Europe is serious about boosting its innovation edge, and Estonia is a cornerstone part of it. Known for its FinTech successes, such as unicorn startup Wise, it continues to bring novelties in this space. Today, The European Innovation Council (EIC) has announced 68 companies for funding totalling €411M in grants and equity, following the first in 2024 EIC Accelerator cut-off in March.
Out of a total of 969 companies that submitted a full proposal, one Estonia startup — rising FinTech star Mifundo — has been selected in the final list of winners. It will receive a grant of €2.5M and also an equity investment. Equity investments are made through the EIC Fund by attracting other investors to increase the overall investment by an average of more than three times compared to the EIC investment.
Founded in 2018, Mifundo is developing a ground-breaking cross-border AI-based data platform that aims to create a single credit market in the European Union. The company’s technology allows credit profiles to be “passported” across borders, changing access to financial services across Europe.
“This is a powerful confirmation of our mission to significantly change the European financial sector by enabling the movement of credit data and trust across Europe. This will make it possible to move freely within the European Union and use the credit products of a bank located in another country. We are proud that Mifundo has been selected from nearly a thousand innovative companies in Europe’s most competitive funding program EIC Accelerator,” says Kaido Saar, CEO and founder of Mifundo and Chairman of the Board of FinanceEstonia.
It’s not the first time his project has been recognized by major innovation players. The company has received the “Europe Fintech Award 2023” and the “Banking Technology Award 2023 – Fintech Startup of the Year” nominations, and was included in the spring of 2023 by Mastercard Lighthouse among fintech companies with high potential in Northern Europe.
“With the received funding, we plan to interface the following countries, further develop the pan-European data model and expand the coverage of the data service in the European Union,” said Saar. Mifundo has previously raised €1.2 million in a pre-seed round in 2022 led by Opus11 VC, which included angel investors from prominent financial institutions.
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