Curve, a London-based fintech that allows consumers to store their payment cards in a single location, announced the appointment of Renata Sumskaite as CEO and Head of Curve Lithuania, in a move that cements its growth strategy from an EU-licensed base. The Lithuanian office represents a gateway to frictionless trade for Curve and its customers across the European Union. Renata will be focusing on innovation and product development at Curve. Renata came to Curve following a role as Head of Fintech hub ‘Rise Vilnius’ by Barclays and was also Head of the Barclaycard Change Delivery team in Lithuania. She brings…

Eesti Pank (EP), the central bank of Estonia, carried out a research project to assess one possible technical solution for a digital euro along with the European Central Bank (ECB) and the central banks of Spain, Germany, Italy, Greece, Ireland, Latvia and the Netherlands. EP carried out the experiment as part of the central bank digital currency (CBDC) research project started in October 2020. The research aimed at exploring how a blockchain-based digital euro can serve as the basis for the Estonian e-state. The research also looked into the feasibility of such a solution with regards to the number payments…

In Europe, the Nordic countries of Sweden, Denmark and Norway have the most advanced open banking ecosystems. Trailblazing regional regulatory regimes, highly developed digital infrastructures, and a pan-Nordic collaborative approach have enabled these countries to take the lead over the rest of Europe, a new research by Mastercard found. The report, titled Open Banking Readiness Index: The Future of Open Banking in Europe, explores the status of open banking in ten selected European markets, and found that across Europe, Sweden, Denmark and Norway are at the forefront of the open banking movement. To date, they are the only countries in…

Estonia-based cross-border payment startup PayQin has raised €300,000 in a seed funding round, pushing the startup’s total funding to US$1 million. Founded in 2017, PayQin operates a comprehensive e-wallet service in West Africa for the unbanked and underbanked population. Its chief aim is to drive financial inclusion in Africa, where the mobile phone penetration is twice the rate of banking access. PayQin’s app allows customers to store mobile money, use cross-border debit cards, make payments, and manage crypto transactions. The startup aims to reach 1 million daily transactions in a year, the press release stated. PayQin is an alumnus of…

The National Bank of Ukraine has given the green signal to Lithuania-based fintech startup Paysera to operate in the country. Paysera has been included in the country’s Register of Payment Systems and after technological arrangements, it will offer money transfers to and from Ukraine to private customers. Transactions will be supported in hryvnias, euros, US dollars. Conversion of hryvnia and other major currencies will also be supported, the statement noted. With the central bank’s approval, Paysera can partner with local banks in Ukraine. This would enable the company to open an account, perform system integration and make transfers. The firm…

The Bank of Lithuania has warned a virtual currency exchange operator Binance about its unlicensed investment services provided in Lithuania and ordered the company to ensure that its publicly available information is not misleading. The Bank of Lithuania has also noted that crypto-asset related services are not regulated or supervised, thus consumers risk losing all their investments. The central bank notes that some online crypto-asset exchange platforms, even though they do not offer or advertise their services in Lithuania directly, enable their customers to invest in derivative financial instruments related to crypto-assets (futures and options), contracts for difference (CFD) or…

Nordic challenger bank Lunar announced a EUR 210 million series D funding round led by family-owned investment company HEARTLAND. Other investors included Kinnevik, one of Europe’s leading growth investors, and Tencent, a leading China-based technology company. Alongside the lead investors, IDC Ventures, Fuel Ventures, MW&L Capital Partners and Peter Mühlmann, the Founder and CEO of Trustpilot, also invested. They will join current investors such as SEED Capital, Chr. Augustinus Fabrikker, Socii Capital and Greyhound Capital. The new investment was secured following a rapid acceleration in growth from both private and business customers. Lunar now serves more than 325,000 customers across…

Juni, a Swedish-based banking platform for e-commerce and online marketing companies, has raised US$21.5 million in Series A financing. The firm said that the funding came from partners of DST Global, Felix Capital and additional follow-on from Cherry Ventures and other early investors. The financing will be used to sustain Juni’s momentum by focusing on product development and recruiting. From a product perspective, Juni will introduce a number of features in the coming months such as automation of administrative tasks, a unified view of financials tailored to ecommerce merchants and media buyers, and a number of unique services to financially…

Danish fintech Pleo announced that it has raised US$150 million in a Series C funding round to become a unicorn with a company valuation of US$1.7 billion. The Series C round was co-led by Bain Capital Ventures and Thrive Capital, with contributions from existing investors Creandum, Kinnevik, Founders, Stripes and Seedcamp. Keri Gohman, a partner at Bain Capital Ventures will be joining Pleo’s board of directors. Pleo offers smart company cards that enable employees to buy the things they need for work, while keeping a company’s finance director in control of spending. With the new funds, Pleo will be ramping…

StockRepublic, a Swedish social trading platform for retail investors, announced that it has secured EUR 2 million. The investment round was led by the Swedish venture capital fund Uequity and Commerzbank Group’s early-stage investor main incubator, together with well-known business angels with a background from, among others, E-Trade, Yubico and Minna Technologies. To accelerate this transition and launch StockRepublic widely to the new generation of investors, the firm is currently conducting a proof of concept together with comdirect, which has just under three million customers. This proof of concept will give customers access to all social trading functions and mobile…

