Fintech startup ecosystem
Europe has produced more fintech unicorns than any region outside the US. London, Stockholm, Berlin, and Amsterdam are global centres for payments, neobanking, and embedded finance. Strong regulatory frameworks like PSD2 and open banking have created a uniquely innovation-friendly environment. We track 517 organisations in this sector across 6+ countries.
Showing 241–260 of 517 Fintech
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Fintech results
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Kinisis Ventures
Kinisis Ventures was co-founded in 2018 by Andreas Panayi and Yiannos Georgiades as a Cyprus-US bridge accelerator and investment firm, with its registered office in Nicosia. Its regulated KV Kinisis Ventures Fund RAIF VCIC (KV Fund I and II), managed in partnership with AIFCAP Managers and licensed by CySEC, is the first CySEC-registered early-stage VC focused exclusively on Cypriot technology companies targeting US market expansion. The fund writes seed tickets of €1.5M–€4M in cybersecurity, fintech, AI-enabled platforms, and energy-tech, with portfolio companies including Threedium (3D imaging), Phase3D (metal-printing quality assurance), and Autonomics Tech (autonomous industrial robotics).
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Klarna
Klarna is a Swedish fintech company that pioneered the “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) model globally. Founded in 2005 by Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Niklas Adalberth, and Victor Jacobsson, Klarna started by offering online shoppers in Sweden a way to purchase goods on invoice (pay after delivery). Over the next decade, the company expanded across Europe and beyond, becoming a dominant online payments provider. As of 2021, Klarna was Europe’s highest-valued private tech company at $45.6 billion, reflecting meteoric growth fueled by consumers’ appetite for installment payments. Klarna’s app and services allow users to split purchases into interest-free installments or pay later, and it partners with over 450,000 retailers worldwide, including global brands like H&M, IKEA, and Nike. The company has over 150 million users across 45 countries and handled $80 billion in transaction volume in 2021. Klarna’s journey, however, has seen dramatic swings: after reaching a $45B valuation in mid-2021, a combination of rising interest rates and tech market downturn led to a downround in 2022, cutting its valuation to $6.7 billion (an 85% drop). The company restructured, laying off 10% of its staff, and refocused on profitability. By 2023, Klarna returned to profit and saw renewed growth, aided by expanding beyond BNPL into a full shopping app with price comparison, loyalty features, and banking services (Klarna obtained a banking license in Europe in 2017). In 2025, Klarna reportedly delayed an IPO amid market volatility but ultimately went public in September 2025, raising $1.37 billion. Despite valuation fluctuations, Klarna remains the global leader in BNPL, with a strong brand among Gen Z and millennial shoppers. Its journey from a small Stockholm startup to a financial giant serving 65 million customers (2025) at one point valued at $75 billion exemplifies the rise (and resiliency) of Europe’s fintech sector.
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Kneip
Kneip is a Luxembourg-founded investment-data and fund-reporting company that sits in the plumbing between asset managers, fund domiciles, and the distribution channels (banks, platforms, regulators) where funds are actually sold. For decades it has been one of the largest providers of European fund data dissemination, handling NAVs, KIIDs/PRIIPs KIDs, MiFID II data templates, and regulatory reporting packages for hundreds of asset managers — unglamorous but absolutely load-bearing infrastructure for the EUR 5-trillion-plus Luxembourg fund industry. In 2022 Kneip was acquired by Deutsche Börse and integrated into the group's data-services business, effectively turning a Luxembourg-grown fund-tech operator into part of a top-tier European exchange's data franchise. It is a clean example of how Luxembourg's tax and legal specialization in funds translates into globally relevant software companies that outsiders rarely hear about.
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Kristo Käärmann
Co-founder and CEO of Wise (formerly TransferWise), the cross-border payments company he started with Taavet Hinrikus to cut the cost of international money transfers. He took Wise public via a 2021 direct listing on the London Stock Exchange.
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Krzysztof Kalicki
Ex-CEO of Deutsche Bank Poland, Krzysztof brings finance industry gravitas to the startup world. After decades in banking, he now invests in fintech and regtech startups as an angel. His deep understanding of banking regulation makes him an ideal mentor for fintech founders. Associated startups: Early-stage fintech and compliance tech startups (leveraging his banking network).
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Lakestar
Lakestar is a Zurich-headquartered venture capital firm founded in 2012 by Klaus Hommels, one of Europe's most prolific and publicly visible technology investors, whose pre-Lakestar angel track record included early bets on Skype, Spotify, and Facebook in Europe. The firm runs a multi-stage strategy spanning early-stage funds, growth funds, and public/crossover vehicles, with offices in Zurich, Berlin, London, and Zug. Notable portfolio companies include Revolut, N26, Mister Spex, Blockchain.com, GetYourGuide, FlixBus, and Opendoor. Lakestar manages over EUR 2 billion across funds and has been a vocal advocate at the EU level for scaling up European technology sovereignty, having been involved in initiatives like the European Tech Champions Initiative and the Scale-Up Europe pledge. It is one of the few continental European VCs that operates across the full venture lifecycle at significant scale.
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Lars Mangelsdorf
Co-founder and CEO of Yokoy, the Zurich-based AI-powered spend management platform founded in 2019. Mangelsdorf led Yokoy through a CHF 80 million Series B in 2022 led by Sequoia Capital, one of the largest Swiss fintech rounds of that year, and expanded the company from DACH into the UK and the Netherlands, building deep integrations with SAP and Oracle for enterprise finance automation.
