Saldo Finance, a subsidiary of Finnish Saldo Finance Plc, has been granted European Central Bank’s (ECB) specialised banking license in Lithuania. ECB’s specialised banking license will make it possible for Saldo to accept deposits, grant loans and provide funds transfer and other usual banking services with the exception of investment services. With the business volume multiplying, Saldo will be able to expand its product portfolio into other financing products. The company entered the Lithuanian market in March 2021 where Saldo started its operations by offering consumer loans and will next bring different financing solutions for SMEs. Established in 2006, Saldo…

Sweden’s credentials in sustainability and Stockholm’s vibrant fintech ecosystem are converging into a flourishing green fintech market where players are gaining traction and starting to expand globally. This booming sector is highlighted in the 2021 edition of the yearly Stockholm Fintech Guide, which depicts the state of fintech in Sweden’s capital city, outlining the key trends observed over the past year and the “next wave of fintech” innovation that’s emerging. Green fintech was highlighted as one of these growing sectors, a market that has emerged on the back of Sweden’s position as an environmental pioneer, and Stockholm’s rise into a…

Lithuanian payments startup kevin. announced that it has has secured US$10 million of new capital in a seed funding round, bringing its total funds raised to US$14 million. The funding round was co-led by OTB Ventures and Speedinvest, European venture capital investors looking to invest in early-stage technology companies in the region. Also joining the funding round were OpenOcean, Javier Perez’s Global PayTech Ventures, and angel investors including AmRest founder Henry McGovern. Kevin. said that the proceeds from this investment will be used to further develop its product offering, particularly around POS payments. The company added that the new funds…

Denmark’s payment provider Nets Group and PayAlly, a London-based payment services provider, have entered into a partnership for full issuing and acquiring processing services in the United Kingdom. Nets will deliver a full issuing services product suite, starting with a Card Management System based on the modular platform developed by TUUM, as well as tokenisation and access to Nets’ XPay Card Service. Nets will also deliver both issuing and acquiring payment authorisation and clearing, dispute management, fraud prevention and customer services. Rafal Andzejevski, CEO of PayAlly said, “We are excited by our partnership with Nets, which enables us to provide a…

Luminor Bank has partnered with Ondato, a Lithuanian provider of compliance-as-a-service, to allow companies to remotely open business accounts at the bank in Latvia. Ondato’s identification platforms will enable Luminor’s business customers to open a new account from anywhere in the world. The new solution enables remote customer identification through several levels of checks, including automated verification of customer data and documents in databases and registers. Customer biometric data is also processed as required by the laws and regulations. Remote account opening with Luminor will be available for companies registered in Latvia, the signatories of which have access to authentication…

Danish neobank Lunar announced that it has acquired Paylike, a full-stack European payment platform for an undisclosed sum. With this move, Lunar gains a gateway that will make it possible for its business customers to receive payments from their clients without having to use an intermediary. The addition of Paylike will bolster Lunar’s existing business banking offering to meet the needs of its growing customer base. Lunar made the acquisition following its €210 million Series D funding round led by Heartland which was joined by investors including Kinnevik and Tencent. On top of the acquisition of Paylike, Lunar has also…

Bank of Lithuania published the peer-to-peer (P2P) insurance guidelines, which present its assessments, insights and recommendations on InsurTech financial innovations to the financial market, potential providers of P2P insurance services and consumers. “The purpose of the guidelines is to promote secure development of financial technologies in the area of insurance by clarifying the conditions for the provision of P2P insurance services and creating possibilities for consumers to use the new service, by emphasising its differences from conventional insurance services and by indicating risks,” said Jekaterina Govina, Director of the Financial Market Supervision Service of the Bank of Lithuania. The Bank…

The international Fintech Inn 2021 is organised by Lithuania’s Agency for Science, Innovation and Technology (MITA) is back on 21-22 October 2021 in a fully virtual format. The event aims to bring together 250+ enterprises and start-ups, as well as 1000+ investors, policymakers, entrepreneurs and technology leaders from all over the world to exchange knowledge and discuss topics from green finance to startup media. A strong B2B matchmaking and networking component will complement the conference’s panel discussions and keynote speeches with the theme “Spin the Energy of Fintech”. Industry experts will address topics such as open banking, DeFi, AML/KYC, cybersecurity,…

Juni, a Swedish-based banking platform for e-commerce and online marketing companies, has secured US$52 million in funding led by EQT Ventures, to add to the US$21 million already raised from their Series-A round in late June this year. This boosts Juni’s Series A round to US$73 million and takes the total funding to date to US$76 million. EQT Ventures joins Partners of DST Global, Felix Capital, FJ labs and Cherry Ventures in backing Juni. The company will use the funds to triple the number of its employees by recruiting 120 more employees in the next 12 months to build their…

Latvia’s Board of the Financial and Capital Market Commission (FCMC) has issued a license to SIA DN Operator, the legal company that runs the Debitum investment platform. This license is for the provision of investment and ancillary services, allowing Debitum to continue to grow as an investment platform as well as develop and offer asset-backed securities to the public market. During the transitional period of three months after obtaining a license, the Debitum platform will make a key transition away from offering investments by purchasing claim rights and towards offering financial instruments―specifically, asset-backed securities (ABS). During this transition, Debitum will…

