Latvia is emerging to be a rapidly growing tech startup ecosystem thanks to the access to high-speed internet, highly talented labour pool, a multilingual population, and the presence of various government-backed programs that attract entrepreneurs. Back in 2017, the Latvian government a startup visa for entrepreneurs visiting the country along with €15 million accelerator fund for seed and pre-seed investments.
Riga, the capital of Latvia has aligned itself with international fintech operations. Eventually, the country has become a growing centre for fintech startups, especially in categories such as crowdfunding, P2P, and consumer finance. In 2018, Latvia hosted an international discussion between the industry experts in the Baltics and overall EU on the future of fintech. Going on the same lines, here are some notable Latvian fintech startups that seem to contribute to the growth of this sector further in 2020.
Mintos
Founders: Martins Sulte, Martins Valters
Funding: €8 million
Founded year: 2014
Why its hot: Mintos is a global online marketplace for loans. The startup lets investors from across the world with loans originated by a slew of international and Mintos-authenticated alternative lending companies stay connected. It provides a unique service that makes investing easy, transparent, and accessible. Since its debut, Mintos has become one of the world’s largest one-of-its-sort marketplaces.
Nordigen
Founders: Roberts Bernans, Rolands Mesters
Funding: €980k
Founded year: 2016
Why its hot: Nordigen is a global account data analytics provider that helps banks, fintechs, and lenders leverage open banking by extracting actionable insights directly from raw account data. Nordigen operates with the mission to enable greater financial transparency and global adoption of open banking. In addition to Riga, this fintech startup also has an office in Madrid.
VIALET
CEO: Artjoms Grivkovs
Founded year: 2017
Why its hot: Debuted as a response to the constantly evolving requirements of the current generation, VIALET provides users with the financial service management tool that they always deserve. Without any unnecessary bank visits, you will be able to experience your complete power with this startup. It lets you be in charge of your finances. You can manage your own VIALET Mastercard, open an account, manage finances, and transfer funds at anywhere and anytime.
Notakey
Founders: Gints Kirsteins, Jaanis Graubins, Jānis Kiršteins
Funding: €100k
Founded year: 2016
Why its hot: Notakey is a modern identity and access management company. It provides a suite of products right from video identification for user authentication and transaction or document signing. As of now, Notakey is used by some leading healthcare, telecommunications, fintech, and IT companies.
Paydoo
Founder: Sam Kohli
Founded year: 2013
Why its hot: Paydoo provides payment processing and acquiring services to merchants and fintech players across Europe. It has progressed into a leading and reliable Payment Service Provider. Paydoo is built on the basis of collaboration, innovation, community, and trust and believes in the importance of all stages of the journey. Right now, the company has offices in Riga, Vilnius, Connecticut, and New York.
GRANDMA
Founders: Aivars Slokenbergs, Rihards Rucevics, Karlis Gedrovics, Mārtiņš Zemīti
Funding: €210k
Founded year: 2010
Why its hot: GRANDMA provides easy and reliable project and invoice management. It allows project managers to do their job and reduce the time spent on managing estimates and invoices in Excel. It is an effective alternative to Excel as it can be used for quoting, financial reports, invoicing, and cashflow planning.
LOVAT
Founder: Olga Maximova
Founded year: 2018
Why its hot: LOVAT is a tax compliance platform that lets digital companies selling across the world provide a one-stop solution for VAT calculation, payment, and reporting in 57 countries. LOVAT’s prices are estimated in the shop depending on gross prices including VAT. The base cost is somewhere different for each other due to VAT.
Mobilly
Founder: Janis Berg
Funding: €1.1 million
Founded year: 2006
Why its hot: Mobilly aims to create a billing system that lets mobile phone users make and receive payments with their phones. Mobilly has created the most convenient and user-friendly mobile billing system, etc. You just have to use the app and pay for parking, taxi services, entry fees, mail, train, and bus tickets, etc. It lets companies collaborate so that they take advantage of this service.
doFinance
Founders: Ingars Zagorskis, Janis Kulikovskis, Viesturs Kulikovskis
Funding: €2 million
Founded year: 2016
Why its hot: doFinance is a fast-growing and innovative global fintech startup in online investment management. It is dedicated to building the most technology-advanced platform for smart and easy investing. It is a peer-to-peer lending service by Alfa Finance. It is involved in sectors such as P2P investment platform services and consumer loans. It has successfully expanded from Latvia to Georgia, Poland, and Indonesia.
Monea
Founders: Martins Kalnins, Ģirts Kalniņš
Funding: €1.2 million
Founded year: 2013
Why its hot: Monea is a P2P micro payment app compatible with both Android and iOS platforms. It provides money transfers to all the contacts in your phonebook directly from your bank account in just a minute. What’s more convenient is that this startup does not require users to input any bank credentials of the recipient.
Main image picture credits: Mintos
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