Aspora, a global fintech serving the Indian diaspora, is establishing its European Union base in Vilnius.
The move gives the fast-growing group its first regulated foothold in the EU and places its leadership, including its CEO and management board, and all lines of business in Lithuania, where the team is prepared to grow to up to 100 people over the next three years.
Founded in 2021 and originally launched as Vance, the group rebranded to Aspora – a name derived from the word “diaspora” – as it scaled. The company provides cross-border payments for the global Indian diaspora – people living, working and studying abroad who regularly send money home. What began as a single remittance product has grown into a regulated financial group operating across several countries and product lines.
Today Aspora serves more than 1 million users and employs over 200 people across offices in Lithuania, the UK, the US, Canada, Singapore, the UAE and India. The venture-backed group has raised around USD 98 million to date and has facilitated billions of USD in cross-border transfers.
Aspora has been approved to acquire a Lithuanian-licensed electronic money institution (EMI), which will become the group’s first regulated base in the EU. With the change-of-control process now underway and preparations for launch actively progressing, the licence will allow Aspora to serve customers across the EU and EEA.
Lithuania offered exactly what we needed in an EU base – a deep pool of fintech, engineering and compliance talent, and in the Bank of Lithuania a highly regarded and experienced regulator. A Lithuanian licence lets us serve customers right across the EU and EEA from a single, well-run operation. We’re not opening a back-office here; we’re building a serious European business, with our leadership and full organisation based in Vilnius.
Nedas Sipovičius, CEO of Aspora.
The company will begin by strengthening remittances along the EU-to-India corridor, together with the currency exchange that supports those transfers, before bringing more products to more communities across the EU over time.
Aspora’s decision to build its European operations in Lithuania is a strong endorsement of our fintech ecosystem and of the talent behind it. This is the high-value, knowledge-intensive work we want to attract to the country – a company choosing to base its EU leadership and regulated growth here, not just a single function.
Edvinas Grikšas, Minister of the Economy and Innovation.
As it establishes itself in Vilnius, Aspora will recruit across risk management, IT and product, and finance, alongside the commercial specialists who run and grow the day-to-day business. The company is looking for strong professionals who combine real fintech capability with high standards and the drive to build something from the ground up.
Aspora also intends to work closely with Lithuanian universities and the wider local fintech community to develop talent and invest in local capability as it scales, and sees the Embassy of India in Vilnius as a natural partner for building links with the local Indian community.
What stands out about Aspora is that it is placing its EU licence, its leadership and its ambitions for European growth in Vilnius from day one. Lithuania has become a place where fintechs can build regulated, EU-wide businesses, not simply establish a presence, and Aspora’s choice reflects that maturity. It is also a welcome sign of the deepening ties between Lithuania and India, and we have no doubt Aspora will find the talent it needs here to serve communities right across Europe.
Elijus Čivilis, General Manager of Invest Lithuania.
This article first appeared on investlithuania.com
Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Baltic, based on image by magnific via Magnific