Norway-based digital identity specialist Signicat has acquired Spanish Electronic IDentification (eID) which offers complementary solutions for an undisclosed sum to strengthen its European presence. The joint offering aims to provide the highest level of security and compliance of digital identity solutions in the European market, all based on the ‘Strong Digital Identity’ (SDI) concept, developed by eID. This enables a common end-to-end digital onboarding process across the EU in compliance with the most restrictive legislation. After the acquisition, eID will continue as an independent organisation with a separate brand, with a goal of full integration within two years. The acquisition…

Danske Bank A/S has entered into an agreement with OP Financial Group in Finland and the consortium of banks behind Vipps in Norway to merge the three mobile payment providers MobilePay, Vipps and Pivo with the aim to form a comprehensive digital wallet. The banks behind Vipps will own 65% of the new parent company, Vipps AS, Danske Bank will own 25% and the OP Financial Group will own 10%. The parent company, Vipps AS, will be headquartered in Oslo, and the company will be subject to supervision by the Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authorities. Rune Garborg, the current CEO of Vipps,…

Rapyd, a global fintech-as-a-service company, has entered into a definitive agreement with Arion Banki to acquire Valitor, an Icelandic payments solutions company, for US$100 million. The acquisition of Valitor will complement Rapyd’s existing payment capabilities throughout Europe, as well as enhance its issuing portfolio. Valitor provides both in-store and online payments acceptance solutions as well as card issuing to SMB merchants in Iceland, the U.K. and Ireland, and across Europe. Following Rapyd’s recent US$300 million financing round, the company is actively pursuing acquisition opportunities, targeting strong payments companies and enhancing their capabilities by connecting them to the Rapyd Global Payments…

Danish personal financial management (PFM) app Spiir announced that it has launched a beta version of its app in the Baltics ahead of their recent expansion into Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The team behind the app has made a special beta flow within the app to improve the user experience and gather feedback for future adjustments. Spiir said that it already has more than 400,000 users across the Nordics. With the help of open banking, the Spiir app can connect to users’ bank accounts and deliver a complete financial overview, even if they have different accounts in different banks. The…

Visa announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Tink, a Swedish open banking platform, for 1.8 billion Euros (US$2.2 billion). Tink will retain its brand and current management team, and its headquarters will remain in Stockholm, Sweden. The combination of Visa’s proven infrastructure and sustained investment in resilience, cybersecurity and fraud prevention with Tink’s APIs, technology and customer relationships is expected to help accelerate the adoption of open banking in Europe by ensuring a secure, reliable platform for innovation. As a result, consumers can better control their financial experiences, including managing their money, financial data and financial goals.…

CLOUDEON, a Denmark-based cloud solutions provider, announced that it has expanded its operations in Lithuania with an office in Kaunas, the second largest city in Lithuania. For CLOUDEON opening an additional office in Lithuania means securing a continued stream of the specialised knowledge needed to run and develop CLOUDEON’s cloud solutions and cloud automation platform, OpsAI. The Vilnius office has already hired the first 9 employees for Kaunas and they expect to double the amount next year. The new staff will primarily consist of cloud engineers, and CLOUDEON expects the Lithuanian cloud talent to appreciate the opportunity to work in…

Checkout.com, a London-based cloud-based payments solutions provider, announces the acquisition of Estonian software development firm Icefire. The acquisition of Icefire and their 110 technology engineers will join Checkout.com’s global technology teams to accelerate the delivery of key products and features. The Tallinn office will become Checkout.com’s second-largest engineering hub, after its headquarters in London, UK. The payments company helps global enterprises achieve better performing payments to drive more revenue and deliver better customer experiences through a customisable platform. Customers of the company include the likes of Klarna, Revolut, and Wise. To fuel its product and market growth, Checkout.com has invested…

Noviti Finance, a provider of alternative business financing, has received an investment of €700,000 from Belgian private equity fund Helenos. The company said that the new funds will be used to strengthen its position in the local market but also accelerate international expansion. Established three years ago, Helenos aims to strengthen the capital base of financial intermediaries focused on supporting micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). The fund benefits from the support of the European Investment Fund (EIF) and several major Western European banks to promote long-term economic growth and social inclusion by encouraging entrepreneurship. Helenos is managed by Inpulse,…

Global professional services company Accenture has announced plans to establish a new ICT service center (Advanced Technology Center) in Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius. The center will open later in 2021 with the recruitment of a few dozen employees and the number of staff is expected to grow to a couple of hundred over the next few years. The new Vilnius office marks a significant expansion for Accenture’s operations in the Baltic states, which began in 2002 with the opening of an advanced technology center in Latvia, where Accenture employs a staff of more than 1,800 IT professionals. The center will focus…

Icelandic digital banking and finance solutions developer Meniga has signed a new partnership agreement with Nordea, a financial services groups in the Nordics, to continue the integration of its cashback rewards platform within the latter’s mobile banking app in Sweden. According to the agreement, Nordea will continue to offer personalised cashback rewards, which are tailored to individual spending profiles, to its customers in Sweden. Through the multi-bank platform, banks can seamlessly integrate, via Meniga’s cloud-based API, cashback rewards directly into their mobile banking applications, and provide their customers with various personalised, cashback rewards and discounts from retail brands. The platform…