Credit data is fragmented across Europe, making it virtually impossible for expats, cross-border commuters, and people wanting a vacation home abroad to access debt. Mifundo, a LendTech based in Estonia, has solved this problem by building a product that consolidates credit and open banking data for banks to access.
Mifundo has already made history by being the first fintech to receive funding from the European Innovation Council (EIC). The company received €10 million from a fund slated for companies of strategic importance to Europe, and with global disruptive potential.
NFM caught up with Kaido Saar, CEO and Founder of Mifundo, to understand more about the fintech:
NFM: How does Mifundo work?
Kaido Saar: Mifundo aggregates and standardizes credit bureau data and open banking information from multiple European countries, delivering it through a single API to banks. This allows banks to access the same level of customer financial information that local banks would have in other countries.
Mifundo’s unique value proposition is our ability to connect cross-border financial histories across EU countries, enabling individuals to access financial services without the barriers created by local credit histories.
It sounds simple, but it’s immensely complex to achieve this, especially in Europe where accessing financial data across borders is both highly regulated and highly complex due to multiple data sources, languages, currencies, and technologies.
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How did you overcome the data-sharing challenge?
No data is shared without full customer consent, and we maintain a record of that consent for compliance purposes. When a bank wants to query a customer’s financial profile, they trigger the request through Mifundo’s platform or API.
How has the response been from the banking sector?
Banks are extremely receptive to the service because they’re shackled without data, and obtaining this data without a service such as Mifundo’s is complex, to say the least.
Given enough accurate data, a bank can explore loan opportunities they otherwise wouldn’t, Most banks don’t know that 15% of loan applications in Europe come from foreigners, likely more for digital banks.
Our product is particularly valuable for banks dealing with foreign customers, as building individual connections with multiple credit bureaus across countries would be impractical and costly for small percentages of their customer base.
Europe doesn’t have uniform credit scoring practices, so we standardize the data, regardless of the source language or currency.
We take care of all the technological and compliance complexities so the bank can focus on the underwriting process.
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Tell us about any success stories from using your product.
One of our clients, a bank in Southern Europe, faced significant challenges with nationals living in Northern Europe, the Nordics, and the UK, who wished to return home and purchase real estate. The bank lacked proper data on these potential customers, making it difficult to assess their creditworthiness.
By integrating Mifundo’s platform, the bank could instantly determine foreign customer creditworthiness, thus significantly reducing the credit risk associated with those loans.
Another case was a bank with a BNPL scheme designed to serve international retailers. Mifundo helped increase the conversion rate for retailers.
Every bank is different, and Mifundo accommodates their needs.
What is Mifundo’s immediate goal for 2025?
In the coming year, our top priorities include expanding our network of integrated credit bureaus, securing more bank partnerships, and further refining our platform to support advanced features and AI capabilities.
Behind that desire to expand is our underlying purpose—to empower individuals across Europe with the freedom to move and be trusted, ensuring that their creditworthiness travels with them, no matter where they choose to live.