The Nordic countries are quick to adopt new technologies. The region was an early user of applications that have since become ubiquitous, like Spotify or Skype. It’s little surprise that Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Greenland, Åland, and the Faroe Islands were some of the first countries to adopt fintech on a wide scale.

While Nordic fintech companies have been generating headlines for some time, things have accelerated rapidly with the adoption of open banking. These initiatives have created standards to ensure users’ financial data is secure and used properly. The momentum has also caused a boom of outstanding Nordic fintech companies that are worth raving about.

With that in mind, here are six Nordic fintech companies you should keep an eye on!

1. Tink

Tink is one of Europe’s most prevalent open banking companies, connecting over 3,400 banks and financial institutions and providing services to over 250 million customers. Created in 2012 and acquired by Visa in 2022, they’ve had the time and experience to become one of the most innovative fintech providers on the market, offering everything from payment processing to account information to credit checks. They even offer coaching services and data-driven financial advice.

Tink also offers a robust API, allowing access to everything from accepting payments to creating accounts using simple HTTP commands. Some of its features, although seemingly simple, are uniquely useful for financial users, like the ability to process data from PDFs as well as JSON. Something as simple as removing the need to convert and process files can save an impressive amount of time. It’s just another sign of how Tink has thought of everything when it comes to fintech and open banking.

2. Yapily

Yapily is a tool created specifically for working with open banking. They were an early adopter of fintech in the Nordic companies due to its popularity in the region. They now support 97 different banks and financial institutions in Nordic countries. Yapily lets you connect with all these banks and institutions using a single API.

Yapily also allows business owners to send and receive payments directly from their bank as long as they’re registered as a Payment Initiation Service Provider (PISP). It even supports recurring payments, scheduled payments, and bulk payments. Standardized data processing is another useful feature, returning data in a consistent format no matter what bank or financial institution it comes from. Support for a wide range of open banking features is another useful feature, offering user authorization flows and redirects. It even lets users embed authorization flows, removing the need for third-party solutions.

3. Klarna

Klarna is one of Europe’s biggest and most popular fintech providers, providing financial services for over 400,000 retailers. Klarna is a payment processing service with all the standard features you need or expect from a payment app. It’s got some standout features that make Klarna stand out in the Nordic FinTech landscape. A “Buy Now, Pay Later” function is its most striking feature, allowing customers to pay for a purchase within 30 days or with three monthly payments without having to involve a credit card. It even offers integration with many of the most popular third-party payment platforms like Shopify, Stripe, or Magento.

4. Vipps

Vipps is like a Nordic version of Venmo. The Norwegian payment app’s ability to quickly and easily send payments is just the beginning of what makes it one of the best Nordic FinTech companies. The platform also provides pre-built flows for accepting online payments, in-store payments, and even rewards programs. Best of all, Vipp’s features are all accessible via an API.

The Checkout API gives customers everything they need for online checkouts. It even integrates seamlessly with popular third-party platforms like Shopify or WooCommerce. It also allows customers to make payments via an ePayment API and the eCom API. It even lets you set up recurring payments via the recurring API.

5. Pleo

Pleo is based out of Copenhagen, Denmark. They’re a clever financial service provider that has streamlined the bookkeeping process for over 20,000 businesses by providing digital and even physical credit cards. All Pleo expense cards are also prepaid, so users don’t have to worry about cardholders going over budget.

Pleo allows integration with numerous third-party service providers, which can be verified using OAuth authentication once the user is set up as a client via the Installations API. This allows customers to retrieve additional user information from the third-party application, which isn’t stored or processed by Pleo, making it compliant with European data restrictions.

6. Horde

Horde was created as an antidote to a confusing, complicated loan system. It allows users to simplify the loan process to find the best possible deal. More impressively, it lets users set up a loan payment program for friends and family, creating a payment plan and structure that enables users to borrow from their community with a clear and straightforward financial plan. Best of all, Horde works with open banking and popular Nordic third-party providers Lunar, Pleo, Billy, Swiipe, and Dinero.

Final Thoughts on Nordic FinTech Companies

Fintech is here to stay. The world is only going to keep becoming more decentralized and interconnected. The global marketplace is how we do business now, especially in finance and tech. This interconnection brings its own complexities, though. Widespread fintech adoption is likely to see an increase in regulations like open banking, and data privacy standards like GDPR are only going to become more prevalent. It’s a good idea to get comfortable with fintech now if you’re planning on doing business in the Nordic companies.