CEE Fintech Atlas 2018 - Exclusive insights into 19 fintech ecosystems in Central and Eastern Europe
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CEE Fintech Atlas 2018 Exclusive insights into 19 fintech ecosystems in Central and Eastern Europe
Dear readers and interested people
of the fintech ecosystem,
If you think of European fintech centres, then London, As RBI has always seen itself as a builder of bridges to
Berlin and Stockholm are probably the first places that the CEE Region, such activities are part of our company
come to mind. And if you look eastwards you might DNA. When the Iron Curtain fell thirty years ago,
also consider the Baltic States. But did you know that we played a pioneering role in building a modern
there is a very lively fintech scene in Bulgaria or that banking system and transforming planned economies
Belarus is making great efforts to take a leading role into market economies. In 2019 we are playing the
in the field of cryptocurrencies? And did you know role of bridge builder again by, for example, bringing
that the digital penetration rate in the Czech Republic, together Western European fintechs and CEE banks,
Slovakia, Poland, Slovenia, Croatia and Russia is close and vice versa. But the market and, hence, this role is
to or greater than the rate in global emerging markets very different today. The CEE Region has caught up
such as China or Turkey? These and many more enormously over the past three decades and has a
nuggets of information can be found in this brand new well-educated, digitally sophisticated population. Our
“CEE Fintech Atlas” that we have produced to offer current role is therefore less about development than
you a useful overview of the state of fintech ecosystems about helping our clients and partners to overcome
across the CEE Region. local regulatory, linguistic and cultural barriers. To
quote Mark Twain: History does not repeat itself,
Please bear in mind that, as CEE is a geographical but it rhymes.
umbrella term for a very heterogeneous region, it is
worth looking at each country individually. Some CEE I wish you an interesting read!
countries already have very well developed fintech
ecosystems whereas others are still in the starting
blocks. At Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) we play
a very active role in fostering these ecosystems. In
2017 we launched “Elevator Lab”, the largest fintech
partnership program in the CEE Region, in order to
meet current and future trends in the banking industry
and to satisfy the evolving digital needs of consumers
in cooperation with fintechs. In 2018 we founded
“Elevator Ventures” as a logical complement to Elevator
Lab. In its role as RBI’s corporate venture capital entity
Elevator Ventures focuses on strategic direct investments
in later-stage fintechs, co-investments with partner
investors and investments in VC funds – all in close Johann Strobl
cooperation with Elevator Lab. CEO, Raiffeisen Bank International
Partners
A BCG Company
05 Table of contents Albania 7 Austria 8 Baltic States 10 Belarus 16 Bosnia and Herzegovina 17 Bulgaria 18 Croatia 21 Czech Republic 22 Elevator Lab in CEE 24 Hungary 26 Kosovo 29 Poland 30 Romania 32 Russia 34 Serbia 37 Slovakia 38 Turkey 40 Ukraine 42 Digital leaders 44 About Raiffeisen Bank International 47 All figures in this report displayed in Euro (€). For transactions quoted in other currencies, conversion rates at the time of announcement were used. Please notice the RBI Disclaimer: www.rbinternational.com/disclaimer
7
Skanderbeg monument and Albanian flag at Skanderbeg square, Albania
Spotlight Albania
Although there is a developing and innovative startup development companies have been eligible for tax relief
scene in Albania most of the country’s fintechs are still at since January 2019. (Co-)funded incubator programs
the early, seed financing stage. However, there are also (Oficina) for early stage startups including fintechs have
a small number of more advanced startups, particularly been established by a number of institutions such as the
in the payment sector. The development of these and Harry Fultz Institute in Tirana. Albania’s universities, on
future fintech startups is expected to be encouraged the other hand, have yet to become directly involved in
over the medium term by the incorporation of PSD2 into such initiatives.
Albanian law by the Central Bank. The highlights for the
fintech sector in 2018 included a number of innovation The principal fintech transactions carried out during
festivals and the local Elevator Lab Challenge, the fintech 2018 involved joint projects between banks and fintechs
program of Raiffeisen Bank. related to the launch of a range of products or services
on the market. These included Raiffeisen’s cooperation
The biggest hurdle facing the sector is the lack of with MPay – whose mobile app KUIK offers an instant
financing. In the absence of more advanced tools payment solution – and with Symmetric, the winner of
most current fintech startups have been financed either the local Elevator Lab Challenge.
(privately) by their founders or via corporate loans.
There are also some private VC funds of which SC As an emerging economy with a young population,
Ventures is one of the more prominent. Albania clearly faces a series of challenges – but it also
offers enormous potential for development in such
A fragmented series of state initiatives is seeking to support innovative areas as the fintech sector.
the innovation and startup scene. For example, software
Country data Total bank assets (€ Bn) 10
Total bank assets / GDP (%) 93
Population (M) 2.9 Account ownership (% of population) 40
GDP total (€ Bn) 14 Debit card ownership (% of population) 27
GDP per capita (€, at PPP) 11,425 Internet usage (% of population) 66
GDP growth (%) 4.0 Usage of internet to pay bills (% of population) 2
Official currency ALL Send/received digital payments (% of population) 29
Source: Eurostat, IMF, European Commission, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH Latest available data as of 2017/2018
Data for 2018, estimates Source: ECB, national sources, World Bank, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH
8
View of Vienna financial district cityscape with Danube river, Austria
Spotlight Austria
Austria’s fintech scene has been enjoying increasing One of the biggest boosts to the fintech ecosystem
recognition over the past few years. The most significant came from the announcement by the UNIQA Group,
developments in 2018 were unquestionably the growth Speedinvest and RBI of a total investment of up to €50M
in the level of financing available to fintech companies in Europe’s fintech growth phase. The objective of this is
during funding rounds and the greater degree of to support promising growth in the late seed phase and
cooperation between players. In April 2018 The Federal by ‘Series A’ companies.
Ministry of Finance convened a Fintech Advisory Board
whose role is to promote ‘growth through regulation’ as a Universities are also devoting more attention to the fintech
means of safeguarding standards on the emerging markets sector. Vienna University of Economics and Business
for digitised financial services, ICOs and cryptocurrencies. established a new Research Institute for Cryptoeconomics
in 2018. And co-working spaces – such as weXelerate
The Financial Market Authority (FMA) has established a and Talent Garden in Vienna and Tabakfabrik in Linz –
fintech contact point with a view to creating transparency have been established across the country as a means of
and clarity as well as fostering growth in the sector. bringing together startups and established companies.
