This week’s version of Finovate International seems at latest fintech headlines from the Japanese European nations of Bulgaria, Albania, and Hungary.
Bulgarian Fintech Paypercut Raises €5M
Paypercut, a fintech primarily based in Sofia, Bulgaria, has secured €5 million in seed funding. The spherical was co-led by Concentric, Ardour Capital, and Araya Ventures, and featured participation from further traders together with SMOK Ventures, Portfolio Ventures, BrightCap Ventures, BlackWood, SABAH.fund, MFG Make investments, Primary Set, and Matt Doka, a fee entrepreneur. Paypercut’s whole funding now stands at €7 million.
Based in response to the fragmentation of funds in Central and Japanese Europe, Paypercut has grown from a Purchase Now, Pay Later aggregator right into a extra complete funds platform. The corporate provides retailers entry to card funds, native fee choices, Purchase Now Pay Later merchandise, fee hyperlinks, QR code funds, multi-currency settlement, and billing instruments by way of a single integration. Paypercut raised €2 million in pre-seed funding in July 2025 and has onboarded greater than 200 retailers in eight CEE markets since that point.
This week’s funding will assist gasoline Paypercut’s continued growth throughout Central and Japanese Europe. The funding may also allow the agency to satisfy the capital necessities for an EMI license with the Central Financial institution of Eire.
“CEE has all the time been handled as an afterthought by the funds business, seen as too fragmented, too many native specifics, too difficult,” Paypercut Co-Founder and CEO Stoil Vasilev stated. “We constructed Paypercut to repair that. This spherical provides us the assets to go additional and quicker: extra markets, extra fee choices for retailers, and the infrastructure to maneuver cash in the best way it ought to have all the time labored, immediately and at a fraction of the associated fee.”
Along with its service provider funds operation, Paypercut can also be creating stablecoin-based infrastructure for cross-border transfers within the area. The corporate will initially goal high-volume corridors corresponding to these between the Euro and the Polish Zloty (EUR-to-PLN) and the Euro and the Romanian Leu (EUR-to-RON).
Albania’s Tirana Financial institution Goes Reside with Backbase
Tirana Financial institution, named “Finest Financial institution in Albania” in 2025 by Euromoney, has gone dwell with a “full omnichannel retail banking expertise” constructed on the Backbase AI-native Banking OS. The launch covers accounts, deposits, on-line mortgage and bank card functions, inside and outgoing transfers, card administration, billpay, and monetary insights. Tirana Financial institution may also allow Digital Help within the worker app.
“This launch marks a big step in our digital transformation journey, as we proceed to put money into options that convey actual, on a regular basis worth to our prospects. TiBank+ is designed to ship a seamless and intuitive banking expertise, combining comfort with the belief and human connection that outline our mannequin,” Tirana Financial institution Chief Retail Enterprise Officer Lila Canaj stated. “By our partnership with Backbase, now we have accelerated this transformation, bringing to market a contemporary and scalable platform constructed to evolve with our prospects’ wants.”
One function that Tirana Financial institution anticipates its prospects will recognize is real-time spending insights, courtesy of Backbase’s private finance administration capabilities. Providing prospects these insights isn’t a typical prevalence within the area and can assist Tirana Financial institution differentiate itself from its opponents. The establishment can also be going dwell with Apple Pay, turning into one of many few Albanian banks to supply the service by way of a cellular app.
“Albania is on its path to EU membership, its authorities has made digitalization a nationwide precedence,” Backbase Regional Vice President for South East Europe Robert Mihaljek stated. “Tirana Financial institution checked out that second and determined to guide it. They got here to us with a transparent ambition. Twelve months later, they’re dwell with not solely an MVP however a full retail APP. It is a first for Albania, and a reference for the Balkans.”
