Fintech in CEE: Startups, Focus, Market Comparison, Funding Trends
Fintech in CEE: Startups, Focus, Market Comparison, Funding Trends
More than two-thirds of the people in Central and Eastern Europe will […]
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Fintech
© Norma Mortenson, Pexels
Wirecard: Is The Fintech Party Over And What Could Be The Effects In SEE
In 2014 Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg changed his motto “Move Fast and […]
Hristo Borisov CEO, left and Thomas Westerhoven, Country Manager - Germany, right ©Payhawk
strategic partnership
Expense Management Startup Payhawk Partners with Visa to Issue Business Cards in 13 European Countries
“The problems SMEs face across Europe are pretty much the same: slow […]
Ivo Vasilev (l) and Miroslav Bekyarov, co-founders of Reloyalty © Reloyalty
founders’ stories
Startups In Times Of Crisis Vol.9: Retail Loyalty Startup Reloyalty Launches New Crowdfunding Platform
Which startups won’t make it and which will go out of the […]
In the first edition, in 2018, year e-identification startup Evrotrust made it to the national finals of Elevator Lab Challenge and is now preparing PoCs in Romania and Albania. ©Raiffeisenbank
opportunity
Raiffeisenbank’s Elevator Lab Opens Applications For Startups With Database Analysis and Loyalty Solutions
Fintech companies from all over the world that develop solutions in the […]
Patrick and John Collison, co-founders of Stripe © Stripe
digital payments
Payment Giant Stripe Launches in Bulgaria and Romania
Stripe, the $30B+ payment platform provider from Silicon Valley announced it’s […]
Konstantin Djelebov, CEO of Phyre ©Phyre
deal
Phyre: The Bulgarian E-Wallet Startup That Raised €1.55M To Build A Mobile Payment Ecosystem
With so many different mobile wallets on the market, it’s sometimes hard […]
© PayByFace
Pay With Face, Insurance Via Smartphone & More: The Five Fintech Disruptors In The New Visa Corporate Acceleration Program In Bulgaria
Around one and a half years ago, a young fintech startup that […]
Phyre, the company behind mobile wallet of the same name is one of the first investments of New Vision 2 © Phyre
💸💸💸
Bulgarian VC New Vision 3 Invests Its First €2.5M In Three Fintech Companies
The local ecosystem has been waiting for this moment for quite some […]
deal
Bulgarian Expenses Management Startup Payhawk Raises A Seven Digit Seed Round Led By Top-Tier VC Earlybird
deal
Bulgarian Expenses Management Startup Payhawk Raises A Seven Digit Seed Round Led By Top-Tier VC Earlybird
Less than two years after its start, the Bulgarian fintech startup Payhawk […]
© Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
guest article
An Introduction To Decentralized Finance: Blockchain’s New Killer Use Case
Into blockchain technology since 2013, Vladislav Dramaliev is one of the founders […]
© Pexels
digital payments
Viber Now Offers Peer To Peer Payments Also In Romania
Following the rollouts in Hungary and Ukraine last year, Viber now announces […]
© Pixabay
deal
Data Science Startup A4Everyone Picks Up Six Digit Investment To Grow And Expand
“Automation of many business processes is a fact in a wide range […]
FintechOS co-foudners Sergiu Negut (l) and Teodor Blidarus © FintechOS
deal
UK- Romanian FintechOS Raises €12.6M Series A To Expand Globally And Help Banks Easily Launch New Digital Products
It’s been seven short months since UK-Romanian fintech company FintechOS raised its […]
© Eleven Ventures
fintech
Visa Innovation Program Opens Applications For Fintech Startups And This Time It Features Potential Funding From Eleven Ventures
For the second year in a row, the Visa Innovation Program, facilitated […]
The executive team of LogSentinel © LogSentinel
investment
InfoSec Startup LogSentinel Raises Its First Million And Speeds Up Expansion In Europe
After winning a series of contests and awards in the past year […]
fintech
UK-Greek Money Management Chatbot Plum Raises Another $3m To Help More Europeans Save Up
fintech
UK-Greek Money Management Chatbot Plum Raises Another $3m To Help More Europeans Save Up
The based between London and Athens fintech company Plum has just closed […]
© facebook
digital payments
Forget About Libra. Meet Facebook Pay.