Recently published plans for the creation of a fintech
regulatory sandbox have been and are another positive The numerous Austrian fintechs that successfully expanded
sign of a fintech-friendly regulatory environment. their business internationally and raised new rounds of
venture capital in 2018 included Bluecode and cashpresso.
9
Size Funding trends
# of active local Cumulative funding €15M
fintechs 2008-2018
12.1M
2+2+92134206 2+1+29133421
9.8M
6% 2% 2% 2%1%
6% 9% €10M
5 2 2 21%
5 8
29%
6M
20% 17
87 € 29M
18 21%
3.3M
€5M
1.8 M
4.2M
71K
1.2M 1.5M
34%
2.6M
30 13%
430K
2.2M
1.7M
34%
0
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Insurance Corporate Banking Capital Markets Technology
Retail Banking SME Banking Wealth Management Support Debt Seed/Angel Series A Not disclosed
Top VC investors Top fintech companies
Investor # of investment Company Description Funding (€)
Speedinvest 7 Austria-based online platform for investment
wikifolio strategies
7.6M
Livag GmbH 4 Global RegTech platform for audit-proof
Kompany KYC & UBO
6.2M
AC & Friends GmbH 4
Cashpresso Offers a mobile first. revolving line of credit 6M
Floor13 3
Customer loyalty and retention programs
Smart Engine 3.2M
Reimann Investors 3 from Smart Engine
DvH Ventures 2 DaoPay Offers micropayment solutions 1.9M
Loan platform for SMEs and is currently
Arax Capital Partners 2 Finnest active in the DACH region
1M
i5invest 2 PrimeCROWD
Startup-investor network that matches
970K
high-profile investors with selected startups
Lang & Schwarz 2
bsurance GmbH InsurTech startup 554K
AWS Double Equity 2 Crowdinvesting platform for start-ups and
Conda SME
526K
Selected Top VC investors ranked by number of investment in local fintechs from
2008-2018. Lowest category ranked by date of investments.
Sources: Tables include fintechs headquatered in Austria. Funding rounds and amounts are relative to the period 2008-2018 and exclude M&A and IPO deals,
but include debt. Source: BCG FinTech Control Tower
Country data Total bank assets (€ Bn) 849
Total bank assets / GDP (%) 219
Population (M) 8.8 Account ownership (% of population) 98
GDP total (€ Bn) 386 Debit card ownership (% of population) 90
GDP per capita (€, at PPP) 44,221 Internet usage (% of population) 87
GDP growth (%) 2.7 Usage of internet to pay bills (% of population) 52
Official currency EUR Send/received digital payments (% of population) 96
Source: Eurostat, IMF, European Commission, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH Latest available data as of 2017/2018
Data for 2018, estimates Source: ECB, national sources, World Bank, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH
10
Modern business financial district, Tallinn, Estonia
Spotlight Baltic States
The ideal environment for young fintech companies Startup Estonia provides training for startups and seeks
combines a dynamic fintech scene with a digitally open to both attract foreign investors and educate local ones
society. This applies to all the Baltic States. while an e-residency program launched in 2014 aims to
register ten million e-residents by 2025. The country also
Lithuania is making major strides towards its goal to be intended to issue the first cryptocurrency, although plans
Europe’s most fintech-friendly country. The regulatory for the Estcoin were put on hold in mid-2018. Despite
sandbox set up by the Financial Conduct Authority in this, however, Estonia remains a hotbed for ICOs with
2017 allows startups to test innovative products in a the €323M raised in the first six months of 2018 putting
protected environment. The Central Bank’s newcomer- the country 7th in the global ICO league table. And
friendly policies include a remote e-licensing system Estonia has also started an ICO Expert Forum designed
that reduces the duration of the application process for to improve regulation.
e-money and payment institution licenses to less than
three months (e.g. Revolut). For those looking to grow The strength of Latvia’s financial sector means that the
their network, the 2018 FinTech Inn Conference attracted expanding fintech scene has enormous growth potential
over 1,300 delegates, with this year’s turnout expected in the country and is also starting to establish an
to be even larger. Finally, according to Vilius Šapoka, international reputation. The Latvian Ministry of Economy
Minister of Finance of Lithuania, the fintech sector also has also defined fintech as a priority sector and the
benefits from tax holidays for startups and corporate tax country has a number of incubators and accelerators.
deductions equal to three times R&D spending. The most important, Buildit, has already funded 70 firms.
The Estonian government’s support of fintechs should
ensure that the founders of TransferWise are soon joined
by further Estonians founding global fintech flagships.11
Estonia
Size Funding trends
13.7 M
# of active local Cumulative funding €15M
13 M
13 M
fintechs 2008-2018
5+1+224361769 15+28+249
12M
4.49M
10.76M
10% 5% 1% 9%
8.98 M
2% 15%
6% 10 5 1
2 €10M
6 24%
7.56M 1.3M
6.7 M
24%
6.5 M
4.45M
25
104
17%
€ 62M
18
2.36M
6.27M
27% €5M
4.36M
4.1M
37
2.27M
36% 24%
113K
265K
1.7M
0
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Insurance Corporate Banking Capital Markets Technology
Retail Banking SME Banking Wealth Management Support Debt Seed/Angel Series A Not disclosed
Top VC investors Top fintech companies
Investor # of investment Company Description Funding (€)
Startup Wise Guys 2 Credit solutions to consumers and
Aasa global businesses
12.1M
3TS Capital Partners 2 Megion Research Designs and creates solutions for bitcoin
9.9M
NFX 1 & Development infrastructure
Global startup rating, tracking and funding
Self 1 Funderbeam platform
9.3M
Y Combinator 1 Helps to monetize virtual goods and
Fortumo premium features in apps
7.6M
Ace Ventures 1
Veriff Online identity verification 6.7M
Mosaic Ventures 1 Global platform for cross-border investors
Bondora and borrowers
5.8M
SV Angel 1
Katana MRP Manufacturing MRP System 2.1M
Karma Ventures 1
AI platform for investment and personal
Raison finance
876K
Selected Top VC investors ranked by number of investment in local fintechs from SigmaCapital
2008-2018. Lowest category ranked by date of investments. Loans, Guarantees & Leasing 489K
OÜ
Cross-border marketplace for short- and
EstateGuru mid-term property loans
298K
Sources: Tables include fintechs headquatered in Estonia. Funding rounds and amounts are relative to the period 2008-2018 and exclude M&A and IPO deals,
but include debt. Source: BCG FinTech Control Tower
Country data Total bank assets (€ Bn) 26
Total bank assets / GDP (%) 108
Population (M) 1.3 Account ownership (% of population) 98
GDP total (€ Bn) 25 Debit card ownership (% of population) 92
GDP per capita (€, at PPP) 24,760 Internet usage (% of population) 88
GDP growth (%) 3.5 Usage of internet to pay bills (% of population) 72
