We partner with deep tech and brand-driven companies obsessed in challenging category norms. The Nordics are our home, but we take on a global front in spotting the unexpected - from B2B to B2C, with a sweet spot for scientific advances, strong IP, and customer understanding that looks beyond convention. We invest in early stage companies: from their inception to series A and beyond. We share in the vision of founders as champions and challengers, drawing on our experiences from scaling some of the strongest tech companies ourselves.

Maki.vc

Tencent is an internet service portal offering value-added internet, mobile, telecom, and online advertising services. Its communications and social platforms Weixin and QQ connect users with each other, with digital content and daily life services in just a few clicks.  Tencent has maintained steady growth under its user-oriented operating strategies. It provides value-added internet, mobile, and telecom services, as well as online advertising under the strategic goal of providing users with ''one-stop online lifestyle services.'' Tencent’s Internet platforms in China – QQ (QQ Instant Messenger), WeChat, QQ.com, QQ Games, Qzone, 3g.QQ.com, SoSo, PaiPai, and Tenpay – aim to address the various needs of internet users, including communication, information, entertainment, e-commerce, and others. In September 2013, Tencent's market valuation rose to $101 billion, and as of November 21, 2013, QQ had 2 billion active users and WeChat had 650 million monthly active users. The numbers of active users for QQ mail, Qzone, Tencent Weibo, and QQ news were 274 million, 626 million, 220 million, and 150 million, respectively. Tencent was founded in November of 1998. In April 2000, the IDG and PCCW invested a total of $2.2 million dollars in the company. Tencent was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (SEHK) on June 16, 2004. Baidu, Alibaba, and Netease are Tencent's major competitors.

Tencent

Vitruvian Partners is an equity firm that specializes in middle-market buyouts, growth buyouts, and growth capital investments.

Vitruvian Partners

Enfuce

Enfuce is a fintech company that provides various financial services, including payment and card-issuing solutions.  Enfuce is a payment processor that delivers debit, prepaid, and credit card solutions across Europe and scaling globally, with offices in Finland, Germany, Latvia, Sweden, and the UK. With Enfuce card solutions, traditional banks, neobanks, and fintechs can create next-level payment experiences for their end users now and into the future.  Enfuce has raised a total of €62 million in several funding rounds and has been awarded with recognitions like the Visa Fintech Fast Track program, Mastercard Lighthouse Development Programme, and 2019 PayTech Award for Best Payments Solution for Payment Systems in the Cloud.

Enfuce is a Finnish company providing an API-based card issuing and processing (card-as-a-service [CaaS]) infrastructure platform for banks, FinTechs, and merchants. The platform can be used to develop debit, credit, gift, and loyalty card programs, as well as digital wallets, and includes expense management and neobanking solutions while supporting digital payment features such as Apple Pay. In addition to the CaaS platform, Enfuce also offers a PSD2-compliant open banking infrastructure for its users to access end customer banking accounts.

Democratizing financial technology with a suite of API-based solutions

FinTech Infrastructure

Enfuce and Alisa Bank Launch Business Credit Card for SMEs in Finland

Mastercard

Enfuce partners with Mastercard to expand its Card as a Service platform in the Nordics

Platforms that allow FinTechs to integrate banking services such as opening and maintaining accounts, facilitating card payments, etc.


Visa

Enfuce is launching a program in partnership with Visa to enable European fintechs to launch their own payment card offerings cost-effectively.

Enfuce is a Finnish company providing an API-based card issuing and processing (card-as-a-service [CaaS]) infrastructure platform for banks, FinTechs, and merchants. The platform can be used to develop debit, credit, gift, and loyalty card programs, as well as digital wallets, and includes expense management and neobanking solutions while supporting digital payment features such as Apple Pay. In addition to the CaaS platform, Enfuce also offers a PSD2-compliant open banking infrastructure for its users to access end customer banking accounts.Enfuce was reportedly the first company in Europe to run a fully cloud-based card issuing platform. Its operations span across Europe and the Middle East, and its customers include Pleo, St1, Gee Finance, Qred, Rabobank, and Mynt, among others. As of December 2021, the platform reportedly had over 13 million active card users and processed transactions worth around EUR 1 billion (USD 1.1 billion) annually. Moreover, Enfuce claims that its users can launch a payment card program in eight weeks, using the platform. In February 2024, Enfuce secured an <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/27018">Electronic Money Institution </a>(EMI) license from the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).Key customers and partnershipsThe company has partnered with several companies such as Visa, Mastercard, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) to deliver its CaaS and open banking services. Moreover, in November 2020, Enfuce joined Visa’s “FinTech Fast Track” program, which was designed to help FinTechs better integrate with Visa to deliver payment solutions.Funding and FinancialsIn November 2023, Enfuce raised EUR 8.5 million (~USD 9.3 million) in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/24530">funding </a>led by Vitruvian Partners. The funds were earmarked to support its geographic expansion plans across Europe, including key markets such as Benelux, Germany, and France, and enhancing collaboration with Visa to offer innovative financial solutions.