After the crypto micropayment project Libra was not as warmly welcomed by […]
NFC Payments © Jonas Leupe/ Unsplash
fintech
This Week In Fintech: Banks In Bulgaria On The Road To Digitalization
It’s been another eventful week for the Bulgarian fintech universe. Local financial […]
© Phyre
fintech
After Revolut and Monese, Bulgarian Mobile Wallet Phyre Now Also Works With Apple Pay
It’s been four months since bank challengers Revolut and Monese partnered with […]
© Pixabay
fintech
Messenger App Viber Is Launching Peer-To-Peer Money Transfers In CEE
Starting from Hungary and gradually adding other Eastern European markets in the […]
© Revolut
fintech
Challenger Bank Revolut: Growing Customer Base, Growing Revenue, And … Growing Loss
Every two weeks a press release by Revolut lands in our mailboxes […]
© Pixabay
regulations
Anti Money Laundering Compliance and the Fight Against Financial Crime: What Fintechs Should Pay Attention To
How should fintech stay compliant? What are the challenges and opportunities? How […]
©TransferWise
unicorn
TransferWise: The European Fintech That Is Actually Profitable (!!!)
Many press releases reach our editorial mailbox. Most of them deal with […]
Accenture Study: Startups May Grab A $280b Slice of Banks’ Pie By 2025
Free payments and cheap transfers, like the ones provided by Revolut, TransferWise, […]
© sumup
mapping
Fintech in Bulgaria: Who is Who In Ten Words
With close to 70 companies in this domain, Bulgaria is an evolving […]
© pixabay
In-Depth Report
Fintech In Bulgaria: The Highest Number Of Companies in SEE And €80M Of Venture Capital Investments
Several reports have suggested it so far: Bulgaria is an evolving fintech […]
ranking
FT Intelligence Division: Sofia Is The Most Cost-Effective Fintech City Globally
In its latest report ranking the Fintech Locations of the Future fDi, […]
eCollect has it's largest team in Bulgaria © Trending Topics
hidden fintech champion
The New Generation of Digital Debt Collectors That Comes From Sofia
Tough men with large biceps knocking on the door ready to beat […]
Tether-Logo. © Tether / Montage Trending Topics
cryptocurrencies
Tether: The Controversial Bitcoin Pump
Bitcoin dominates the market – BTC’s market capitalization now accounts for almost […]
Christof De Mil, Innovation leader at UBB © UBB
UBB Innovation Leader
Ideally, To Boost Innovation Spirit, You Would Allow Your Staff To Go Away For Three Months And Work With A Startup
Observing the ongoing trend of corporates, also locally, investing in innovation and […]
Revolut and Monese are opening the door to Apple Pay in Bulgaria. © Unsplash
partnership
Apple Pay Is Now Available In Bulgaria Through Revolut and Monese
Bulgarian users can finally benefit from Apple Pay. The UK fintech unicorn […]
useful
How To Revolut in Bulgaria
Ever since its establishment in 2015, the UK neobank Revolut is aiming […]
Liselotte Munk, digital transformation thought leader and CEO of Fadata ©Fadata
Interview
Insurtech Thought Leader: It Might Get Relevant For Google, Amazon and Facebook To Enter The Sector
Liselotte Munk has been working in the technology sector for more than […]
Tom Blomfield and Jonas Huckestein from Monzo. © Monzo
race
Monzo: The UK Neobank Reaches $2.5B Valuation
In the race between N26 and Revolut one player is often forgotten: […]
Beez mission is to help educate online shoppers and encourage them to save money from online shopping © Pexels
Online shopping
Beez: The Romanian Startup Offering Alternative To Credit Card Debt Raises €250K And Expands In The UK
How many times were you browsing online and end up finding the […]
Biometric data is getting a thing in the fintech world ©Pixabay
study
Fingerprints, Face and Voice For Payments: Is the Bulgarian Consumer Ready To Adopt That?