Official currency EUR Send/received digital payments (% of population) 95
Source: Eurostat, IMF, European Commission, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH Latest available data as of 2017/2018
Data for 2018, estimates Source: ECB, national sources, World Bank, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH12
Quay of Daugava River in Riga, Latvia13
Latvia
Size Funding trends
302.9 M
# of active local Cumulative funding €300M
2M
948K
145K
fintechs 2008-2018
2+2+560196 98+1+
164.2 M
299.8M
6% 2% 2% 4% 1% 1%
155.7 M
6%
3 11
3
2 €200M
7.7 M
224K
6.4 M
19% 9
155.4M
48 € 695M
150M
41.5 M
€100M
29
1.3M
8.2 M
60%
98%
5.5M
40.1M
781K
1.9M
0
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Insurance Corporate Banking Capital Markets Technology
Retail Banking SME Banking Wealth Management Support Debt Seed/Angel Series A Not disclosed
Top VC investors Top fintech companies
Investor # of investment Company Description Funding (€)
TrustPay 2 Online and mobile consumer lending
4finance group
643.7M
Skillion Ventures 2
Mogo Finance Non-bank car financing 23.2M
FinHub Global 2 Mintos Online loan marketplace 7.7M
Forgamer 2 Twino Peer-to-peer lending marketplace 7.7M
Inventure 1 Monify Unsecured online business loans 4.8M
Seedcamp 1 CloudPayments Advanced payment service 3M
DoFinance Peer-to-peer lending platform - ROI 9% 2.1M
Tinkoff Bank 1
Mobilly Transactions for Smart Cities 1.1M
Change Ventures 1
Transaction analytics tools for banks and
Nordigen 882K
Alfa Finance Group 1 lenders
Nordea Startup Accelerator 1 Monea Micropayment application 811K
Selected Top VC investors ranked by number of investment in local fintechs from
2008-2018. Lowest category ranked by date of investments.
Sources: Tables include fintechs headquatered in Latvia. Funding rounds and amounts are relative to the period 2008-2018 and exclude M&A and IPO deals,
but include debt. Source: BCG FinTech Control Tower
Country data Total bank assets (€ Bn) 22
Total bank assets / GDP (%) 51
Population (M) 1.9 Account ownership (% of population) 93
GDP total (€ Bn) 29 Debit card ownership (% of population) 86
GDP per capita (€, at PPP) 21,500 Internet usage (% of population) 78
GDP growth (%) 4.7 Usage of internet to pay bills (% of population) 58
Official currency EUR Send/received digital payments (% of population) 84
Source: Eurostat, IMF, European Commission, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH Latest available data as of 2017/2018
Data for 2018, estimates Source: ECB, national sources, World Bank, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH14
Gediminas Tower in Vilnius city center, Lithuania15
Lithuania
Size Funding trends
# of active local Cumulative funding €10M
8.5 M
fintechs 2008-2018
4+6+41335275 32+6+62
7.9M
5% 4%
6% 6%
4 3 4%
5 5
3 32%
5.9M
14%
€5M
3.9 M
12
85 €18M
27% 23
3.8M
62% 6%
30
35%
184K
336K
403K
40K
83K
0
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Insurance Corporate Banking Capital Markets Technology
Retail Banking SME Banking Wealth Management Support Debt Seed/Angel Not disclosed
Top VC investors Top fintech companies
Investor # of investment Company Description Funding (€)
Entrée Capital 2 Alternative
Payment options for e-commerce 11.7M
Payments
Blumberg Capital 1 Universa
Blockchain Blockchain platform 6M
Sequoia Capital 1
Platform
Route 66 Ventures 1 WoraPay Mobile payments system 883K
EIT Digital 1 Dealoyal.com Cash back offer marketplace 104K
Startupbootcamp 1 Spectro Coin All in one solution for virtual currencies 84K
Cflow E-accounting 63K
Wellington Management Group 1
B2B insurance claims collaboration
ApexFree 1 Claims Control platform
41K
Nextury Ventures 1 Welltrado Alternative to the traditional banking system 21K
Selected Top VC investors ranked by number of investment in local fintechs from
2008-2018. Lowest category ranked by date of investments.
Sources: Tables include fintechs headquatered in Lithuania. Funding rounds and amounts are relative to the period 2008-2018 and exclude M&A and IPO deals,
but include debt. Source: BCG FinTech Control Tower
Country data Total bank assets (€ Bn) 19
Total bank assets / GDP (%) 64
Population (M) 2.8 Account ownership (% of population) 83
GDP total (€ Bn) 45 Debit card ownership (% of population) 56
GDP per capita (€, at PPP) 24,920 Internet usage (% of population) 81
GDP growth (%) 3.6 Usage of internet to pay bills (% of population) 50
Official currency EUR Send/received digital payments (% of population) 66
Source: Eurostat, IMF, European Commission, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH Latest available data as of 2017/2018
Data for 2018, estimates Source: ECB, national sources, World Bank, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH16
Cityscape of Minsk, Belarus
Spotlight Belarus
2018 saw a number of important developments in the message scheme) and a real-time payment system and to
fintech scene in Belarus. Belgazprombank launched a regulate payment services and systems should open up
startup accelerator program (FTh.by) while a number of new opportunities for fintechs.
banks (VTB Bank, Moscow-Minsk Bank, Belagroprombank,
Belarusbank, Belgazprombank, BPS Sberbank, BSB Bank In 2018 the NBRB proposed allowing banks to make
and MTBank) introduced Samsung Pay. Several major smart contracts using blockchain technology. This policy
conferences, hackathons and other events also took place will be implemented in the presidential decree “On the
in Minsk, including the Global Fintech Hackathon, Elevator Development of Digital Banking Technologies”. This will
Lab Challenge Belarus, SmartTaler, BankIT, Blockchain & also allow financial institutions to make electronic deals
Bitcoin Conference Belarus and Venture Day, etc. using software and hardware tools and technologies
(including biometrics) without digital signatures.
According to bel.biz, fintechs represent 13.5% of Furthermore, the decree “On the Development of the Digital
all startups. The challenges facing the sector include Economy” of December 2017 included measures to relax
fundraising, a lack of tax incentives and the modest size the rules for conducting business in the high-tech field.
of the home market as a result of which most projects are
initially aimed at international clients. Another hurdle is Belarus’ fintech hubs include Imaguru Startup Hub,
the requirement for companies to have an intermediary Blockchain Technology Association Belarus and the FTh
represented by a bank in order to have a payment Fintech & Banking accelerator. In March 2018 the Belarusian
infrastructure and conduct transactions. Plans from National Technical University launched a retraining program
The National Bank of the Republic of Belarus (NBRB) specialising in “cryptocurrencies and derivatives” that
to implement ISO 20022 (universal financial industry also covers blockchain technology and ICOs.
