Balderton Capital has led the seed round for Cino, a real-time payments Fintech.
Connect Ventures also participated as well as Barney Hussey-Yeo (founder of Cleo). The company says the funding will support Cino’s launch in the UK.
Based in Estonia, Cino was co-founded by two female entrepreneurs, CEO Elena Churilova and COO Lina Saleh. The service aims to enable “social payments,” claiming shared spending has not caught up with digital wallets.
Churilov previously worked at Bumble and Booking.com, and Saleh has a background in Human-Centred Design from Cornell University.
The bank-agnostic platform works across the EU and soon the UK. Like other digital platforms, users connect their cards to the Cino app, get a virtual card, and can join shared payment groups where they set adjustable custom split ratios.
Cino says its popularity is soaring as it has = seen 100% month-on-month growth in Finland and Italy. The company reports that it has a growing waitlist ahead of its UK launch later this year.
The company shares that it is reviewing new verticals, including B2B payments and rent.