Moving Beyond the Traditional Startup Pitch

At Tenity and VIPE, we see fintech innovation as something that happens across an ecosystem rather than within individual companies.

The strongest solutions increasingly emerge through collaboration between startups, financial institutions, technology providers, corporates and other ecosystem partners.

That thinking was embedded in the Nordics & Baltics program from the start. During the six-month journey, we worked closely with each fintech to understand its individual needs, connect the team with relevant partners and identify opportunities for meaningful collaboration.

When it came time to bring the cohort to Baltic Fintech Days, we wanted the format on stage to reflect the same philosophy.

So instead of eight separate pitches competing for the audience’s attention, the fintechs became part of one shared story.

Following the Payment Journey

The idea was straightforward: take a single payment and follow it through its lifecycle.

Through a practical example, the session mapped the journey from accessing an account and initiating a payment through spend control, payment execution, receiving funds, expense management, cash flow optimisation and, finally, customer engagement.

Seven of the eight selected VIPE fintechs joined us on stage in Riga, each representing a different part of this journey.

Enable Banking started the journey with the infrastructure that connects businesses to bank accounts and payment data, enabling them to initiate and manage payments.

Ledyer represented the B2B payment stage, simplifying invoices and transaction flows to help businesses execute payments more efficiently.

Juuli focused on the receiving side, making it easier for individuals to receive and manage payments.

Beneflo brought the cash flow perspective, helping businesses gain better visibility into their finances and optimise how and when money moves.

Beep showed how payments can extend beyond the transaction itself, becoming a tool for continued customer engagement and value creation.

Betalo demonstrated new ways of accessing and moving money, helping broaden access to financial services.

Myver represented the infrastructure layer that enables companies to create new financial solutions and experiences.

Seen together within one payment flow, the companies illustrated something that would have been much harder to communicate through individual pitches: how different fintech innovations connect with one another to address broader industry challenges.

The format also gave each startup the opportunity to demonstrate its expertise within a real financial workflow. Rather than simply describing a product, founders could show exactly where their solution fits and what value it creates for businesses and consumers.

Demonstrating the Power of Ecosystem Thinking

A central objective of the Visa Innovation Program Europe is helping fintechs understand their position within the wider payments ecosystem.

For an early-stage company, building a strong product is only part of the equation. The ability to understand how that product connects with banks, payment networks, accounting platforms, corporates and other fintech providers can be equally important.

The payment journey brought that interconnected ecosystem to life.

As the conversation progressed, one thing became particularly clear: no single company solves the entire payments journey.

Data informs decisions. Decisions lead to transactions. Transactions create business outcomes. And those outcomes can open new opportunities for engagement, services and further financial innovation.

Each stage is connected to another.

That interconnectedness increasingly defines today’s fintech landscape and demonstrates why collaboration remains such an important part of successful innovation.

A Cohort, Not Just a Collection of Startups

The format also allowed us to present the participating companies as something more than eight individual fintechs.

Throughout the program, the startups came from different markets, served different types of customers and addressed different pain points. Together, however, they represented a broad cross-section of the innovation currently taking place across the Nordics and Baltics.

Bringing them together on one stage gave us an opportunity to highlight both the individual strengths of each company and the collective value created by the cohort. For the audience, it created a more connected conversation. For the startups, it provided a more contextual way to showcase their solutions. And for the program, it offered a fitting conclusion to the first Nordics & Baltics edition of the Visa Innovation Program Europe.

Looking Ahead

The payment journey session reinforced an idea that has shaped the program from the beginning: meaningful fintech innovation rarely happens in isolation.

Strong ideas become more valuable when they can connect with the right infrastructure, partners and market opportunities.

As financial ecosystems become increasingly interconnected, some of the most important conversations are therefore not simply about what an individual product can do. They are about how different products, companies and technologies can work together to solve real problems.

For the inaugural Nordics & Baltics cohort, demonstrating that connection on stage was a fitting way to bring the program’s first edition to a close.

Beyond the Program

While the first Nordics & Baltics cohort has formally concluded, the relationships and conversations created throughout the program continue beyond the final event in Riga.

Across six months, eight fintechs worked alongside Visa, Tenity and ecosystem partners to explore opportunities for collaboration, strengthen their solutions and better understand their role within the changing payments landscape.

The outcome was therefore more than a showcase of promising fintech companies. It demonstrated what can happen when startups, financial institutions, corporates and technology partners come together around shared challenges.

The payment journey at Baltic Fintech Days captured that idea in a simple way: innovation rarely happens alone. Many of the solutions shaping the future of fintech emerge when different parts of the ecosystem connect and solve real-world problems together.