A four-time Finovate Better of Present winner, Backbase has been a Finovate alum since 2009. The Amsterdam-based fintech provides an AI-native banking working system that converts fragmented banking operations right into a unified frontline for the good thing about prospects and workers alike. Based in 2003, Backbase counts greater than 150 main banks and monetary establishments world wide as customers of its options for retail, small enterprise, industrial, and personal banking, in addition to wealth administration. Riddhi Dutta is CEO.
Can Crypto Make a Comeback in Hungary?
For a lot of observers, liberal democracy was one of many huge winners within the latest Hungarian election that noticed the tip of the Orbán regime. However may the victory of Péter Magyar and his pro-EU Tisza Get together even be signal for crypto and digital belongings within the nation?
In 2025, Hungary introduced an amended Crypto Act that criminalized unauthorized trade providers and established a validation regime on all crypto-to-fiat and crypto-to-crypto transactions. This incentivized some companies, corresponding to Revolut, to withdraw from the Hungarian market solely, whereas others suspended providers as a consequence of regulatory uncertainty.
This additionally set off a confrontation with the EU, with the European Fee initiating infringement proceedings towards Hungary’s validation regime, saying that it was in battle with the EU’s MiCA framework. Curiously, Orbán had beforehand been comparatively pro-crypto, along with his regime providing among the lowest tax charges on crypto in Central Europe. This made Hungary—no less than earlier than 2025—a gorgeous jurisdiction for retail crypto traders within the area.
There are various causes provided to clarify the shift towards a extra restrictive angle lately—from the affect of MiCA and its mandates to the regime’s well-known choice for state management and supervision of key monetary and industrial actions. However the query now’s whether or not or not new politics will lead to new coverage? The proper reply, at this level, is that nobody is aware of. What some observers have famous, nonetheless, is Magyar’s comparatively extra pro-EU stance on different points and his basic curiosity in re-aligning with European establishments extra broadly. To this finish, even one thing as simple as revising the nation’s crypto coverage to match MiCA’s mandates—and take away or revise present felony penalties for coverage violations— may be an preliminary optimistic signal towards restoring crypto’s standing in Hungary.
Right here is our have a look at fintech innovation world wide.
Central and Southern Asia
Latin America and the Caribbean
By way of its Alipay+ gateway, Singapore’s Ant Worldwide introduced the launch of cross-border cellular fee providers in Latin America.
ACI Worldwide appeared on the impression of real-time funds on progress in Peru, Chile, and Argentina.
Tearsheet profiled Brazilian digital monetary establishment Agibank.
Asia-Pacific
Singapore-based Crypto funds community Moonpay and controlling shareholder Seoryong Electronics introduced a joint funding in Korean fintech Finger.
Vietnam Financial institution OCB chosen Backbase AI lead Chris Shayan as its Performing CEO.
Visa launched Germin Pay within the Philippines.
Sub-Saharan Africa
African monetary infrastructure firm Anchor launched its Anchor MCP Server, turning into the primary Nigerian fintech to make. its API documentation natively accessible to AI programs.
The Africa Report reported on the rise of cellular cash in Ghana and the way it’s difficult the nation’s incumbent banks.
Enterprise Insider Africa seems on the destiny of small enterprise banking platform Brass which introduced that it will likely be migrating its prospects to Paystack Microfinance Financial institution.
Central and Japanese Europe
PayPal launched a pair of Purchase Now, Pay Later merchandise for its prospects in Austria.
Ripple launched its RLUSD stablecoin in Turkey courtesy of partnerships with native platforms BiLira, Bitexen, and Bitlo.
Equifax UK cast a partnership with Polish credit score bureau BIK to spice up entry to id verification and fraud prevention know-how.
Center East and Northern Africa
Saudi Arabia-based fintech Sew introduced a pivot to give attention to infrastructure and providing a monetary working system for banks.
UAE-based fintech Comfi AI secured pre-Sequence A funding from Yango Group’s Yango Ventures.
Mastercard renews its partnership with CIB, Egypt’s largest private-sector financial institution.
Picture by Viktor Kiryanov on Unsplash
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