Finland-based startup Rundit, a platform for portfolio management and monitoring, has raised € 1 million in seed funding. The round was led by two new angel investors, including Pierre Weimerskirch, board member of several PE and VC funds and the LPEA Luxembourg Private Equity Association. The capital will be used for scaling across Europe and the US, while improving Rundit’s product offering for GPs. To date, Rundit has raised a total of €1.6M in funding. The company reportedly has customers worldwide in 28 countries, including over 300 VCs whose portfolio companies are valued from pre-seed to unicorn. “We are excited…

Meniga, an Iceland based AI-driven digital banking solutions provider, has partnered with Swedbank to launch new services to increase customer engagement. The new digital banking solution is now live at all of Swedbank’s markets in Sweden, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. Utilising Meniga’s data-driven digital banking technology, the bank’s online banking portal and mobile app has been developed to boost customer engagement and improve the overall digital user experience of Swedbank’s customers. The new functionalities, which are driven by personalised banking data, will offer an easy-to-use and secure solution for everyday banking, helping users to better understand and take control of their…

Sberbank, state-owned Russian banking and financial services company, and 500 Startups, early-stage venture fund and seed accelerator, now accepts international entries for its third IT startup accelerator. The closing date for applications is January 10, 2021. The accelerator is a tech entrepreneur programme relying on the capabilities of Sberbank as well as the expertise and experience of 500 Startups. The third batch of the accelerator is said to differ from its previous ones. The accelerator has expanded its geography by accepting applications from startups from beyond Russia including countries like Israel, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. In addition to…

Nasdaq will expand its footprint in Lithuania by adding up to 100 new technology job at its Vilnius office through an initiative with Invest Lithuania, a non-profit organisation owned by the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Lithuania. Since launching its Global Technology and Business Services in Vilnius in 2015, Nasdaq has expanded its employee base from 30 to 390 employees over five years, making the Vilnius office Nasdaq’s second largest office in Europe and third largest globally. The primary areas of growth and development for hiring talent will include software development, quality assurance, cloud engineering, cyber security, business…

The European Central Bank (ECB) granted its sixth specialised bank license to Crius LT, UAB following the assessment and proposal of the Bank of Lithuania. The main difference between a specialised and a full-range bank is that the former is not authorised to provide investment services. The opportunity to establish a specialised bank was introduced in 2017 and the authorisation process usually lasts for roughly a year. Having secured the license, Crius LT, UAB is expected to start its activities as a payment-focused bank and offer financial services to its business customers which includes small and medium-sized enterprises, e-commerce firms…

MUFG Investor Services FinTech Limited has announced its plans to open a representative office in Lithuania, it’s first office in the country. The location’s aim will be to attract new talent in the region to grow the firm’s existing team of technology professionals. The MUFG Investor Services gained a fintech arm following the acquisition of post-trade startup Point Nine and rebranded as MUFG Investor Services FinTech Limited (MUFG ISFT). According to Pavlos Christoforou, CEO and CTO at MUFG ISFT, the presence in Lithuania will allow the company to increase its agility and flexibility in the changing business landscape. MUFG ISFT…

The Bank of Lithuania issued electronic money institution licenses to UK companies FIDELIS EUROPE, UAB, and DiPocket, UAB. This authorises them to issue electronic money and provide payment services set forth in the Republic of Lithuania Law on payments. Following Brexit, the activities of two UK-based companies will be transferred to these licensed institutions. Activities of Probitas Fidelis Limited, a payment institution licensed in the UK, will be transferred to FIDELIS EUROPE, UAB. It will open accounts for its customers, provide cash deposit and withdrawal services, execute payment transactions, including where funds are covered by a credit line for a…

TechChill, a non-profit organisation fostering the Latvian and Baltic startup ecosystem, has singled out ten up-and-coming startups that we should keep an eye out for. The two fintech startups that made it on that list includes Nordigen and Jeff App. All of these startups are also featured in the online pavilion at Slush set up by TechChill and Investment and Development Agency of Latvia. Latvia has a booming startup ecosystem and a high number of up-and-comers and experienced startups, several of which have already proven themselves. There are several advantages that ensure that Latvia is a great place for startups…

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has backed Lithuanian-based neobank, SME Finance, with a funding of EUR 80 million. It is said to be the largest investment awarded by EIB to a fintech lender. SME Finance had announced their intentions of launching a neobank targeting small and medium-sized enterprises by mid-2021. SME Finance will use the investment to meet the working capital financing needs of enterprises through its fully automated self-service factoring platform. “Given the current working capital constraints facing small and medium-sized enterprises and the substantially reduced availability of bank loans in the region, this is a timely and much-needed…

Amazon has launched its first Nordic online store with the domain name of Amzon.se as part of its expansion plan into Europe. “We are thrilled to launch Amazon.se and to be able to offer Swedish customers a selection of more than 150 million products, including tens of thousands of products from local Swedish businesses,” said Alex Ootes, Vice President, European Expansion for Amazon. “Today is only the start of Amazon.se. We will continue to work hard to earn the trust of Swedish customers by growing our product range, ensuring low prices, and providing a convenient and trusted shopping experience.” Swedish…

