Fintech is a constantly growing sector: here are the best companies in Europe.
Europe is among the major global players in fintech, as emerges from an analysis by McKinsey & Company, dated October 26, 2022.
Despite the negative impact caused by the deteriorating economic situation, the sector is continuing to gain strength and relevance. In each of the most economically important European countries there is at least one fintech company in the top 5 banking institutions. The sector is mainly driven by the United Kingdom and Sweden, followed by Malta, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Estonia, Ireland, the Netherlands and Denmark.
To better understand the situation and understand the evolution of fintech in Europe, we have selected 20 fintech companies that are changing the world of finance through technology.
Klarna
Sector: Payments
Country: Sweden
Klarna is Sweden’s largest fintech company and one of the largest online payments companies in Europe. Thanks to the platform, more than 450,000 companies active in 45 countries can sell products online quickly and securely and connect with over 150 million customers from all over the world.
Founded in 2005, Klarna has raised investments for over €3 billion and currently has an evaluation of €6.7 billion. A figure that, however, pales in comparison with the previous one: 46.5 billion euros.
It was among the first fintech companies to launch the Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) system.
Revolut
Sector: Payments
Country: United Kingdom
Born in 2015 in the United Kingdom, Revolut allows its 20 million personal account users and 950,000 business accounts to manage their money with the utmost simplicity. Through the app you can make payments for daily expenses, you can save money thanks to special piggy banks and you can invest in cryptocurrencies and precious metals.
In 2022, London fintech reached a valuation of around $33 billion, up six times from the five billion in 2021.
Revolut has a banking license issued by the European Union which allows it to operate in the Eurozone. The EU headquarters is in Lithuania.
Tink
Sector: Open banking
Country: Sweden
Tink is a Swedish fintech founded in 2012 which quickly established itself as a solid open banking platform with the aim of improving and facilitating the provision of the most common financial services. Today Tink is connected with over 3,400 banks and institutions, allowing them access to the financial data of over 250 million consumers across Europe through the PSD2 directive.
Wise
Sector: Payments
Country: Belgium
Previously known as TransferWise, today the new brand is Wise, and it is the international payment platform that allows you to transfer money online quickly and easily at minimal commissions and in total transparency to the benefit of its 13 million users worldwide.
Wise was founded in 2011 in the UK, but after Brexit established its new headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. To date, it has raised €1.1 billion in funds.
Qonto
Sector: Digital banking
Country: France
Qonto is a Paris-based digital bank that has been operating in France since 2016 and also in Spain, Germany and Italy since 2019. This neobank offers banking services exclusively to SMEs and freelancers who need to simplify the financial management of the company through an easy-to-use account. Among its services, Qonto allows you to set up a Co. Ltd or innovative startup directly online.
Over the past 5 years, Qonto has raised investments of 136 million euro and won the trust of 300,000 companies.
Adyen
Sector: Payments
Country: Holland
Adyen is one of Europe’s most successful fintech companies in the payments industry. Founded in 2006, it has its headquarters in Amsterdam, but today it has 26 other offices around the world.
The Dutch company has managed to build a state-of-the-art online, mobile and card payment management platform, paying particular attention to fraud prevention.
In 2020, Adyen reported net revenues of over 680 million euros, up 28% year-over-year.
N26
Sector: Digital banking
Country: Germany
Germany is one of the European countries that have raised the most funding in the fintech sector. The undisputed giant of German fintech is the N26 digital bank, which allows you to manage your daily expenses via smartphone and which has reached 7 million users from all over the world.
To date, the Berlin neobank has made 1.8 billion in loans.
Satispay
Sector: Payments
Country: Italy
The Italian fintech Satispay, founded in 2013, is a payment system that allows its nearly 2 million users to purchase products in partner shops, send and receive payments and exchange money quickly and securely .
In September 2022, Satispay became a unicorn (a start-up with more than €1 billion in value). The company can count on 3 million customers distributed throughout Italy and aims to achieve even better results in the coming years.
Outside of Italy, Satispay is also present in Germany and aims for greater expansion in the rest of Europe.
Casavo
Sector: Real estate
Country: Italy
Casavo is an Italian startup in the real estate sector which aims to simplify and speed up the process of selling homes.
As an instant buyer, the Milanese proptech acquires properties at no cost to the seller. Casavo is currently present in Italy and Spain and aims to expand into other areas.
Since 2017, the year of its foundation, Casavo has served 3200 customers and has raised 400 million euros in investments to continue growing.