Country data Total bank assets (€ Bn) 28
Total bank assets / GDP (%) 63
Population (M) 9.4 Account ownership (% of population) 81
GDP total (€ Bn) 51 Debit card ownership (% of population) 71
GDP per capita (€, at PPP) 14,300 Internet usage (% of population) 74
GDP growth (%) 3.0 Usage of internet to pay bills (% of population) 42
Official currency BYN Send/received digital payments (% of population) 79
Source: Eurostat, IMF, European Commission, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH Latest available data as of 2017/2018
Data for 2018, estimates Source: ECB, national sources, World Bank, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH17
The Old Bridge over the Neretva River in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Spotlight Bosnia and Herzegovina
The mood on the fintech scene in Bosnia and Herzegovina product development scene and a strong market in
in 2018 was one of cautious optimism. The grounds solutions such as chat bots, P2P payments, mobile banking
for this include the banking industry’s entrepreneurial apps and other tools designed to meet the demand for
spirit, local knowledge and proactive approach towards digital transformation. Given the current limited local
the updating of the legal framework. Raiffeisen Bank potential, these products are mostly sold on international
is pushing a series of initiatives aimed at improving markets, where there is demand for cutting edge solutions
the digital environment in order to allow the market to that respond to the latest digital banking trends.
achieve its full potential.
Sarajevo School of Science and Technology (SSST),
Practical progress in the sector has, however, been limited. the Faculty of Economics and Business of the University
The legal obstacles facing fintechs include the absence of of Sarajevo and other institutions work proactively to
an electronic signature law. Similarly, the introduction of create new fintech talent through such initiatives as
ID and verification technology is being hampered by strict co-organising fintech conferences. The SECO startup
data protection legislation and other obstacles created by fund and ICBL incubator are currently trying to boost the
the country’s complex political system. fintech industry in the country. In 2018, however, Bosnia
and Herzegovina failed to record a significant fintech
In comparison with other markets the startup scene in transaction.
Bosnia and Herzegovina receives little government support
and tends to rely on the country’s entrepreneurial spirit.
Despite this, however, the high quality and relatively
low cost of IT labour mean that there is a healthy fintech
Country data Total bank assets (€ Bn) 14
Total bank assets / GDP (%) 90
Population (M) 3.5 Account ownership (% of population) 59
GDP total (€ Bn) 17 Debit card ownership (% of population) 40
GDP per capita (€, at PPP) 8,800 Internet usage (% of population) 69
GDP growth (%) 2.8 Usage of internet to pay bills (% of population) 8
Official currency BAM Send/received digital payments (% of population) 50
Source: Eurostat, IMF, European Commission, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH Latest available data as of 2017/2018
Data for 2018, estimates Source: ECB, national sources, World Bank, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH18
Financial district in the city of Sofia, Bulgaria
Spotlight Bulgaria
The Bulgarian capital Sofia is one of the fast growing The two most prominent seed-stage VC funds from
fintech destinations in the CEE Region and has a critical Bulgaria, whose role is to finance startups and innovative
mass of startups and financial and technological service SMEs, are ELEVEN (which, according to the 2017
providers. One reason for the rapid development of digital European Accelerator Report, is one of Europe’s top
technology is the fact that Bulgaria is second only to ten investing accelerators and venture funds) and
South Korea in terms of the speed of broadband Internet. LAUNCHub. Both companies are very active in Bulgaria,
According to the Global Innovation Index 2017 Bulgaria where the number of local and foreign angel investors is
is also the world’s second most innovative upper-middle growing.
income country and number one in the SEE Region in
terms of innovation efficiency and achievement. The dynamic development of the fintech sector led to
the recent creation of the Bulgarian Fintech Association.
The Bulgarian fintech market generally follows the lead This non-profit organisation brings together the country’s
of larger CEE countries. Digital payment has the largest leading fintech companies and aims to provide all
share of this market, which is predicted to grow this year parties in Bulgaria interested in fintech with a platform
by around 21%. The most promising services include for communication and exchange. Bulgaria’s first FinTech
mobile payments, peer-to-peer payments and lending and Conference took place in May 2018 with the aim of
digital commerce transactions. demonstrating how fintechs are reshaping financial
services in the CEE Region. The conference, which is
planned to become an annual event, gathered more than
300 CEOs and decision makers from the financial sector.19
Size Funding trends
# of active local Cumulative funding €5M
5.24 M
fintechs 2008-2018
6+3+3831109 19+81
2.84 M
9% 6%
3%
3 2 3% 22%
1
1.35M
9% 1
3
32 € 28M
1.46M
€1M
12
38%
801.8 K
10
31%
131.4 K
78%
29.9K
66.1K
31.2K
0
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Insurance Corporate Banking Capital Markets Technology
Retail Banking SME Banking Wealth Management Debt Seed/Angel Series A Not disclosed
Top VC investors Top fintech companies
Investor # of investment Company Description Funding (€)
LAUNCHub Ventures 2 Cash Credit Financial services for the unbanked 18.9M
Helps financial service providers digitize
TMT Investments 2 Software Group 5.2M
their business
NEVEQ 1 P2P lending and financial education
Klear platform
2.8M
Black Peak Capital 1
Easy Access to blockchain technology and
Fabric Token 800K
Microsoft 1 smart contracts
Delta Partners Capital Limited 1 Yatrus Analytics Analytics platform 83K
Mobile app that recognizes. returns and
PostScriptum Ventures 1 Reloyalty respects loyalty
44K
Eleven Accelerator Venture Fund 1 Sensika Cloud-based. single-access-point informa-
31K
Technologies tion intelligence platform
Altair Capital 1
Transmetrics Software for transport network optimization 30K
Kickstart Accelerator 1 Tickey Mobile ticketing app for smart cities 27K
Selected Top VC investors ranked by number of investment in local fintechs from getix POS solutions for small and medium outlets 22K
2008-2018. Lowest category ranked by date of investments.
