Lithuania, which have been promoting itself as gateway destination to the European market for fintech startups from across the world, has seen its digital finance and fintech sector grow rapidly in the past years. In 2017, the country saw no less than 35 new fintech companies being incorporated, according to the Lithuania Fintech Report 2017.
One of the prominent fintech startups that took the plunge include Singapore’s InstaRem. “We were looking for a perfect headquarter location in the EU,” said Prajit Nanu, co-founder and CEO at InstaReM.
“In Lithuania we found a fintech-friendly and fast regulator, as well as excellent international-grade talent. With all this, Lithuania is hands-down the best European base for cutting-edge fintechs.”
As Lithuania continues to attract some of the world’s top fintech startups, we look today at several of its very own homegrown fintech ventures. Here are ten exciting fintech startups from Lithuania to keep an eye on:
Savy
Savy is a peer-to-peer lending platform for consumer loans and the first to launch in Lithuania back in 2014. Since then, the company has relocated to the UK but still serves the Lithuanian market. The platform connects investors with borrowers across Europe. Unlike other lending platforms, Savy does not use deposit account to collect money or distribute payments. The platform connects investors and borrowers directly via their bank accounts.
CoinGate
CoinGate is a Lithuanian cryptocurrency startup. It provides exchange and merchant payment services. The company’s mission is to provide a simple way for any online or retail businesses to accept Bitcoin and other digital currencies. CoinGate offers payouts in Bitcoin as well as real-time settlements in euros. Integration tools it has developed include an API, 10+ shopping cart integrations (modules), payment buttons and Point-of-Sale apps for retail stores.
Debifo
Founded in 2015, Debifo offers an invoice finance solution for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Lithuania. The platform enables them to free up frozen working capital by providing funds based on outstanding invoices. Debifo’s invoice finance solution allows to shorten receivable payment terms from 30 – 120 days to only a few days. Debifo does not require long-term contracts or collateral, and has no hidden fees. After completing a short registration form, clients can raise invoices for financing and receive the funds they need within a few days.
Bankera
Bankera describes itself as a bank for the blockchain era. The company provides the services of a traditional bank, including payment services, loans, deposits, and investments, but caters its services to the blockchain community. Founded in 2017, Bankera raised US$100 million in its initial coin offering (ICO) from 80,000 contributors.
Caspero
Founded in 2016, Caspero is a payments startup providing users with a digital wallet that allows them to shop online conveniently and send money to their friends and families instantly. For online businesses, Caspero offers a payment platform that’s easy to integrate and which allows them to accept payments online. The platform has two-step verification and cross-site scripting for all users.
Vericents
Vericents is a regulated electronic money institution from Lithuania that operates a payment gateway for online businesses. The platform is fully PCI DSS Level 1 compliant, so all data and traffic are encrypted and protected, while access to customer data is severely monitored and restricted. Additionally, with Vericents, customers get pre-authorization and capture of transactions, recurrent billing, and the ability to message (email or SMS) a client about a payment.
Universa Blockchain
Universa Blockchain is a new generation blockchain protocol and platform, defined as a set of protocols and data formats, which enable smart contracts owned and controlled by organizations and natural persons through a decentralized notary cloud certifying each transaction. The platform was designed with a focus on scalability, speed and cost-efficiency. It describes itself as a fast and reliable blockchain protocol for businesses and apps. Universal Blockchain raised US$28.8 million in an ICO last December.
Debitum Network
Debitum Network is an hybrid ecosystem for small business financing that utilizes the Ethereum blockchain to secure and distribute fiat financing to SMEs. The platform is designed to unite borrowers and those who help them apply: investors (lenders), risk assessors, document validators, insurers, etc. Companies or individual professionals who work in the alternative finance space can connect-in to the network for free and immediately begin facilitating cross-border deals. Debitum Network raised US$16 million in its ICO earlier this year.
Etronika
Etronika develops smart solutions in the areas of payments, digital banking, lending, and digital identity for financial institutions and retail businesses. The company provides several solutions and platforms including Banktron, an omnichannel digital banking platform, the Etronika Retail Solution for businesses, a digital identity solution for enterprises, and Banktron Loans, a platform for financial institutions to enables transparent and flexible credit origination processes for all types of customers.
BeScouted
BeScouted, a visual content marketplace, is not a fintech startup per se but the platform uses blockchain technology to reward content creators for the quality content that they share. The marketplace connects hundreds of millions of freelance content creators and talents with the demand for implementation of visual content creation projects through our unique casting tool. It uses blockchain technology to allow fair value distribution back to the community, eliminate the need of paid business models, enable free and instant transactions between the parties, and cut out middlemen.
This article first appeared on Fintechnews.ch, Featured image via Pixabay
