FinTech companies from Spain to watch out for in 2021

By Joy Dumasia

FinTech refers to software and other modern technologies used by businesses that provide automated and improved financial services. FinTech in our daily life is Mobile Payment apps, Cryptocurrency and Blockchain like Bitcoin and Gemini. In the future, the range of FinTech services is predicted to transform the market even more with AI and machine learning and will make FinTech products an integral part of our digitalized life.

Several conditions have led to Spain’s recent FinTech boom. Traditional financial institutions and small businesses are undergoing digital transformations, investing heavily in new technologies that help cut costs and improve operational efficiency. Spain joins the United Kingdom and the Netherlands as a few European countries to introduce a regulatory sandbox. The Spanish Association of FinTech and Insurtech (AEFI), whose main objective is to create a favourable environment for the development of FinTech and InsurTech companies in Spain, played a key role in pushing for the approval of the regulatory sandbox.

The following are the FinTech companies from Spain to watch out for in 2021:

• Verse

Verse offers a payments platform that allows users to share payments easily, instantly, and with no hidden fees. Verse is the payments technology platform that takes the friction out of storing, spending and transferring money. The mobile app allows you to share payments easily and instantly and enable you to choose whether your transactions are private or public to have fun while keeping track of your financial activities.

Verse is available for Android and iOS-based phones, and transactions are completed in less than two business days. The company is based in Barcelona, Spain.

• ID Finance

Founded in 2012 in Barcelona, ID Finance is a financial technology company that offers state-of-the-art technology, data science and credit scoring and aims to transform digital consumer finance in the markets of Europe and Latin America.

ID Finance has over 400 staff spread across its operations under the MoneyMan and Plazo brands in Spain, Brazil, and Mexico, with R&D located in Minsk, Belarus. Its scoring engine analyses data, including behavioural biometrics, identify anomalies and increase risk assessment efficiency by 50%.

• Ibancar 

Ibancar is a FinTech company specializing in online lending to a largely unbanked client base that does not have access to conventional forms of credit. At Ibancar, they want to be a national benchmark in the sector of car loans as collateral. The commitment not to withdraw the vehicle, not change its ownership and not charge rent for using it has led to offer services to thousands of clients.

IBS Intelligence recently reported that Spain and the UK-based cloud consumer credit platform, Ibancar, completed its first round of external equity funding in a dual raise for a total amount of €1.65 million. FinTech aims to expand its activity into the UK and other European territories. The funding round was led by venture capital investor Knuru Capital, with a syndicate of internet entrepreneurs and senior finance executives.

• Unnax

Unnax enables businesses to access financial-related data from customers simply and securely. The company offers a range of products that help solve common business problems and provides improved customer experiences through modern payment solutions, rich financial data, and intelligent risk and identity tools.

The technologies help businesses perform AML and KYC verifications, access bank accounts, analyze banking data, and move money and process payments more intelligently. In the future, banking will be a service built on APIs and open to everyone through platforms. Unnax is the glue that connects these elements, leveraging Open Banking to provide top-notch financial technology solutions.

• Bnext

Bnext is one of the first Spanish FinTech companies, a pioneer as an alternative to traditional banking, making it easier for people to control their money to live it more freely and intelligently. Bnext claims to have around 300,000 active users and more than EUR 100 million in monthly transactions. It operates in the European Union (EU) under an e-money license.

Recently, IBS Intelligence reported that Bnext, the first Spanish neobank that challenges the traditional banking system, has joined forces with Algorand to revolutionize the remittances market in Europe and Latam. In 2020, Latam received more than 100bn USD, and Spain sent more than 18bn USD, with Latin America receiving most of the remittances sent by Spain.

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