Sources: Tables include fintechs headquatered in Bulgaria. Funding rounds and amounts are relative to the period 2008-2018 and exclude M&A and IPO deals,
but include debt. Source: BCG FinTech Control Tower
Country data Total bank assets (€ Bn) 50
Total bank assets / GDP (%) 99
Population (M) 7.1 Account ownership (% of population) 72
GDP total (€ Bn) 54 Debit card ownership (% of population) 69
GDP per capita (€, at PPP) 13,900 Internet usage (% of population) 63
GDP growth (%) 3.3 Usage of internet to pay bills (% of population) 13
Official currency BGN Send/received digital payments (% of population) 65
Source: Eurostat, IMF, European Commission, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH Latest available data as of 2017/2018
Data for 2018, estimates Source: ECB, national sources, World Bank, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH21
Skyline of Zagreb, Croatia
Spotlight Croatia
The most important developments in the fintech scene traditional companies, which has reduced the amount of
in Croatia in 2018 were undoubtedly the broader talent on the market. Most fintechs are based in Zagreb
acknowledgment of the sector and its companies and because the capital city has the largest pool of specialist
the organisation of two fintech conferences at the end of employees. There are no local incentives for the fintech
the year, Future of FinTech and Shift Money. This was the ecosystem or fintech hubs. In addition to this, research
first time that the entire regional fintech sector, including by the IT Section of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce
players from neighbouring Slovenia and Serbia, was shows that Croatia lags far behind the EU average in
present in Zagreb. terms of government support for the IT sector in general.
Around 15 fintechs are headquartered in Croatia and Early-stage startups are mostly financed by accelerators
most of these provide software and platforms for financial and incubators. ABC accelerator, FRCM Accelerator,
institutions. In 2018 banks also started to promote the fact Start-up Factory Zagreb, Zip Incubator and BIOS Incubator
that they were developing their own financial technology Osijek are amongst the examples of investors based in
rather than working with global fintechs. However, only the country. The most important fintech transaction in
the five to ten biggest banks have truly focused on digital terms of financing in Croatia in 2018 was a €5.2M
transformation. investment in PhotoMath, a math app developed by the
fintech company Microblink as a means of showcasing its
The biggest challenge for fintechs in Croatia is the war technology.
for technical talent. This is being driven by both the
growth of technology companies such as Infobip and
Rimac Automobili and the digital transformation of
Country data Total bank assets (€ Bn) 53
Total bank assets / GDP (%) 110
Population (M) 4.1 Account ownership (% of population) 86
GDP total (€ Bn) 51 Debit card ownership (% of population) 68
GDP per capita (€, at PPP) 17,700 Internet usage (% of population) 67
GDP growth (%) 2.6 Usage of internet to pay bills (% of population) 45
Official currency HRK Send/received digital payments (% of population) 83
Source: Eurostat, IMF, European Commission, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH Latest available data as of 2017/2018
Data for 2018, estimates Source: ECB, national sources, World Bank, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH22
Old town square in Prague, Czech Republic
Spotlight Czech Republic
2018 saw a series of major developments in the fintech scene for the first time via the Blockchain Republic
Czech Republic, where fintechs are regulated in line initiative. The signed memorandum of this official
with EU legislation. The crucial PSD2 EU directive was cooperation between fintechs and the state covers such
implemented, Banka Creditas introduced the first multi- activities as attracting investment and talent, modernising
banking app Richee (with other innovation-oriented bureaucracy and creating an innovation hub.
banks expected to follow) and Spendee became the first
fintech to acquire a PSD2 licence. Another government initiative is the project Sonia. Here,
major banks and the state will work together to increase
The Finance Ministry takes a more proactive and use of the digital state portal through simplified access
innovative approach to regulation than the more based on banking verification. Changes in the system
cautious Czech National Bank (CNB). Indeed, following and, hence, the fintech environment are accelerating.
the public consultation on fintechs published by the
European Commission in 2017 the CNB stated that This approach, which seeks to optimise synergies with
fintech regulation was not a priority. As a result, fintechs both EU regulations and the emerging private fintech
tend to try to accelerate the process by contacting market, has the potential to create a transparent,
banks directly regarding their APIs. efficient, cooperative and, therefore, successful system.
The desire for simplification led to the creation of the The country has 52 incubators and accelerators
Czech Fintech Association. This aims to act as a including Rockaway, Creative Dock and StartupYard,
go-between, a single point of contact for innovators, the most active, which has invested €9M in around
investors, regulators, policy makers and commercial 50 companies.
partners. In 2018 the work of the association led the
Czech Government to show serious interest in the23
Size Funding trends
# of active local Cumulative funding €50M
42.3 M
fintechs 2008-2018
5+6+3203214218 81+2+17
€40M
24.3M
5%
18% 6% 17%
4
16 5 3% €30M
3
2% 2%
2
€20M
87 €132M
162K
17 20%
14% 12
3.4M
14.4M
5.5 M
€10M
4.6 M
81%
28
2.3M
1.9M
773K
5.5M
4.1M
309K
32%
66K
15K
0
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Insurance Corporate Banking Capital Markets Technology Debt Seed/Angel Series A Series B
Retail Banking SME Banking Wealth Management Support Not disclosed
Top VC investors Top fintech companies
Investor # of investment Company Description Funding (€)
ENERN Investments 5 Avast Software Mobile and PC security software 75.2M
Slevomat 4 Price f(x) SaaS-based pricing and optimization tools 32M
Makes daily payments invisible and
StartupYard 3 Twisto stress free
22.7M
Credo Ventures 3 Netbrokers
Online comparison portals 2.3M
Holding
Talis Capital 3 Personal finance platform with financial
BudgetBakers management suite
291K
Miton 2
ClaimAir Global flight and baggage claim service 167K
Reflex Capital 1
Fragments Decentralized micro-tasks platform 163K
Bain & Company 1 Combines different data through their
CleverAnalytics location on the map
15K
Digital+ Partners 1
Uniqa 1
Selected Top VC investors ranked by number of investment in local fintechs from
2008-2018. Lowest category ranked by date of investments.
Sources: Tables include fintechs headquatered in Czech Republic. Funding rounds and amounts are relative to the period 2008-2018 and exclude M&A and IPO deals,
but include debt. Source: BCG FinTech Control Tower
Country data Total bank assets (€ Bn) 277
Total bank assets / GDP (%) 140
Population (M) 10.6 Account ownership (% of population) 81
GDP total (€ Bn) 206 Debit card ownership (% of population) 75
GDP per capita (€, at PPP) 28,347 Internet usage (% of population) 79
GDP growth (%) 3.0 Usage of internet to pay bills (% of population) 57
Official currency CZK Send/received digital payments (% of population) 80
Source: Eurostat, IMF, European Commission, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH Latest available data as of 2017/2018
Data for 2018, estimates Source: ECB, national sources, World Bank, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH24
Belarus
Czech Republic Ukr
Slovakia
Austria
Hungary
Croatia Romania
Serbia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Kosovo
Albania25
Elevator Lab has the largest fintech
network in CEE!
