SEB to invest in Baltic fintechs

SEB group’s investment fund Venture Capital launched a new program aiming to invest in early-stage fintech start-ups in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The program is looking to finance and mentor the most promising start-ups in the region that are developing business models and products which can become useful for SEB’s clients in the future. Over the period of five years, SEB is looking to invest in 10-20 Baltic fintech start-ups.

The investments will be in the ballpark of 50 – 200 thousand euros per company and as a minor shareholder, bank will be able to play active role in supporting the development of the start-up. According to the Chairman of the Board of SEB Estonia Allan Parik, SEB is looking to enhance their collaboration with local fintechs. “We are looking to work with fintechs that have a solid vision of how to improve financial services and we are not only looking to support them financially but to provide our knowledge and experience to help start-ups improve their business models and products. SEB sees that financial services have to become simpler, more convenient, more understandable but also faster and more secure. Fintech start-ups have the innovative approach that helps us to achieve those goals and, in return - partnership with SEB provides start-ups with a fine platform to grow their clientele and expand their partnerships. We are ready to engage as we sincerely believe in the potential of Baltic fintech-scene,” explained Parik.

Sille Pettai, the Member of Management Board of AS SmartCap, an Estonian state funded venture capital fund of funds manager, welcomed the addition of corporate venture capital into the local start-up ecosystem. “In addition to provision of the capital, SEB is looking to support ambitious enterprises with technical support, wide network of mentors and all the useful tools that would help companies to grow faster and achieve their goals. In return, start-ups will provide fresh approach for the banking sector providing their clients with additional value thorough accelerated innovation,” said Pettai.

SEB’s fintech venture fund is designed for start-ups active in financial services but also for those businesses developing solutions based on automatization, machine-learning and artificial intelligence that have potential to shape future banking sector.

Companies looking to collaborate should feel free to contact SEB by sending a short description on their past activities and vision of partnership via website www.seb.ee/fintech.

SEB group in Sweden has accumulated considerable experience of investing in fintech companies since 2016. SEB Venture Capital has invested in companies such as Tink, whose smartphone app enables convenient planning and managing of personal finances; r3, which has created a distributed ledger platform designed to record, manage and automate legal agreements between businesses and Leasify - a platform for analysis, management and procurement of small ticket leasing, and many other companies.

Additional information:

Evelin Allas
Head of Communication
Marketing and Communication Division
SEB Estonia

Tel: +372 665 5649
Mob: +372 511 1718
Address: Tornimäe 2, 15010 Tallinn
e-mail: evelin.allas@seb.ee