Using fingerprints, face or voice recognition is already used to authenticate […]
©Klear
deal
P2P Lending Platform Klear Receives €750K Boost From Varengold Bank
The Bulgarian peer-to-peer lending platform Klear has secured a €750K investment to […]
©Revolut
Savings
Neobank Revolut Is Now Targeting Families And Kids
The UK fintech unicorn Revolut is expanding its saving tools by launching […]
28% global banking business at risk to fintech by 2020, FintechOS says ©Unsplash
investment
FintechOS: UK-Romanian Fintech Closes €1.1M Round To Save Banks from Fintech Disrupters
The UK based and led by Romanians fintech company FintechOS has just […]
Banks have started opening up towards startups, and Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria now invites fintech companies to pitch their products © Elevator Lab
Sponsored Story
Raiffeisen Elevator Lab Opens a Call for Fintech Startups. Read This Before You Apply
“When we started out we had a rather basic rules engine for […]
“We are the guardians of truth on the Blockchain!,” Anton Gerunov, COO of Logsentinel, summarized at the end of his pitch. ©Sebastian Kreuzberger
award
Bulgarian Infosec Startup LogSentinel Wins GovTech.Pioneers in Vienna
April 2 was another good day for the new sister cities Sofia […]
Krassimira Raycheva of Visa and Daniel Tomov of Eleven Ventures presented the new acceleration program ©Eleven Ventures
cvc
Applications for Fintech Corporate Accelerator of Visa and Eleven Ventures are Now Open
Up until June 7, fintech startups can apply for the corporate acceleration […]
© Revolut
fintech
Revolut Aims to Have 100K Users and in Bulgaria by the End of 2019
The neobank Revolut continues its expansion in Bulgaria: it is looking for […]
© Coinbase
cards
Coinbase Issues Cards and Lets Users Pay with Crypto in the Stores
How many cards does a person need in a wallet? After N26, […]
#expertsforecsts #video
The Next Big Thing in Fintech
Trending Topics sneaked into one of the flagship fintech events in CEE, […]
Wearables might influence insurance primes. How come? ©Pixabay
#Insurtech #expertsforecast
The Next Big Thing in Insurtech: IoT and Blockchain will Bring Back Fairness
By 2025, there will be a trillion sensors in the world, and […]
Tal Sharon, Equitech, announced a new CEE FinTech Academy
Learning
A FinTech Academy for the CEE Region To Be Launched in Sofia
Bulgarian fintech think tank Sophia Lab is joining forces with Israeli consultancy […]
© Revolut
#lowerfees
Revolut Launches Current Accounts in Bulgarian Lev
Neobank Revolut launches current accounts in Bulgarian Lev (BGN). This feature was […]
Alex Zhigarev, partner at Speedinvest ©Si
Interview
Investor: If Banks are Smart, They will Become the Platform for New Generation Fintech Startups
Alex Zhigarev is a partner at the Austrian investment fund Speedinvest and […]
Diana Medanova, COO of bsurance and insurtech expert ©bsurance
Interview
InsurTech Innovations Come From Western Europe but are Received Better on the Eastern Markets
Diana Medanova founded her first company in 2008 because she was not […]
© Fintech Summit
Annual Fintech Summit
Bulgaria Is a Fintech R&D Hub. But When Will it be a Market for Piloting Fintech Innovations?
Is Bulgaria only an R&D center that serves the global financial industry? […]
Boyko Karadzhov (l) and Hristo Borisov recognized the problem Payhawk is solving during their time at Progress. ©Jordan Mihajlov, TrendingTopics.bg
investment
Payhawk.io: The Bulgarian Fintech Startup That Helps SMEs Deal with Expenses
Remember the last time you had to buy something for the company […]
Momchil Elenkov is responsible for the Viber strategic commercial partnerships with mobile operators on group level as well as in various markets worldwide. His fields of action also include tech-projects related to Fintech, AI, Chat-bots, B2B and B2C- communication between corporations and end-users via the Viber-ecosystem. ©Rakuten Viber
Interview
Viber: We are Discussing Services Related to Payments and Peer-to-Peer Exchanges in CEE
The Western part of Europe and the US have Messenger and WhatsApp. […]
industry report
Could Bulgaria Be the Next Fintech R&D Hub of Europe?