Elevator Lab is a leading fintech partnership program
powered by Raiffeisen Bank International to jointly develop
scalable business cases and enable international growth.
With our strong footprint in CEE (14 markets including
Austria, 16.1 million customers) we are a strong partner
for every fintech which wants to expand to this region.
Russia Have a look at our fintech initiatives across the
CEE Region in 2019:
Elevator Lab Partnership Program:
Selected fintechs from around the world get the
opportunity to work together with international leading
experts on a four month proof of concept in order to
improve their business solution. After the program, the
fintechs will have the chance to be selected for a strategic
partnership with RBI Group.
raine
Elevator Lab Challenges
Single country program for local later-stage fintechs to
cooperate with RBI´s local banks.
The winner will receive a wild card to the semi-finals of
Elevator Lab Partnership Program.
Elevator Lab Bootcamps
Single country program focusing on early-stage startups
with stimulating new ideas and concepts.
The bootcamps are designed to help early-stage
entrepreneurs to grow and to work further on their ideas.
The winners will participate in the two-week Digital
Entrepreneurship Summer Program 2019 in Vienna.
For more information please visit: www.elevator-lab.com
Elevator Lab cooperates closely with RBI’s
corporate venture capital entity26
Parliament building in Budapest, Hungary
Spotlight Hungary
According to the Hungarian National Bank, the local The Hungarian National Bank was one of the first in
fintech scene has a receptive domestic audience. the region to support innovation in the financial sector
15 to 20% of the country’s population is interested in in the shape of its regulatory sandbox. This provides
fintech solutions and around one million consumers are an isolated test environment for financial innovation
open to actively using fintech innovations. The solutions at the national level in which financial institutions and
already available in Hungary cover a range of areas fintechs can test new services under regulatory control
including personal finance management, payment by temporarily lifting certain regulatory obligations.
solutions, community lending, robo advisory and
blockchain. In Hungary a number of investors such as FinTechZone,
MKB Fintechlab, BnL Start Partners and the Hungarian
Based on the same survey, one obstacle to the National Bank itself are actively involved in the fintech
growth of fintechs in Hungary is the concern about solutions market. MKB Fintechlab, for example, has
data protection, especially in connection with robo invested through its incubation program in a variety
advisory services. Most customers would not use a of fintech solutions ranging from the automated asset
service that is not subject to legal safeguards, despite manager Blueopes to the payment solution provider
its clear benefits. In addition to this, only 15% of the Pago. OTP (OTPLab) and KH (Start it @KH) also
public believe that bank branches will disappear to operate accelerator programs and provide incubation
the extent that such robo advisory services become opportunities for fintech startups.
necessary.
One of Hungary’s largest educational institutions,
Corvinus University, offers specialist courses in its
Fintech Center. These lead to a series of qualifications
including undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.27
Size Funding trends
5.1 M
# of active local Cumulative funding €5M
2.7M
fintechs 2008-2018
10+10+193885 48+31+387
4.3M
€4M
5% 10% 3%
8% 7%
2 4
3
10%
7% €3M
4
10%
4 3%
2.4M
39 € 9M 48% €2M
7
18%
15 €1M
31%
38%
182K
93K
70K
0
2013 2014 2015 2017 2018
Insurance Corporate Banking Capital Markets Technology
Retail Banking SME Banking Wealth Management Support Debt Seed/Angel
Top VC investors Top fintech companies
Investor # of investment Company Description Funding (€)
Hiventures 5 Cherrisk Insurtech startup 4.3M
Mobile continuous integration and delivery
Fiedler Capital 3 bitrise 3M
platform
Y Combinator 2 Intelligent cloud based B2B credit manage-
Credit4sales ment solution
757K
Open Ocean Capital 1
Multipass IT solutions for extracting and processing
727K
Uniqa 1 Solutions printed or handwritten data
TrustChain
PortfoLion 1 Digital contracting with financial solutions 389K
Systems
Euroventures Capital 1 Koin Personal finance management application 233K
MKB Fintechlab 1 Blueopes Wealth management service provider 221K
MNG Internatio-
BnL Start Partners 1 Investment company 94K
nal Investments
Enables the buying of Bitcoins via SEPA /
Home Credit Group 1 Shinrai 71K
SWIFT
Selected Top VC investors ranked by number of investment in local fintechs from
2008-2018. Lowest category ranked by date of investments.
Sources: Tables include fintechs headquatered in Hungary. Funding rounds and amounts are relative to the period 2008-2018 and exclude M&A and IPO deals,
but include debt. Source: BCG FinTech Control Tower
Country data Total bank assets (€ Bn) 120
Total bank assets / GDP (%) 97
Population (M) 9.8 Account ownership (% of population) 75
GDP total (€ Bn) 130 Debit card ownership (% of population) 69
GDP per capita (€, at PPP) 23,646 Internet usage (% of population) 77
GDP growth (%) 4.8 Usage of internet to pay bills (% of population) 30
Official currency HUF Send/received digital payments (% of population) 71
Source: Eurostat, IMF, European Commission, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH Latest available data as of 2017/2018
Data for 2018, estimates Source: ECB, national sources, World Bank, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH29
Skyline of Pristina with the National Library, Kosovo
Spotlight Kosovo
The past few years have seen not only significant growth a startup from Gjirafa Lab, is an online platform on
in the number of fintech startups in Kosovo but also the which consumers and small businesses can save time on,
creation of two hubs, Gjirafa Lab and the Innovation for example, unnecessary bank visits by transparently
Center Kosovo (ICK). This intense activity culminated in researching and comparing financial products such as
2018 when ICK partnered with Raiffeisen Bank Kosovo loans. AR Vision, which emerged from the ICK, works with
in the staging of the Elevator Lab. augmented and virtual reality and, as well as expanding
to Scandinavia, is currently working on a proof of concept
Both the Government of Kosovo and several foreign with Raiffeisen Bank Kosovo. The fintech sector is not yet
governments provide grants to stimulate innovation and established within the education system. No university runs
the startup community in the country. Tax rates are among courses on the subject.
the lowest in Europe, (e.g. 10% corporate and 0 to 10%
personal taxes) and the environment is business-friendly. Kosovo, a landlocked country in the heart of the Balkans,
Bureaucracy is minimal and companies can be set up has an average GDP growth of 4.1%. The country,
online in just three working days. 42% of the population of which is under 25, is seeing a
significant increase in both the number of IT-related jobs
Kosovo’s fintech community can point to a number of and the export of IT services. Kosovo’s fintech scene meets
success stories – both domestic and international. Trekandi most of its limited funding needs from foreign VCs.