Anyfin, the Stockholm based startup that enables consumers to refinance existing loans and take control of their financial health, announced that it has secured US$52 million of fresh funding, bringing the total equity capital raised by the firm to US$101 million. The funding round was led by New York-based investor Fintech Collective joined by existing investors Accel, EQT Ventures, Northzone, and Global Founders Capital (GFC). Two new investors joined the fundraise including  Quadrille Capital in France, and Augmentum FinTech in the UK. In addition, the company has raised over US$500 million of debt capital from a diverse group of undisclosed…

TransferGo announced that it has secured US$50 million during a Series C funding round, bringing its total funds raised to US$77 million so far. The funding round was led by Elbrus Capital Fund III and Black River Ventures and joined by new investor Unlimint and existing investors which include Hard Yaka, VEF, SmartHub and Milano Investments. The firm said that the funds will be used to help expand its customer base, mainly migrants looking to send and receive money across Europe. It also has plans to develop its product offering in support of its goal to grow 5 times in the…

Minna Technologies, a Sweden-based subscription management tool for retail banks, announced that it is launching a London-based hub. This move comes on the heels of a recent partnership with London-based open banking platform Bud. As part of the commitment to the market, Minna is also announcing strategic hires including the appointment of Mike Davies as Chief Commercial Officer, the appointment of Steve Hoy as Head of Strategic Partnerships and the transfer of Minna’s Chief Financial Officer Navpreet Randhawa, from Sweden to London. Mike has been working in the payment industry for the majority of the last 20 years with senior…

Nordic neo insurer Hedvig announces that it closed a US$45 million Series B funding round led by Anthemis following its recent launch into Denmark. The Series B investment was led by Anthemis Partner, Ruth Foxe Blader, and Managing Director, Matthew Jones. Blader previously led AllianzX’s investment into US insurer, Lemonade. Matthew Jones, Managing Director at Anthemis will also be joining the Hedvig Board of Directors. The round also saw participation from existing investors Cherry Ventures, Obvious Ventures, CommerzVentures, along with Swedish Novax, Nineyards Equity, Jonas Kamprad and Mathias Kamprad. With this new round of funding, Hedvig is accelerating its European…

Lithuanian fintech SME Finance announced that it has raised a 120 million euro investment from an alternative asset management company in the United Kingdom. The company is planning to increase its loan portfolio to 200 million euros this year with this new investment. A year earlier, the European Investment Bank (EIB) backed SME Finance with a funding of EUR 80 million. It is said to be the largest investment awarded by EIB to a fintech lender. This year alone, the organisation reported that its loan portfolio grew by 70% – from 94 million to 160 million euros. According to Mindaugas…

Estonia has seen soaring success with e-governance initiatives. In the UN’s 2020 E-Government Development Index, the country ranked third out of a total of 193 countries. The index assesses how countries use information technologies to promote access and inclusion. Estonia also ranked first worldwide in a supplementary survey on e-participation. This survey focused on the use of online services for e-information sharing by governments to citizens, e-consultation between stakeholders, and engagement via e-decision making. Moreover, 99% of Estonia’s public services are digitised. The country has pioneered the use of technologies such as a Government Cloud, to integrate siloed legacy public IT…

Mastercard has revealed the 15 tech startups that will be joining the fall edition of its Lighthouse FINITIV programme from Sweden, Estonia and Finland. This fall, the programme kick off in Stockholm, Helsinki and Tallinn while utilising the benefits of a hybrid setup between physical and digital interactions. Mastercard launched Lighthouse FINITIV programme to build lasting partnerships with the goal of strengthening the financial ecosystem in the Nordic and Baltic regions. In 2020, Lighthouse expanded to a second programme, MASSIV, which focuses on scaling impact technology startups globally. Six of the selected companies are startups that are founded or led…

Ageras Group, a group of companies backed by Investcorp Technology Partners (ITP) that offers a range of software solutions to small businesses, announced that it has acquired Zervant, a Finland-based online invoicing software. The group is known for their online marketplace Ageras.com, helping business owners save time and money by comparing quotes from qualified accountants, Meanwhile, Zervant was founded in 2010, and after rapid expansion across Europe, has grown to more than 700,000 registered users who use the software to run their business by issuing invoices, tracking payments and getting paid faster in an intuitive interface. Ageras Group has recently…

EstateGuru, an Estonian marketplace for short-term, property-backed loans, announced the successful closure of its €5.8 million Series A funding round, with investments coming from Switzerland, United Kingdom, Czechia, Austria, Germany, and Cyprus. The lead investor for the round is TMT Investments Plc, a UK-based venture firm, and a public company that was also an early investor in both Bolt and Pipedrive. Other investors joining the round include Swiss venture firms Verve Ventures and Swiss Immo Lab, and J&T IB and Capital Markets, the investment banking arm of the Czech investment bank J&T. This follows a successful equity fundraising round on…

Ingka Investments, the investment arm of Ingka Group which owns and operates IKEA stores, has invested US$22.5 million in US-based Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) firm Jifiti, for a minority stake in the company. Ingka Group and Jifiti have a long-standing commercial partnership with the latter acting as a facilitator of IKEA Retail’s and consumer financing services. IKEA, with their local banking partners in Spain, France, Portugal and Belgium have already been offering financing in their stores via the Jifiti platform since 2019 and are now rolling out into other countries. The aim is to have the Jifiti platform facilitate…