Net Element's PayOnline Continues Expansion Into Central Asia

MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Sep 1, 2016) -  Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ: NETE) ("Net Element" or the "Company"), a provider of global mobile payment technology solutions and value-added transactional services, today announced its subsidiary PayOnline has opened an office in Kazakhstan. The decision to establish a local Kazakhstan office comes on the heels of the Company's successful organic growth in Central Asia. In addition to the new Kazakhstan office, earlier this year, PayOnline opened a sales office in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

With the growing volume of cashless transactions in Central Asia, PayOnline made a strategic decision to launch a dedicated office in Kazakhstan, the largest country in the region. The newly opened office located in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, began operations in August.

PayOnline's state-of-the-art payment technologies, which are currently used by over 3,000 online enterprises across CIS countries, Europe and Asia, have proven to be in high demand in the growing, young market of Central Asia.

In 2015, the volume of electronic commerce market in Kazakhstan exceeded $11 billion and is expected to grow exponentially during 2016. Such high growth rates are expected to continue in the coming years, taking into account that electronic commerce only accounts for approximately 1% of total commerce in Kazakhstan, this represents an incredible opportunity for growth in the region.

One of the first anchor projects for the Company in Central Asia was to enable payment acceptance for participation in Muz-TV "Gravity Awards", which was held in June 2015 in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. Today, PayOnline cooperates with more than 180 online merchants in Central Asia that are currently in various stages of deployment and technical integration.

The high demand of PayOnline's integrated services in Central Asia is due in part to the Company fully supporting the needs of Kazakhstan clients and facilitating processing in the major currencies of that region such as KZT - Kazakhstani Tenge; KGZ - Kyrgyzstani Som and TJS - Tajikistani Somoni. These services and functionalities were added to the PayOnline platform in collaboration and integration with Kazkommertsbank, the largest bank in Kazakhstan and Central Asia ("KAZKOM") and to support payment technologies for electronic commerce enterprises in various spheres of activities, which include retail, tourism and mobile commerce. The market is also important for the global merchants who have this region on their roadmap for expansion.

"The electronic commerce market of Kazakhstan today reminds me of the Russian e-commerce market in the mid-2000's, when PayOnline began its work in Russia," commented Marat Abasaliev, CEO of PayOnline. "We are pleased that we are able to use the experience we gained in the Russian and other markets to capture a significant share in this emerging market. Our proven technologies, which enable our clients to reduce costs and increase profitability when deploying their businesses online will be extremely valuable in this regard. The high demand for these services has confirmed our belief in the need for our suite of products in emerging markets as we take another step to support our clients in Central Asia by opening an office in the city of Almaty, located in the heart of Kazakhstan."

About Net Element

Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ: NETE) operates a payments-as-a-service transactional and value-added services platform for small to medium enterprise ("SME") in the US and selected emerging markets. In the US it aims to grow transactional revenue by innovating SME productivity services such as its cloud based, restaurant point-of-sale solution Aptito. Internationally, Net Element's strategy is to leverage its omni-channel platform to deliver flexible offerings to emerging markets with diverse banking, regulatory and demographic conditions such as UAE, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan where initiatives have been recently launched. Further information is available at www.netelement.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed forward-looking statements. Words such as "continue," "will," "may," "could," "should," "expect," "expected," "plans," "intend," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, whether the office opening in Kazakhstan and the Company's marketing, sales and other initiatives in the Central Asia region will be successful or will have a positive impact on the Company, whether Net Element can secure any additional financing and if such additional financing will be adequate to meet the Company's objectives and whether the transaction will add to the growth of the Company's business and increase the Company's market share internationally. All forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, many of which are generally outside the control of Net Element and are difficult to predict. Examples of such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: (i) Net Element's ability (or inability) to obtain additional financing in sufficient amounts or on acceptable terms when needed; (ii) Net Element's ability to maintain existing, and secure additional, contracts with users of its payment processing services; (iii) Net Element's ability to successfully expand in existing markets and enter new markets; (iv) Net Element's ability to successfully manage and integrate any acquisitions of businesses, solutions or technologies; (v) unanticipated operating costs, transaction costs and actual or contingent liabilities; (vi) the ability to attract and retain qualified employees and key personnel; (vii) adverse effects of increased competition on Net Element's business; (viii) changes in government licensing and regulation that may adversely affect Net Element's business; (ix) the risk that changes in consumer behavior could adversely affect Net Element's business; (x) Net Element's ability to protect its intellectual property; (xi) local, industry and general business and economic conditions; (xii) the Company's issuances of the Company's common stock from time to time in exchange for retiring the Company's debt may cause substantial dilution to our existing stockholders and the sale of the shares of our common stock acquired by Crede in exchange for our debt could cause the price of our common stock to decline; (xiii) adverse effects of potentially deteriorating U.S.-Russia relations, including, without limitation, over a conflict related to Ukraine, including a risk of further U.S. government sanctions or other legal restrictions on U.S. businesses doing business in Russia. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements can be found in the most recent annual report on Form 10-K and the subsequently filed quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K filed by Net Element with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Net Element anticipates that subsequent events and developments may cause its plans, intentions and expectations to change. Net Element assumes no obligation, and it specifically disclaims any intention or obligation, to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by law.