and AR Vision, who occupied the top two places in the
Elevator Lab Challenge, have developed strongly and
are already offering their services abroad. Trekandi,
Country data Total bank assets (€ Bn) 4
Total bank assets / GDP (%) 62
Population (M) 1.8 Account ownership (% of population) 52
GDP total (€ Bn) 7 Debit card ownership (% of population) 37
GDP per capita (€, at PPP) 7,900 Internet usage (% of population) 80
GDP growth (%) 4.2 Usage of internet to pay bills (% of population) 7
Official currency EUR Send/received digital payments (% of population) 39
Source: Eurostat, IMF, European Commission, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH Latest available data as of 2017/2018
Data for 2018, estimates Source: ECB, national sources, World Bank, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH30
Skyline of Warsaw, Poland
Spotlight Poland
Poland is a European leader in the implementation of State support for fintechs includes the Special Task Force
modern banking solutions such as contactless payment, for Financial Innovation and the regulatory sandbox of
and sector-wide tools such as the BLIK mobile payment the KNF, which aim to improve regulation. The KNF has
service. also set up an innovation hub program for both startups
and established companies with innovative IT-based
The strength of the fintech scene in 2018 is demonstrated products or services. And the StartInPoland umbrella
by the level of innovation of many Polish banks, including program covers both the startup investments of the
Bank Pekao, ING Bank, BZ WBK, BNP Paribas and Polish Development Fund and the expanding accelerator
PKO Bank Polski. For example, ING Bank Śla˛ski has programs of the Polish Agency for Developing
introduced imoje, Poland’s first bank payment gateway Entrepreneurship.
and E-paragon, Visa’s Innovation Incubator, is working
on a project to eradicate paper receipts. Companies with fintech hubs in Poland include ING Bank
Śla˛ski, mBank, Pekao SA, PKO BP, Credit Suisse, Citi,
The main challenges facing the sector include the UBS, Liber Finance Group, Roche and Google, whose
relatively low level of VC and equity funding activity Warsaw Campus, opened in 2015, was its first in the
and the lack of a single comprehensive support system CEE Region and fifth worldwide. Early-stage startups
for startups. A further hurdle is the gap in understanding are usually funded via bootstrapping or with support
between officialdom and the fintech scene as exemplified from the EU or traditional VC or PE firms such as
by the ban on initial coin offerings imposed by the SpeedUp Venture Capital Group or Data Ventures.
regulator KNF.
A highlight of 2018 was the sale of Dotpay/eCard
(Dotcard) to Nets for €73M.31
Size Funding trends
33.6 M
# of active local Cumulative funding
fintechs 2008-2018
23.1M
€30M
5+4+3143923111 2+2+721410
5% 9% 2% 2%
14% 4%
1% 24 9 3%
6
5
1
14% €20M
16 M
19
11%
3M
23%
171 € 64M
40
7.7 M
12.9M
€10M
10.4M
5.5M
67
1.8M
72%
1.4M
767K
39%
1.3M
0
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Insurance Corporate Banking Capital Markets Technology Seed/Angel Series A Series B Not disclosed
Retail Banking SME Banking Wealth Management Support
Top VC investors Top fintech companies
Investor # of investment Company Description Funding (€)
Flint Capital 2 Creamfinance Financial Services Company 29.1M
SpeedUp Venture Capital Group 2 MAM Reduce monthly utility bill payments 5.9M
Cloud based online marketing automation
Techstars 2 SALESmanago platform
5.5M
Barclays Accelerator (Powered by Techstars) 1 CashDirector
Virtual CFO & real-time accounting
3.3M
platform
OPOKA Ventures 1
FinAi Fintech platform driven by big data 2.6M
Data Ventures 1 BitStar Online bitcoin exchange platform 2.5M
Capitec Bank 1 Liber Finance AI-driven marketplaces for consumer
2.2M
Group finance
Pragma 1
Akredo Alternative Loan Provider 2.2M
LUXNOVA 1
LeaseLink Online leasing transactions 2.1M
BlueYard Capital 1 Kredytmarket Online loan granting 1.5M
Selected Top VC investors ranked by number of investment in local fintechs from
2008-2018. Lowest category ranked by date of investments.
Sources: Tables include fintechs headquatered in Poland. Funding rounds and amounts are relative to the period 2008-2018 and exclude M&A and IPO deals,
but include debt. Source: BCG FinTech Control Tower
Country data Total bank assets (€ Bn) 427
Total bank assets / GDP (%) 92
Population (M) 38.0 Account ownership (% of population) 87
GDP total (€ Bn) 496 Debit card ownership (% of population) 79
GDP per capita (€, at PPP) 21,900 Internet usage (% of population) 76
GDP growth (%) 5.1 Usage of internet to pay bills (% of population) 51
Official currency PLN Send/received digital payments (% of population) 82
Source: Eurostat, IMF, European Commission, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH Latest available data as of 2017/2018
Data for 2018, estimates Source: ECB, national sources, World Bank, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH32
Center of the capital city of Romania, Bucharest
Spotlight Romania
There are two particularly interesting aspects to the Raiffeisen Bank is an active contributor on the Romanian
Romanian fintech scene: the development of local startups fintech landscape, creating a series of events and
and the entry of foreign fintechs. The local market is supporting the fintech startups community, through its
relatively young but already notably dynamic. Raiffeisen collaboration with TechHub Bucharest like The Fintech
Bank aims at growing the local fintech market and in Month.
2019 the bank is developing an educational program
for early-stage companies or single founders who plan to There are many actors in the Romanian startup scene.
establish a tech startup, Elevator Lab Bootcamp. Universities provide talent for the startup ecosystem
and the state has developed Start-Up Nation. The state
Some of the most notable early-stage fintechs in Romania program finances yearly around 10,000 SMEs, fintechs
are Argentum, Confidas, Fintech OS, Instant Factoring, are fully eligible to apply.
Minutizer, SymphoPay, ThinkOut, Smart Bill. Of the
foreign fintechs that have entered Romania, the most In terms of investments & development, the Romanian
active one is Revolut. Orange launched its own service, startup ecosystem also includes a number of VC’s
Orange Money, in 2018, but Romanians also use services (Gapminder, Early Game Ventures, Gecad Ventures,
provided by other fintechs, which have yet to technically etc.), accelerators (Techcelerator, Spherik Accelerator,
establish local subsidiaries: Monese, TransferWise, N26, Innovation Labs, Risky Business, etc.) and business angels
Monzo and PayPal. (www.techangels.ro).