Nordic health company Terveystalo has turned billboards into disinfectant terminals that can supposedly clean a phone in only 15 seconds with UVC light. The billboards are located in Helsinki and Turku in southern Finland. There is a small hatch in the billboard where people can place their smartphone for cleaning. However, exposure to UVC light can cause skin irritation and in extreme cases loss of sight. Safety of the user is secured by the fact that the UVC light in the billboards turns on only when the hatch is closed. Terveystalo reassures the public that it is physically impossible for…

The Board of the Bank of Lithuania has granted an electronic money institution license to Curve Europe UAB, a subsidiary of Curve OS Limited, an electronic money institution licensed in the UK. This move authorises it to issue electronic money and provide certain payment services set forth in the Republic of Lithuania Law on Payments. Following Brexit, the activities of Curve OS will be transferred to Curve Europe UAB. The institution intends to provide electronic money services, execute payment transactions, offer cash withdrawal services, issue payment instruments, as well as provide payment initiation, account information and currency exchange services. It…

Estonian startup Garage48 has concluded its 4th Cyber Security Hackathon on the 23rd to 25th of October, announcing the list of winning startups. The hackathon was organised in collaboration with Institute of Computer Science at the University of Tartu, Sentinel, Telia Eesti, Rangeforce, Tele2 Estonia, Startup Wise Guys, NjordLaw among others. The aim of the event was to grow, nourish and expand the cybersecurity community and to secure cyberspace through solving various challenging problems by developing working prototypes with an intensive weekend hackathon marathon. The event brought in close to 170 applications and 29 ideas got presented. From those, 18…

PayRay Bank has continued its planned expansion and has started operations in Latvia. Factoring services and loans are already being offered to the businesses in that country. In the future, the range of services provided will be supplemented by other relevant lending solutions. “We base our activities on a long-term development strategy and we are currently implementing our geographical development plan by starting to provide services to business customers in Latvia. When we were planning actions and analysing the situation in this market, we could see many similarities with Lithuania – for example, the structure of the small and medium…

Lithuanian fintech startup SME Finance is planning to launch a neobank targeting small and medium-sized enterprises in mid-2021. The bank will only be operating online via a mobile app, providing financial services such as loans, transfers and deposits. Mindaugas Mikalajūnas, CEO of SME Finance said, ‘We were already thinking about a neobank when we were founding SME Finance but first of all we wanted to create a strong base of clients and capital, and to wait for the time when a bigger demand for banking services of this type is developed in the market. We believe that now is the…

PayRay, a Lithuanian fintech company, has now launched its banking operations after securing a banking license from the European Central Bank (ECB). The bank will soon start accepting deposits from Lithuanian customers (private individuals), which will be accepted in Euros for a period ranging from six months to five years. The deposits will take place via the online platform Raisin – the first pan-European deposit marketplace that currently cooperates with more than 90 banks. The business service portfolio of PayRay includes both factoring and loans. Credit is provided in cooperation with the company INVEGA, while solutions for farmers are developed…

Norway-based biometric fintech Zwipe and TietoEVRY, a provider of software and digital banking services in the Nordics, have agreed to jointly roll out biometric payment solutions based on the Zwipe Pay ONE platform. With the recent surge in demand for safer and more secure payments, TietoEVRY is embracing biometric payment innovations that enable more hygienic, secure and convenient payments for consumers. As part of this commercial agreement, Zwipe will provide TietoEVRY with technical support towards biometric payment card integration, enrollment solutions, and a complete end-to-end advisory offering aimed at helping banks to successfully deploy biometric payment solutions. TietoEVRY will source…

Xolo, announced the appointment of Elina Räsänen as their new Chief Marketing Officer starting from November, 2020. The Estonian-based company provides a SaaS platform for solopreneurs aimed at making starting and running a modern microbusiness easier. She brings over a decade of expertise in brand building and growth marketing to Xolo. In her new role, Elina will be responsible for scaling Xolo’s marketing activities and ramping up growth efforts across all markets. She will oversee the company’s marketing activities from performance and lifecycle marketing to brand, PR and content marketing, bringing these functions together to further establish Xolo as the…

The September edition of the “Payment Radar” by the Bank of Latvia revealed that the COVID-19 and related restrictive measures significantly affected payment habits in Latvia over this year. The central bank’s report found that the total volume of non-cash payments edged down for the first time. At the same time, the share of non-cash payments in the total volume of payments is gradually increasing. The “Payment Radar”, published semi-annually, contains the latest information on money usage habits of Latvia’s households, businesses and the public at large. Development of the proportion and interaction between non-cash and cash payments (as at August…

The Bank of Lithuania, together with ACAMS Baltics Chapter, Fintech Hub LT and the Association of Lithuanian Banks, organised a virtual international conference to discuss topical issues and ways for further improving the AML/CTF framework. The “Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing: From Challenges to Possibilities” conference revealed that anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing (AML/CTF) professionals strive for cooperation crossing not only institutional but also national borders. Experts from supervisory and financial intelligence institutions, together with representatives of various associations, shared their knowledge on AML/CTF measures, challenges they are currently facing and future opportunities to enhance the AML/CTF system. One…