Author: Fintechnews Baltic

XREX, a Taiwanese blockchain Fintech company, has chosen Lithuania as its entry point to the EU market. After recently becoming a crypto asset service provider in Lithuania, the company plans to entrust operations, AML, and other functions to its Lithuanian office. Taipei-headquartered XREX has developed a series of blockchain-driven products, including BitCheck, an online escrow service, and XREX Exchange, the world’s only crypto-fiat exchange that supports both the US dollar and the Indian rupee. Co-founded by cybersecurity expert Dr. Wayne Huang and serial entrepreneur Winston Hsiao, XREX aims to build long-lasting bridges between traditional finance and the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Raising…

Paystrax, a payment processing solutions provider, is planning to expand its team in Lithuania. With offices in Vilnius, Klaipėda, Reykjavik in Iceland, and Brighton in the UK, the company is looking to double its current 30-strong team in Lithuania over the next 12 months. “We have assembled a group of professionals with excellent knowledge of the environment that payment companies like Paystrax operate in. Our team has made a great start, and Paystrax is now ready to grow further,” says the company’s co-founder and CEO Johannes Kolbeinsson. Having developed successful Fintech ventures in Iceland, Paystrax co-founders chose Lithuania to establish…

The Bank of Lithuania has entrusted development issues to a specialised Centre for Financial Market Development in order to promote the continued successful growth of the country’s financial market. It will look for ways to strengthen the existing financial market participants and attract new ones, promote sustainable fintech development, implement capital market development measures. “Our country is known as one of the main fintech hubs in Europe. We want to go further and to boost the growth of the entire financial sector by increasing competition, access to services and strengthening the capital market, thereby creating high added value for our…

2021 was a record breaking year for the Baltic States’ startup landscape with a total of EUR 1.6 billion in capital raised, an amount that’s nearly three times the sum secured by the region’s startups in 2020, data from local seed stage venture capital (VC) fund Change Ventures show. The surge showcases a maturing startup ecosystem in the Baltics with growth rounds growing healthily and A rounds doubling versus the prior half year. Now, in 2022, it appears that the momentum is continuing, with Baltic startups, notably those in the fintech sector, securing significant rounds of funding to support their…

In the Baltic region, Estonia is emerging as a fintech powerhouse, having minted the most fintech unicorns and being home to the largest number of fintech minicorns, or startups on the rise to becoming billion dollar companies. A new infographic shared by Audrius Milukas, a venture capital (VC) investor at Open Circle Capital (OCC), showcases the Baltics’ booming tech startup ecosystem, putting the spotlight on the unicorns and minicorns that each country of the region has seen emerged over the years. Of the 13 startup unicorns founded by Baltic entrepreneurs and/or based in the region, three are fintech companies of…

Tink, Europe’s leading open banking platform, has announced the expansion of its open banking payments services to five new markets across Europe. Its Payment Initiation Services (PIS) product is now live in the Netherlands, Norway, Estonia, Finland and Latvia. Tink operates in 18 markets in total across Europe, connecting to over 250 million bank customers. Open banking payments, often called Pay by Bank, is a transfer of money from one bank account to another. The payment is initiated by Tink through an Application Programming Interface (API), but the user journey is completely embedded within the payment service provider (PSP) or…

Five payment acceptance startups were among the 15 selected to meet Mastercard in the Lighthouse FINITIV programme. Since its launch in 2018, Lighthouse FINITIV has created a forum for selected startups to enter partnership discussions with Mastercard and its largest Nordic and Baltic partner banks. This spring, the programme returns to Denmark, Norway and Lithuania, where once again “acceptance startups,” or startups focused on helping merchants accept payments, stood out as the most prominent theme. Since the programme’s founding, about 22 participating startups (18% of the 120 total companies admitted) have focused on payment acceptance, with the rest focusing on…

The Baltic states, namely Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, have seen the growth of a vibrant startup ecosystem over the past years. Today, the region is home to over 5,000 startups and scaleups, according to Dealroom, including 12 unicorns. To showcase the region’s hottest startups and most promising innovations, a number of large scale events are being organized in the Baltics each year. Today, we look at the top six upcoming fintech events taking place in the coming months in Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. These events are mostly focused on the broader tech scene, but with fintech taking such a big…

2021 was a successful year for Lithuania’s fintech industry with record funding volumes, an expanding startup ecosystem, and strong revenue growth for companies in the sector. The momentum is set to continue this year on ward, a new report says. This year’s Fintech Landscape in Lithuania, an annual report produced by the country’s investment promotion agency, Invest Lithuania, looks at the state of the country’s fintech ecosystem, sharing key growth metrics and emerging trends. According to the 2021-2022 study, fintech companies in Lithuania raised a record of EUR 65 million last year, representing more than four times what was raised…

In an effort to support Ukrainians fleeing the conflict, Incharge, a company built using Intergiro’s Banking as a Service solution “Intergiro.3d”, has created a banking services app specifically for refugees. The app will offer free banking services and physical or virtual debit cards to all Ukrainian nationals fleeing the country following the Russian invasion. The app was released exactly one month after the invasion began, which has now resulted in over 3.7 million people seeking refuge in bordering countries, with limited possessions and documentation. These refugees who require access to banking and financial services to buy essential goods, pay bills,…