Fintech sector in Europe is growing at a high pace. There is […]
mini survey
Biometry, AI, QR Code Payments and What Else to Expect from The Fintech Sector in Bulgaria This Year
The excitement around fintech is growing tremendously. New players are entering the […]
P2P lending is on the rise in Bulgaria - not only companies are growing, but other players are joining the sector and the market responds well. ©Pexels
Overview
P2P Lending in Bulgaria: A Rising Fintech Segment at a Glance
In the past two years individuals have invested close to €45M through […]
Failures and Consolidation expected on the P2P lending market. Wonder why? ©Pexels
expectations
The Number of P2P Lending Startups Will Decrease in 2019
In one of our latest publications, we explored the Bulgarian P2P market […]
Alexander Terziyski ©BVCA
Funding
NEVEQ 3: New Vision Fund has at Least €20M fresh capital for AI, Blockchain and Fintech Startups
The partners of the VC with the longest history in Bulgaria – […]
Smart pinguin Charlie has reveived another round to continue reduce financial anxiety among young adults ©Charlie Finance
Diaspora
Led by Bulgarian Entrepreneur US Smart Finance Startup Charlie has Just Raised $9M
The US startup Charlie Finance that has been on a mission to […]
"Over the next two to three years we will see a much more vivid Fintech scene worldwide and also in South East Europe, including Romania and Bulgaria. We will support those pioneers with our products in order to help them scale their businesses up”, Sergey Panteleev, GM of Varengold Sofia, stated.©Varengold
Expansion
Fintech Centric German Bank Varengold Launches Bulgarian Operations
The Germany-based bank Varengold, which specializes in debt financing for fintech […]
Revolut is expanding its currency portfolio in CEE and will soon launch Bulgarian lev, Dimitris Litsikakis, Country Manager Greece at Revolut ©CEE Block
😲
Revolut Starts Offering Traditional Banking Services and Will Roll Out In Bulgaria as Soon as it Obtains a Local Currency License
The race of the European Challenger banks, which we experienced in 2018, […]
The partnership between Sofia and Vienna aims to support startups from both cities to enter the other respective market ©Pixabay
Locations
Sofia Signs an Agreement with Vienna to Boost Startups and Especially Fintechs
The Bulgarian and Austrian municipalities have officially entered into a partnership […]
Anton Gerunov and Bozhidar Bozhanov of Log Sentinel. © Raiffeisen
Security
LogSentinel: Raiffeisen tests integration with Bulgarian blockchain startup
Bulgarian information security blockchain startup LogSentinel is starting to […]
Krassimira Raycheva of Visa and Daniel Tomov of Eleven Ventures presented the new acceleration program ©Eleven Ventures
Fintech
Visa Collaborates with Bulgarian Fund Eleven Ventures to Accelerate Digital Payment Startups
The early stage investment fund Evelen and the digital payments leader Visa […]
Kalin Radev, CEO of Software Group had 15 years of experience in IT and microfinancing before founding the company. ©Software Group
Deal
Bulgarian IT company Software Group that works in the field of financial inclusion has just raised €3.2M
Bulgarian Software Group that provides software solutions to financing institutions […]
Stoytcho Vlaykov, co-founder of Cashwave
Sponsored Story
Cashwave & Visa Innovation Program: “Thanks to the mentorship and the methodologies we refined our strategy and launched a new product”
“My motivation to enter the Visa Innovation Program was that our industry […]
Sponsored Story
NOTO & Visa Innovation Program: “We received really good market validation and visibility in the local banking market”
“The major challenge for a regtech startup is to gain a portfolio […]
Sponsored Story
A4Everyone & Visa Innovation Program: “This was an opportunity to test whether we can work with multinational enterprises”
One year ago when they were chosen for the Visa Innovation Program, […]
Elevator Lab Raiffeisen Fintech Startups
Sponsored Story
Elevator Lab: Raiffeisenbank’s new approach to working more effectively with fintech startups
With recent pandemic related events, many businesses accelerated their digital […]
Payhawk during Visa Innovation Program
Sponsored Story
Payhawk & Visa Innovation Program: “They helped us with the execution and the validation phase on 13 markets”
“We started talking to Visa when we actually still didn’t have a […]
© Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria
Sponsored Story
Fast Track To Paid Pilots For Fintech Startups: Raiffeisen Bank International’s Elevator Lab Comes Back With New Enhanced Design
Fintech companies from all over the world that develop solutions in the […]
