lender finalised terms for a food delivery joint venture with Mail.Ru earlier this month, and has agreed to buy an equity stake in the Russian internet firm.