According to Tech.eu, the appetite for developing tech
companies is rather strong considering that the investments
on the Romanian tech market have grown starting with
2016 on a tremendous pace from €3.6M to €48.4M
(2017) and €114.1M (2018).33
Size Funding trends
5.7 M
# of active local Cumulative funding €6M
fintechs 2008-2018
4M
6+6+219371612 47+20+1023
€5M
12% 6%
3
6% 23% €4M
6
2% 3 2%
1 1
€3M
16% 8
49 € 8M
9 18%
47%
10% €2M
1.69M
1.64M
€1M
276K
18
20%
16K
74K
37%
0
2013 2014 2015 2017 2018
Insurance Corporate Banking Capital Markets Technology
Retail Banking SME Banking Wealth Management Support Seed/Angel Not disclosed
Top VC investors Top fintech companies
Investor # of investment Company Description Funding (€)
Gecad Ventures 2 Otto Broker Insurance brokerage services 4M
NETOPIA Online marketing and payment processing
Sequoia Capital India 1 1.7M
Systems solutions
Catalyst Romania 1 Smart Bill Invoice software for small businesses 1.1M
Risky Business 1 VirtualCards All-in-one loyalty cards app 847K
DMG Information 1 SymphoPay POS solution 536K
3TS Capital Partners 1 Ebriza Virtual cash register 350K
Pay-per-minute payment system for audio
Greycroft Partners 1 Minutizer and video calls
16K
Selected Top VC investors ranked by number of investment in local fintechs from
2008-2018. Lowest category ranked by date of investments.
Sources: Tables include fintechs headquatered in Romania. Funding rounds and amounts are relative to the period 2008-2018 and exclude M&A and IPO deals,
but include debt. Source: BCG FinTech Control Tower
Country data Total bank assets (€ Bn) 98
Total bank assets / GDP (%) 54
Population (M) 19.5 Account ownership (% of population) 58
GDP total (€ Bn) 204 Debit card ownership (% of population) 49
GDP per capita (€, at PPP) 19,834 Internet usage (% of population) 64
GDP growth (%) 4.1 Usage of internet to pay bills (% of population) 12
Official currency RON Send/received digital payments (% of population) 47
Source: Eurostat, IMF, European Commission, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH Latest available data as of 2017/2018
Data for 2018, estimates Source: ECB, national sources, World Bank, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH34
St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow’s Red Square, Russia
Spotlight Russia
The Russian fintech market has been growing significantly Fintech partnership programs designed to help early-
for the past two years in terms of both the number of stage startups to meet market needs were set up in 2018
deals and the volume of investment. The market has by Sberbank, Raiffeisenbank, Tinkoff and Alfa Bank.
several particularities: Russia is a leading global supplier Several banks also acquired startups in the field of
of IT specialists and some areas such as P2P lending, loyalty and payments, including Alfa Bank (Cardsmobile)
collective investments and cryptocurrencies have yet to and Tinkoff (Cloudpayments). The UK fintech unicorn
be regulated. Revolut also entered Russia in 2018 via a licensing deal
with Qiwi Bank.
According to some fintechs the key hurdles facing the
Russian market include the low interest of external Russia’s Central Bank has launched a Fintech Association
investors, the low spending power of the public, and a sandbox designed to support further development.
geopolitical risk and the inflexibility of the tax authorities. The FinoPolis fintech forum also strengthens the fintech
In 2018 the Russian Central Bank created a regulatory ecosystem. Cryptocurrencies and tokens are legal but
sandbox in order to encourage new financial services discouraged as a means of payment while ICOs and
and technologies such as a system of fast payments, a crowdfunding have gained popularity as alternative
unified system of biometric identification and a financial sources of capital. Accelerators and incubators such as
supermarket. Accelerators such as FRII accelerator and Russia Fintech Lab, Huobi, Digital Horizon and Digital
HSE incubator regularly support the development of October are active in Russia as are 70+ VC firms, who
fintech startups. invested a total of over €212M in 2017.35
Size Funding trends
# of active local Cumulative funding
39.7 M
fintechs 2008-2018
37 M
€40M
34.2 M
770K
3+3+422401585 1+2+1068125
2.7M
24.3M
8.4M
13.4M
5% 3% 3% 1%2%
2% 5%
10.5M
8% 4% 9% €30M
9 6 6
15 7 12%
8.4M
3.6M
1.2M
16% 31 22% €20M
6.1M
43
198 € 292M
20.1M
12.5 M
11.6 M
6.8M
16.6M
€10M
5.4M
5.7 M
12M
11M
3.5M
2.8M
81
3.6M
2.8M
68%
594K
41%
0
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Insurance Corporate Banking Capital Markets Technology Debt Seed/Angel Series A Series B
Retail Banking SME Banking Wealth Management Support Not disclosed
Top VC investors Top fintech companies
Investor # of investment Company Description Funding (€)
Life.Sreda 7 Tinkoff Bank High-tech branchless banking 47.2M
inVenture Partners 7 Bistrodengi Microfinance and other financial services 44.9M
Biglion Discounts and promotions platform 23.4M
QIWI Venture 5
TOT Money Mobile payment processor 12.0M
Prostor Capital 4
Viva Dengi Microfinance 11.3M
Flint Capital 4
Zhuk SME advisory services 9.7M
Vostok Emerging Finance 4
CarMoney Loans secured on motor vehicles 8.5M
Target Global 3 Comino Cryptocurrency mining device 8.4M
Runa Capital 3 Transforms smartphones into mobile POS
2can terminals
7.8M
Da Vinci Capital 3
MoneyMan Online consumer lending 7.7M
Finam Global 3
Selected Top VC investors ranked by number of investment in local fintechs from
2008-2018. Lowest category ranked by date of investments.
Sources: Tables include fintechs headquatered in Russia. Funding rounds and amounts are relative to the period 2008-2018 and exclude M&A and IPO deals,
but include debt. Source: BCG FinTech Control Tower
Country data Total bank assets (€ Bn) 1237
Total bank assets / GDP (%) 93
Population (M) 146.3 Account ownership (% of population) 76
GDP total (€ Bn) 1,400 Debit card ownership (% of population) 57
GDP per capita (€, at PPP) 17,600 Internet usage (% of population) 76
GDP growth (%) 2.3 Usage of internet to pay bills (% of population) 35
Official currency RUB Send/received digital payments (% of population) 71
Source: Eurostat, IMF, European Commission, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH Latest available data as of 2017/2018
Data for 2018, estimates Source: ECB, national sources, World Bank, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCHYou can also read
