Latvia’s fintech industry has continued to grow and mature over the past year, showing notable growth in scale, sophistication, and international reach, according to a new report by Venture Faculty, a Riga-based business consultancy.

The Latvian Fintech Landscape Update 2025 report, produced in collaboration Dealroom.co, looks at the evolution of the fintech industry in Latvia. It highlights a 10.4% year-over-year (YoY) increase, with the number of fintech companies operating in the country rising from 135 in 2024 to 149 in 2025.

Latvian Fintech Map 2025

Payments, and data and IT software remain the top fintech verticals, accounting for 25% and 20% of the market, respectively. These segments Latvia’s strongest capabilities, offering fast, scalable payment infrastructure and sophisticated IT-driven financial services.

They are followed by cryptocurrency and blockchain, with a 13% share, and fintech lenders, at 10% share. These two areas continue to attract attention and investment, with the crypto space, in particular, gaining prominence as Latvia positions itself as a regional hub for blockchain and digital assets through favorable regulation, tax incentives, and government support. Collectively, these four verticals make up 68% of the Latvian fintech ecosystem.

Funding, M&A, and market maturity

One notable trend observed over the past year is the maturing of the Latvian fintech ecosystem, marked by new funding rounds, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), partnerships, and increased international exposure.

Jeff App, a Latvian credit scoring startup, ranked as the 28th fastest-growing companies in Europe and the fifth in the fintech, financial services, and insurance sectors, with revenue growth of 3,743.8% between 2020 and 2023.

Founded in 2019, Jeff App provides an innovative client assessment system that uses alternative data to improve access to financial services. Since its launch in Vietnam in 2020, the company has expanded to the Philippines, Mexico, and Indonesia, aiming to become a multifunctional mobile platform encompassing insurance, e-commerce, and financial services.

Several Latvian and Latvia-linked fintech companies also raised new capital in 2025:

• Handwave, a rising biometric fintech startup, secured US$4.2 million in August to further develop its palm-based identification technology. Founded in 2021, Handwave enables users to pay, verify their age, access loyalty programs, and check in using their palm. It plans to launch across Europe and the US.
• POS Finance, a Latvian lending startup serving small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), raised EUR 275,000 in May to accelerate its product development and regional expansion. Founded in 2024, POS Finance offers revenue-based financing solutions in Latvia. It plans to expand to four more European markets by 2027.

The sector also witnessed M&A activity, signaling maturity and consolidation:

• Paynt, a Latvia-founded global payments firm, acquired in June Canadian firm E-xact Transactions, marking a major milestone in the company’s strategic expansion across North America. Paynt processes payments across the European Economic Area and the UK, with regional offices in the Baltic States, the UK, Ireland, and the US.
• Civinity, one of the Baltics’ largest engineering and building services groups, and its management team acquired a 9.99% stake in Mobilly, a leading mobile payments platform from Latvia.

Partnerships and expansion

This year, partnerships and international expansion continue to define Latvia’s fintech progress:

• Zen.com, a global payments platform and mobile app, signed in April a partnership with Visa to deliver real-time cross-border payments through Visa Direct, expanding its reach across the Baltics.
• Ecommpay, a Latvian-founded full-stack payment service provider and global acquirer, expanded in April its services in Italy by enabling e-commerce merchants to offer local and preferred payment methods such as Satispay, MyBank, and BANCOMAT Pay, alongside credit cards and e-wallets.
• In July 2025, Vialet, a Latvian electronic money institution, and Yaspa, a London-based paytech startup, announced a partnership to expand Yaspa’s payment ecosystem, providing UK and European merchants with expanded access to instant, multi-currency payment solutions.

Latvia’s fintech companies are also recording strong financial performance. Between 2022 and 2024, total revenue increased by nearly 25%, rising from EUR 408 million to EUR 508 million. Over the same period, net profit more than doubled, soaring from EUR 46 million to EUR 106 million. This suggests not only higher business volumes but also improving operational efficiency and profitability across the sector.

Employment in the sector grew by 19%, expanding from 2,411 employees in 2022 to 2,871 in 2024. This steady rise in employment, coupled with the surge in turnover and profits, suggests that Latvian fintech companies are scaling sustainably, generating high-value jobs.

This growth aligns with Latvia’s new Fintech Strategy 2025-2027. Prepared by the Ministry of Finance in cooperation with Bank of Latvia, the plan aims to position Latvia as a competitive fintech hub in the Baltics and Nordics. It has set out ambitious goals for the nation, targeting a 30% increase in fintech firms, a 15% rise in new investment, and an 18% increase in employment by 2027.

Sun Finance controversy

Despite the sector’s growth and success, Sun Finance, one of Latvia’s most prominent alternative lending groups operating platforms across Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa, has faced significant controversy.

In December 2024, Aigars Plivěs, a Latvian employee of the company, was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison in Vietnam for operating three companies that offered loans with annual interest rates ranging from 401% to 1,379.7%, according to the Investor.

Plivės operated high-interest loan activities through three companies, namely Sofi Solutions, Digital Credit, and Fincap VN, and two main websites: Tamo.vn and Findo.vn, according to the indictment. Vietnamese authorities described the operation as an organized, large-scale loan-sharking operation disguised as pawn and financial consulting services.

Sun Finance has been praised as one of the largest and most prominent fintech companies in the world, listed by CNBC and Statista among the top 300 fintech firms globally, based on revenue, growth, and employee count, and recognized among the 2025 Baltic Fintech Awards winners.