October
Sector: Business loans
Country: France
October is a online loans platform for businesses. Born in France in 2014, at the time under the name of Lendix, today it also operates in Italy, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands.
Companies applying for funding from October can obtain up to 5 million euros without providing personal guarantees. Once the request has been accepted, the fintech guarantees delivery times of one week.
To date, October has granted loans of over 600 million euros to around 1,600 business projects.
Wefox
Sector: insurance
Country: Germany
Wefox is a German company that aims to revolutionize the insurance market by allowing its customers to obtain the best performance thanks to technology, and in particular through a sophisticated algorithm.
Wefox recently received a record valuation of €4.5 billion, thanks to a new $400 million investment round.
Scalapay
Sector: Payments
Country: Italy
Scalapay is an Italian fintech startup based on the BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) payment system, which allows you to purchase products in partner shops, both physical and online, paying them in three interest-free monthly installments .
The business model of the Milanese fintech is clear: to facilitate the business of companies by increasing the conversion rate and the number of customers who purchase a service or product.
Scalapay was founded in 2019 and to date has raised over 40 million euros for the development of the startup which already includes important world-class brands.
Bitpanda
Sector: digital investments
Country: Austria
Bitpanda is an Austrian fintech specializing in the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies, stocks, precious metals and ETFs.
The platform was founded in Austria in 2014 with the aim of making investing accessible to everyone. Today Bitpanda is also present in France, Spain, Turkey and Poland, and in 2021 it debuted in Italy.
In 2021, following a $170 million round, Bitpanda achieved "Unicorn" status with a $1.2 billion valuation.
Pleo
Sector: Corporate expense management
Country: Denmark
Pleo was founded in Copenhagen in 2015. It sells software for business expense management using "smart" payment cards. The objective of the Danish fintech is to simplify purchases by employees by promoting the traceability of operations.
In 2021, with a $150 million round, Pleo achieved "unicorn" status, surpassing a valuation in excess of $1.7 billion.
Funding Circle
Sector: Business financing
Country: United Kingdom
Funding Circle is the largest European peer-to-peer lending platform that allows investors to lend money to small and medium-sized enterprises in exchange for an annual return. Founded in 2010 in the United Kingdom, today it is also present in Germany, the Netherlands and the United States.
To date Funding Circle has raised around £11 billion from the public which it has redistributed into the business of over 100,000 European small and medium-sized enterprises.
Tinaba
Sector: Digital banking
Country: Italy
Tinaba is an Italian fintech based in Milan born in 2015 thanks to the support of the partner Banca Profilo. Through the app, Tinaba allows you to send and receive money instantly and without costs, save money, get a mortgage and access a digital investment service via roboadvisor.
Tinaba’s automated advisory service aims to encourage people to save more, trying to bring the younger public and small savers closer to the platform.
Housers
Sector: Real estate crowdfunding
Country: Spain
Housers is a Spanish crowdlending real estate platform that allows the public to invest sums starting from 50 euros to be used for the purchase of properties using the crowdfunding formula.
Housers was founded in 2015 in Spain and is now also active in Italy and Portugal. Through the more than 130,000 investors who have registered on the platform over the years, Housers has raised and financed real estate projects for 125 million euro, recording an average rate of return in excess of 8%.
SolarisBank
Sector: Banking services
Country: Germany
SolarisBank is among the leading fintech companies in Banking as a Service, a solution which via API allows non-financial companies to expand their business in banking services even without having a banking license.
In addition to the German market, Solarisbank now also operates in France and Spain, and has recently announced the start of business in Italy.
Founded in Berlin in 2016, the German fintech has raised investments of 345 million euros to date.
Moneyfarm
Sector: Online financial advice
Country: United Kingdom
Moneyfarm is an independent financial consultancy platform that allows its users to invest online in a simple and secure way.
With over 100 million euros of funding raised, Moneyfarm is one of Europe’s largest fintech companies in digital asset management.
Born in Italy in 2011, after receiving the license from the English FCA it moved to the United Kingdom, but today it continues to operate also in Italy thanks to the authorization from the Bank of Italy.
Soldo
Sector: corporate expense management
Country: United Kingdom
Soldo was born in 2015 with the aim of improving the entire business spending cycle by allowing employees to use "smart" payment cards and ensure greater efficiency and transparency in managing company costs .
Founded by Italian entrepreneurs based in London, Soldo has recently closed a $180 million round that will allow the fintech to accelerate product development and growth abroad.
Original article published on Money.it Italy 2022-10-29 20:09:02.
Original title: Le migliori società fintech d’Europa