Cross River Bank provides a white-label banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platform for enterprises, combining banking services, payments, and marketplace lending infrastructure to build fintechs. Its solutions comprise demand deposits, savings accounts, credit and debit cards, and payment clearing services, including automated clearing house (ACH) and real-time payments. The company also provides banking and payment infrastructure for the crypto industry, including risk management services for its crypto clients.Cross River Bank has expanded its operations by acquiring Betterfin, a platform offering lending-as-a-service (LaaS) solutions, in November 2021. Through the acquisition, Cross River Bank leveraged Betterfin’s software to digitize parts of the small-business lending process (such as origination and underwriting).&nbsp;Key customers and partnerships&nbsp; As of November 2024, Cross River had over 80 clients, including lenders such as Affirm, Best Egg, and Upstart, neobanks such as <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/220119">Revolut</a>, and blockchain-based payment processing platform GreenBox. The platform reportedly originated over USD 24 billion in loans per annum, around 10x the value of loans it originated in 2015.As of November 2024, the company had over 500 employees and had entered more than 80 partnerships.&nbsp;In September 2024, Cross River Bank partnered with Forward, an embedded payments company, to offer payouts-as-service solutions featuring same-day automated clearing house (ACH) payouts through Forward's proprietary API technology.&nbsp;Cross River Bank also teamed up with UK-based BaaS provider <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/421515">Railsr</a> in January 2019 to launch a common API for their platforms to be used globally.The company partnered with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/1643">American Express</a> (Amex) to enable FinTechs to issue credit cards through Cross River Bank, on the Amex network, while also providing select Amex benefits to the FinTechs.&nbsp;

Cross River Bank

Synctera was co-founded in 2020 by Peter Hazlehurst, the former head of Uber Money, who previously led the development of Google Wallet. The company offers an API-based infrastructure platform for community and regional banks to find and partner with FinTechs. This enables FinTechs to leverage the former’s licenses to embed FDIC-insured mobile checking, debit cards, savings accounts, and payment innovations, among other features. The API platform offered to the banks will then be sold to the FinTechs to code on. Although the end customers interact with the FinTechs, they legally belong to the bank.<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8117">Synctera mainly charges the banks </a>based on the interchange fees they earn (half of the interchange fees, as of January 2022) from the services provided. It does not charge them an initial amount to use the platform. Moreover, the platform also embeds fraud-as-a-service and charges FinTechs on a per transaction basis (4 cents per transaction) should they choose to use it. It subsequently shares that revenue 50/50 with the banks.The company launched the “t-minus10” project in January 2022, which offers a live sandbox for FinTechs to build apps, test, and go to market, enhancing their access to banking partners. It subsequently launched a “Smart Charge Card” (APIs to build, launch, and issue charge cards) and “White-label Banking App” (a codebase for developers to build embedded banking products or neobank apps) infrastructure in October 2022.Key customers and partnershipsIn February 2022, Lineage Bank (a community bank in Tennessee) and GoGetr (FinTech aiming to promote health and wealth management) became the first companies to launch a banking solution using the Synctera platform. As of March 2023, the platform was working with around 50 fintechs, of which 14 were live (including Wayapay and Float). Synctera reportedly had over 20 implementations set for launch in the following two months.Synctera announced a new card issuing and management infrastructure offering (Card-as-a-Service), in July 2021, which it developed in partnership with Mastercard and leading card issuing infrastructure disruptor, <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/64287">Marqeta</a>.In August 2024, Synctera partnered with<a href="https://thepaypers.com/payments-general/synctera-partners-marqeta-to-introduce-fleet-cards--1269833"> Marqeta&nbsp;</a>to develop a fleet card solution that helps companies create and manage their own fleet card and banking products.