Lunar, Nordic-based fintech company focused on the future of money for consumers and businesses, announced a €70 million Series D-2 funding round. It brings the Series D total to €280 million. Existing investors participated in the funding round following on the heels of last year’s Series D led by Heartland alongside Kinnevik, Tencent and IDC Ventures. Ken Villum Klausen, founder and CEO of Lunar, said: “We are grateful for the dedication and trust our investors have in Lunar and we will continue to invest in new ways to give more power to consumers and businesses. The new funding will enable…

BENKER, developed by BEM Europe that is headquartered in Lithuania, has been officially licensed to be what has been touted as the first blockchain neobank in Europe. Receiving the approval from the Bank of Lithuania on January 13, 2022 to operate as an Electronic Money Institution, BENKER said that is the first financial services provider in the European Union to operate entirely based on blockchain. The neobank will run on NATRIX, a hybrid blockchain designed for the financial sector. BENKER added that the service will not require any additional efforts from clients and meets all GDPR, bank privacy, and regulatory…

As businesses become more global, companies planning to relocate or expand are looking for cities that are attractive both for economic reasons and for the wellbeing of their employees. Finding locations matching these criteria may not be easy, but Vilnius definitely ticks these boxes. 1. Special attention and free support for relocation to Vilnius In mid-November, the new International House Vilnius service centre opened in Vilnius. It has partnered with 10 official Lithuanian institutions to help foreigners with services in English and Russian. International House Vilnius facilitates the process of obtaining a residence permit and compulsory health insurance, declaring your…

Zurich Insurance Group has agreed to acquire Estonia-based conversational AI company AlphaChat. AlphaChat’s customer service automation technology will help to enhance Zurich Insurance Group’s conversational AI capabilities, and support the development of Intelligent Virtual Assistants for both internal and external business purposes, a statement said. The 2017-founded startup provides a messaging automation product capable of understanding natural language, authenticating users, providing personalised responses and executing transactions. “We have spent decades to learn how to communicate with computers through different programming languages. Now it is time for computers to learn how to have a personal conversation with all of us. …

Revolut has received a banking license issued by the European Central Bank, following a proposal by the Lithuanian central bank. The company will now provide payment services in addition to its current activities of accepting deposits and granting loans in Lithuania, according to an announcement by Bank of Lithuania. Payment services include card payments, direct debit, credit transfer, cash withdrawal, money remittance, payment initiation, and account information services. Banking services were previously provided by Revolut Payments, Revolut’s Lithuania business arm that held an electronic money institution license. The Bank of Lithuania approved its merger with Revolut Bank at the beginning…

Estonia-based late venture investment marketplace Raison has secured US$900,000 in a seed funding round. The round values the company at US$11.5 million, and was led by family office Server Partners, according to a statement by the company. The company will use the funding to continue the development of innovative investment solutions and accelerate its international expansion. Raison had previously raised US$150,000 pre-seed funding from an angel investor in 2020. The company’s solution provides retail investors with access to late venture investment deals. This year, the platform added 10 new deals and increased its user base by more than 3x, exceeding…

The value of payment transactions by electronic money and payment institutions in Lithuania grew 6.3x year on year, and their income from licensed activities grew 4.8x, in Q3 this year. According to the Bank of Lithuania, the value of payment transactions by electronic money and payment institutions reached EUR157.6 billion in Q3, growing 29.4% compared to Q2. Companies earned EUR333.6 million from licensed activities, from EUR264.8 million last year. EMIs earned 94% and PIs earned 6% of this income. Further, one market participant held 51% of market share by income from licensed activities, and 63% in terms of the value…

Denmark-based B2B spend management service Pleo has raised US$200 million in a Series C extension round. It now brings the company’s total Series C round to US$350 million. The round was raised at a valuation of US$4.7 billion, according to an announcement by Pleo. The company’s total funding now stands at US$427.5 million. The Series C extension was led by Coatue Management, with participation from Alkeon Capital, as well as Stripes, Kinnevik, Creandum, Founders and Seedcamp. Funding will be used to expand across 15 new European markets, including Finland, Austria, Portugal, Netherlands and France. The company is also looking to…

The fintech industry in the Nordic region, which comprises Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, saw strong funding growth in 2021 with record deal amounts. Out of the ten biggest funding rounds announced this year, Sweden leads the chart with seven deals, followed by Denmark with two and Finland with one. Sweden’s buy now, pay later (BNPL) giant Klarna closed the two largest rounds but neobanking was the most represented fintech segment with big sums going towards the likes of Lunar and Northmill Bank. Other categories were also represented as well including financial management and insurtech. Klarna – US$1 billion…

European Card-as-a-Service (CaaS) platform Enfuce has raised EUR45 million in a Series C round. The round was led by growth investor Vitruvian Partners, with participation from Tencent, a statement from the company said. The funding will be used to drive global growth and boost the development of the company’s technology platform. The 2016-founded card issuing platform has more than 13 million active card users, with Enfuce processing nearly EUR 1 billion in transactions annually. More recently, the company expanded its presence to Germany and France as well. Enfuce claims to be the first fintech company in Europe to run a…