Lithuania is continuing to cement its status as a global fintech hub, reporting a 45% growth in the sector throughout 2018 thanks to a fast-track licensing regime which has attracted big name players like Revolut and Google to the country.
According to research from Invest Lithuania and Rise Vilnius, the number of companies present in the sector during 2018 rose from 117 to 170, employing around 2,600 specialists in the industry.
In terms of business size, the majority of Lithuania-based fintechs are of the small to medium variety, although there are some big-hitters: eight percent of the companies present have between 50 and 249 staff.
The booming industry has been led by the Bank of Lithuania, which has issued three Specialised Banking Licences (SPBs), 33 Payment Institution licences (PIs) and a massive 47 Electronic Money Institution licences (EMIs).
This has led to an influx of applications from across the world, with companies from the US, the UK, China, Singapore, and Israel all in the mix.
The highest profile companies to receive licences in 2018 were UK-based Revolut, which earned both a Specialised Banking License and an Electronic Money Institution License for use across the EU, and Google, which received an Electronic Money Institution License in December.