Synctera

Based in the UK, Weavr, formerly known as Open Payments Cloud, was spun out of payment provider Ixaris in 2019. Weavr offers the infrastructure for enterprises to embed banking services across various industries, including education, fitness, logistics, etc. Weavr’s “Meta” platform combines multiple banking and payments partners in one platform through application programming interfaces (APIs). Using the APIs, enterprises can embed virtual banking services such as card payments, fund transfers, and international banking accounts.Weavr expanded its operations to Singapore in November 2022, as part of its global expansion plans.In March 2023, the company acquired Comma Payments in a primarily equity-based transaction to integrate the latter’s technology. The integration will allow customers to transition from making payments via existing bank accounts to using Weavr-provided accounts with enhanced controls and payment options.Key customers and partnershipsAs of February 2023, Weavr had served over 1,500 enterprises, including Wectory, AllGravy, Corplife, Finway, Thanks Ben, and MySkillCamp.&nbsp;In October 2019, Weavr partnered with payment service providers Global Processing Services (GPS), Paynetics, and iDenfy to enable developers to create and run sophisticated and streamlined payment experiences for their European customers through Weavr.In June 2023, the company&nbsp;<a href="https://www.weavr.io/blog/weavr-and-visa-to-deliver-embedded-finance-to-the-global-stage/">partnered with Visa</a> to integrate its financial plug-ins with Visa's payment capabilities to create embedded finance solutions that are easy to deploy and cost-effective.

Weavr

MX offers an open finance portal, data connectivity application programming interface (API), and MX platform API for banks, credit unions, and other financial service providers. The company’s solutions allow its clients to utilize financial data to reduce fraud, approve loans faster, and improve their customer experiences. In addition to APIs and connections, MX also offers a range of capabilities, including data aggregation, analytics, financial feed insights, wealth and investment services, and verification services.MX looks to enable banks and financial institutions to launch next-generation services and apps that automate and personalize financial experiences.Key customers and partnershipsAs of January 2021, the company noted that it worked with more than 1800 banks, credit unions, and FinTech companies, and its platform reached over 200 million end-users. Moreover, it also powered 43 of the top 50 digital banks as of the same period.&nbsp;As of November 2024, the company maintained connections with more than 13,000 financial institutions and FinTechs. Moreover, the company had processed transactions worth USD 170 billion, averaging around USD 150 million per day.In November 2024, the company partnered with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pymnts.com/news/banking/2024/american-express-forms-data-sharing-partnership-with-mx/">American Express</a> to enable the latter’s customers to securely connect their accounts with third-party financial institutions and FinTech apps through MX's platform.In&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8753?industryIds=53">February 2022, MX partnered</a> with&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/361160">Rize</a>, to enable users to access Rize’s banking infrastructure to build, launch, and scale financial products through a single API, thereby reducing the development time and cost.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Bankable is a banking-as-a-service (BaaS) infrastructure provider allowing financial institutions and corporations to utilize its API to integrate banking services. It provides a platform for its enterprise customers to offer modular banking services, including ledger management (process data from multiple banks to support cash management for global corporate affairs), digital banking, payment cards, and e-wallets. The company expanded its platform by <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/19662">acquiring Arex Markets </a>in June 2023, to embed working capital solutions (such as flexible invoice financing, corporate credit cards, lodged cars, and revolving credit).The company has a global presence, with operations spanning from the US to the Middle East as of January 2021. Bankable noted that the expansion of its global footprint also helps its European and US FinTech clients expand their operations internationally.Key customers and partnershipsIn January 2020, the company partnered with the diversified FinTech infrastructure provider <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/85350">Plaid </a>, which enabled Bankable’s customers to use Plaid’s tech to connect to more than 15,000 banks in the US and Europe.

Bankable

Platforms that enable FinTechs to integrate a range of payment-related services such as one-time payments, subscriptions, and receipt management for domestic and cross-border transactions.


Companies that enable organizations to embed anti-money laundering (AML), identity verification, and know-your-customer (KYC) solutions.


Platforms that allow FinTechs to integrate lending services,  by typically applying AI/ML technology to a spending analysis to analyze creditworthiness.

Companies providing APIs and integrations for FinTechs to access securities markets, facilitate transactions and clearing, and provide insights to help end-users manage their finances.

May specialize in promoting inclusiveness in financial services, primarily in the investment and lending spaces

AI/ML can improve the quality of their offerings, such as using AI/ML to reduce biases

Used for payment completions, accessing banking and transaction data, and providing financial insights, among others

Making banking work, without the paperwork

Neobanks

PROMINENT_CATEGORY

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 Finnish neobank, Saldo Bank, has teamed up with card issuing and processing infrastructure provider, Enfuce, to introduce its first ever credit card in the Nordic and Baltic regions. This partnership entails Enfuce supplying over 60,000 custom-created open-loop Visa credit and debit cards, both of the physical and virtual variety, to the Finnish clientele of Saldo Bank. These brand-new cards provide the users with real-time credit decisions and an automated card issuance process, therefore enabling customers to immediately utilise the credit for card payments and manage all their finances in a singular location.
 The purpose of this cooperation is to augment the growth of Saldo Bank within the banking industry whilst simultaneously presenting Enfuce's dedication towards assisting all banks, legacy and digital, across Europe by offering scalable, modular payment solutions.

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Enfuce

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