The Baltic states, namely Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, are becoming active in the fintech sector, thanks to a number of startups are putting the region on the map.
TransferWise, which was started by Estonians Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus in 2011, is a peer-to-peer money transfer platform and one of Europe’s few truly global tech success stories. Since launch, TransferWise has attracted investment from some of the hottest names in tech, including Richard Branson, Peter Thiel and Andreessen Horowitz, and is worth over a billion dollars.
Latvian native fintech firm Creamfinance has been named one of the fastest growing fintech companies in the world. Creamfinance provides consumer loans as well as other financial products and operates several brands including CreditOn, LendOn, and CreditOne. The company relocated its headquarters from Riga, Latvia to Warsaw, Poland at the end of 2015.
Following the lead of their predecessors, today, we look at some of the Baltics’ most promising fintech startups and rising stars.
Swaper
Swaper is a peer-to-peer marketplace developed by Wandoo Finance Group that connects borrowers with investors. The young company, which was just founded last this year, specializes in fintech solutions.
The platform lets you add funds to your account, discover and choose investment opportunities, and track your portfolio in a convenient and seamless manner. Swaper is available on desktop and mobile apps.
Swaper promises 12% returns to loan investors, for loyalty program members even 14% interest. It claims to be the first peer-to-peer lending platform developed with the help of investors.
Fortumo
Founded in 2007 in Estonia, Fortumo is an international mobile payment provider. The company offers various mobile payment solutions for web services and mobile applications.
Fortumo services allow customers to make mobile payments in over 90 countries on six continents, with a strong focus on emerging markets. It has offices in in Estonia (Tartu & Tallinn), USA (San Francisco), China (Beijing), India (Delhi), Singapore and Vietnam (Hanoi).
Inzmo
Inzmo is an Estonian insurtech startup helping insurance companies to become more effective by reducing the costs of sales and administration and reducing the risk of insurance fraud.
Inzmo provides wide range of insurance products including coverage for cars, electronics, bicycles, motorcycles, household, travelling and accidents.
Its technology allows to verify in real-time if the insured objects exist over the smartphone camera of the client. The videos shot by the customers allow to process insurance claims properly and reduce the risk of insurance fraud at the moment of insuring.
Inzmo has established multiple channels for customer acquisition including Inzmo’s mobile-app, website dashboard and API’s.
Pocopay
Estonian Pocopay is a digital bank targeted at millennials. Launched earlier this year, the mobile app lets users in Netherlands, Spain and Estonia open a banking account within minutes. Through the app, customers can manage their finances, make and receive payments, as well as apply for a Pocopay debit MasterCard and other financial services.
Pocopay is a fully authorized payments institution and is regulated and licensed by the Estonian FSA.
Savy
Savy is a peer-to-peer online lending marketplace in Lithuania connecting local borrowers with European investors.
Unlike other peer-to-peer lending platforms, Savy operates in a different way: Savy does not use deposit account to collect money or distribute payments. Savy connects borrowers and investors directly via their bank accounts. This enables to avoid regulation rules in most of EU countries. Loan agreements are made directly between borrowers and investors.
Loans are structured as annuities, borrowers repay loans back on a monthly basis and returns are transferred to the investors. Loan agreements are made between borrowers and investors, all payments are made automatically.
Monea
Founded in 2013 and based in Latvia, Monea is a micropayments mobile app that lets users send money to and receive money from their phonebook contacts within minutes at a minimal cost.
Monea is licensed by the Finance and Capital Markets Commission and cooperates with major banks in Latvia, including Swedbank, SEB, Citadele and Nordea. The company plans to expand in Europe, starting with neighboring Baltic countries.
Monea has raised over US$1 million in venture capital.
Mintos
Mintos is a peer-to-peer lending marketplace that enables investors to invest in loans originated by non-bank lenders. Investors can finance business, car, mortgage, and personal loans, and invoices. Borrowers apply for a loan at the loan originator, after which the loan originator evaluates the application and sets an interest rate before lending money from its own funds.
Since December 2016, Mintos has been offering multi-currency investment opportunities. Mintos serves over 16,000 investors from 50 countries worldwide and has helped raise over EUR 100 million worth of loans.
Mintos was founded in May 2014 and is based in Riga, Latvia. The startup has raised over US$2.2 million in funding so far.
Twino
Twino, formerly known as Finabay, is a marketplace lender operating across nine countries. The company started operations in 2009 in Latvia and has originated over EUR 380 million in unsecured consumer loans since then.
In 2015, Twino launched an investment marketplace, offering investors from across Europe the opportunity to earn premium returns by investing in unsecured consumer loans originated by its daughter companies in Poland, Georgia, Denmark and Russia.
Swipe
Founded in 2015 in Latvia, Swipe is an all-in-one invoicing and payments solution for merchants serving more than 40 countries and supporting 13 currencies.
The platform lets users create an invoice within a minute and delivered to any device or platform: email, SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook, etc. 70% of Swipe invoices are paid instantly with any Visa or MasterCard. The rest will receive timely and professional reminders.
Featured image: Riga pinned on a map of Europe by Dmitry Kaminsky, via Shutterstock.com.