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LAUNCHub Ventures
Founded in 2012 by Lyuben Belov and partners, LAUNCHub Ventures is Sofia's largest dedicated early-stage VC, currently deploying its third fund which closed oversubscribed at €74M in late 2021 (first close €44M). The fund invests at pre-seed and seed stages with ticket sizes of €300K–€3M, backing founders across South-Eastern and Central-Eastern Europe. Sector focus spans fintech, proptech, future of work, devtools, health tech, and enterprise software; portfolio includes Quantive (strategy platform), OfficeRnD (flex-space SaaS), FintechOS, and Giraffe360. Seventy-five percent of portfolio companies have raised follow-on rounds, with aggregate follow-on capital exceeding €400M.
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Le Village by CA
Launched 2014 by Credit Agricole. National accelerator network with 30+ villages across France offering coworking, mentorship, and business connections with CA's banking network. Sector-agnostic (fintech, agritech, etc.). Scope: National.
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Le Village by CA Luxembourg
A startup accelerator backed by five Crédit Agricole entities present in Luxembourg (Caceis, Amundi, CA Indosuez, Cali Europe, and Camca Assurance), part of the global Village by CA network active since 2014. Based at the House of Startups, it targets growth-stage startups seeking access to the Crédit Agricole financial group network, expert mentoring, and co-development with large corporate partners.
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Lead Ventures
Lead Ventures is a Budapest-based independent VC firm founded in 2017, specialising in late-Seed and Series A investments in scale-ups across Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltics. The firm closed its second fund at €100 million in 2024, deploying initial tickets of €2–5 million with follow-on capacity up to €10 million. It has backed over 20 companies and claims the largest VC exit in Hungarian history with its investment in AImotive, acquired by Stellantis. Beyond capital, the firm differentiates on access to an international network of industry operators and domain experts.
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Ledgy
Ledgy is an equity and compensation management software company founded in 2017 in Zurich by three physicists who met at ETH Zurich. Its platform helps companies manage cap tables, employee share and option plans, funding rounds, valuations, compliance and investor relations, positioned as a European equity-management platform for high-growth international startups as well as larger and public companies. The company maintains offices in Zurich and London and reported reaching profitability in 2025.
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Leeds Digital Festival 2026
Billed as the UK's largest open tech festival — a decentralised, mostly free two-week programme of hundreds of community-run events. For a Yorkshire founder or developer it is an accessible way to run or attend sessions, build a local network, and recruit without a big ticket cost.
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Lendable
Lendable is a London-based fintech founded in 2014 that uses data and automation to underwrite consumer credit, offering personal loans, credit cards and car finance funded through institutional capital. It reached unicorn status and operates in the UK, US and Mexico, positioning itself as a fully digital, fast-decision alternative to traditional lenders.
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Level39
Level39 is London's leading fintech and cybersecurity innovation hub, located on the 39th floor of One Canada Square in Canary Wharf. Founded in 2013 by the Canary Wharf Group, Level39 provides workspace, mentorship, and business development support to over 200 high-growth technology companies specializing in financial technology, cybersecurity, retail tech, and smart city solutions. Its location in the heart of London's financial district gives members direct proximity to major banks, insurers, and financial institutions that serve as both customers and partners. Level39 runs structured growth programs, investor showcases, and corporate innovation partnerships, and has become the focal point for fintech entrepreneurship in Europe. Notable alumni and members include Revolut (in its early days), Onfido, and numerous regtech and blockchain startups. The hub also hosts a dense calendar of ecosystem events, making it a key gathering point for the London fintech community.
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Light
Light is a Copenhagen-based AI-native finance platform that rebuilds the general ledger from scratch to replace legacy ERP and accounting systems. It automates core accounting functions including accounts receivable, accounts payable, bookkeeping, line-item coding, tax and VAT reporting, and multi-entity financial consolidation, while letting finance teams query their financial data in natural language. The platform integrates with CRMs, banking systems, and communication tools such as Slack and Microsoft Teams, and targets hypergrowth, multi-entity international companies. Founded by CEO Jonathan Sanders and CTO Filip Kozjak, Light exited stealth in June 2024 and later raised a Series A.
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Lisbon Sustainability Week 2026
Catolica-Lisbon's annual sustainability convening at Beato Innovation District & Santander Center. ~700 attendees across keynotes, academic sessions & workshops on sustainable finance, policy and business under the theme 'Building Sustainability Together'.
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LOGIN Conference 2026
The largest tech and innovation conference in the Baltics, held annually in Vilnius with 4,000+ attendees. Covers startup pitching, fintech, AI, and cybersecurity with international speakers. Tickets range from EUR 100-300, offering strong value for the quality of content and networking.
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LOGIN Conference 2027
LOGIN Conference 2027 takes place in Vilnius on 7-8 October, organised by Delfi. The Lithuanian tech and startup conference covers fintech, AI, cybersecurity and the broader Baltic startup ecosystem.
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Loïc Soubeyrand
Founder and CEO of Swile, the employee-benefits and meal-voucher super-app. He previously founded the adtech company Teads, one of France's biggest tech exits, before starting Swile in 2017.
