Winners of Mastercard’s Lighthouse Fall 2023 programs announced

The winners of the Mastercard Lighthouse FINITIV and MASSIV fall 2023 programs have been announced during Mastercard Lighthouse’s grand finale event and awards ceremony at the SLUSH conference in Helsinki.

Financial aggregator Fideum was announced as the overall winner of Mastercard Lighthouse FINITIV, and carbon and ecosystem company Arbonics was the overall winner of Mastercard Lighthouse MASSIV. The finalists in MASSIV’s fall class also included Openframe, Responsibly and 7 Analytics. In the national classes of Mastercard Lighthouse FINITIV, Bits Technology was declared the winner of the Swedish class, and Starcart won the Finnish class.

As the overall winners, Fideum and Arbonics will receive ongoing support from Mastercard and are invited to pitch for Start Path, Mastercard’s global startup engagement program.

Mastercard Lighthouse FINITIV

Fideum receives double award – one for being selected as the regional Baltic class winner, one for being recognized as the overall winner of the Mastercard Lighthouse FINITIV Program. Fideum also won the popular vote and received the People’s Choice award which was announced at the Mastercard Lighthouse Startup Showcase.

Fideum is aiming to bridge the gap between traditional financial sector and blockchain technology by offering a ‘plug and play’ integration process to both B2C and B2B users. Crypto-related services include crypto wallet services, decentralized exchange connectivity, smart contract automation, regulatory compliance tools and staking and yield optimizing platforms. The company has great international traction as Fideum is already supporting 120 countries with their solution supported by their 30 institutional partners.

In the words of this fall’s selection committee, Fideum was selected as the overall FINITIV Program winner “on account of their clear vision of the need for marrying the old established with the new upcoming features and functions while ensuring regulatory compliance.”

Simply put, Fideum allows users to integrate cryptocurrencies quickly and easily and blockchain services into their solutions enabling traditional players to take part in the crypto space. 

"“Being honored as the Mastercard Lighthouse FINITIV winner is a testament to Fideum’s vision of bridging the gap between traditional finance and the burgeoning digital asset market. Mastercard’s recognition highlights the critical need for innovative solutions that Fideum addresses – creating a seamless, regulated pathway for institutions to engage with digital assets. This win is a nod to our foresight in solving real market challenges and Mastercard’s alignment with our goal to transform the financial sector," says Anastasija Plotnikova CEO at Fideum.

“The financial technology industry is undergoing a transformational shift, and the fintech companies selected for this program are at the forefront of this revolution," says Mats Taraldsson, head of Innovation, Fintech and Impact Tech Engagement at Mastercard Nordics and Baltics. "I am excited to see the innovation and disruption that they are bringing - they are pushing the boundaries of traditional banking and payment methods, and their solutions are addressing the changing needs and expectations of consumers. We are very happy to see that Fideum was appointed as the overall winner of the Fall FINITIV Program with its innovative solution and vision for bridging the traditional financial system with the digital asset markets.”

The Mastercard Lighthouse FINITIV program runs over a three-month period and offers Nordic and Baltic fintech and fintech-enabler startups and early scaleups the opportunity to work with stakeholders such as Mastercard, tier one Nordic banks (e.g. SEB, Danske Bank, DnB, Swedbank and OP Financial Group), our Tech partners (e.g. AWS), Program Advisors (e.g. FinTech Mundi and Invenio Growth) and a circle of Investors. The purpose of the Program is to create conditions favorable for identifying and pursuing Partnership between the Program participants and stakeholders, and even the participants themselves.

Twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall, an overall Program winner is selected by the Program stakeholders, based on variety of criteria such as partnership capacity, value proposition, relevance, invest and innovation potential, and traction.

Aside from Fideum, three other startups stood out in this fall’s FINITIV 2023 class.

• The Investor Award was given to Vaulter (Powrs) as the company that showed most traction with Mastercard Lighthouse’s Investor Circle.
• Bits Technology has been declared the winner of the Swedish class. It designs dynamic onboarding flows and prevents fraud by using multiple data sources for one’s identity needs. Easy connection is enabled by a single integration to their API and the no-code platform allows each user to tailor the onboarding experience exactly to their needs.
• Starcart has been declared the winner of the Finnish class. Its solution solves the problem of online shopping: how to buy things easily and cheaply. The platform lets the user compare the price of each product and choose the best price with additional discounts in case they order from Starcart’s platform.
  
  

“It‘s been exciting to deep dive into the solutions that were presented by the companies in the Baltic Mastercard Lighthouse program batch," says Marius Ribokas, innovation lead in fintech partnerships, SEB Baltics. "For us it is a fast-track way for capturing emerging trends and solutions in the industry. As usual in this program, startups were able to surprise us with some unique features of their services that could be otherwise overlooked when looking for the partnerships. It was a tough competition this time. After concluding all partners’ votes, Fideum has been selected as the winner. Their strength is in their team and their ability to adapt that will surely be at essence of the company’s growth."

Mastercard Lighthouse MASSIV

Arbonics, a tech-based carbon and ecosystem platform for forest and landowners in Europe, was announced the program winner in the fall edition of the Mastercard Lighthouse MASSIV 2023, Mastercard's partnership program to find and scale tomorrow's impact unicorns.

Arbonics partners with landowners to access new revenue streams by helping them quantify, monitor and sell the environmental benefits, such as carbon and biodiversity, of their land. Arbonics receives the award for their innovative approach in their solution. The team was highly accountable and progressed well in the program on both networking opportunities and impact measurement.

“Becoming the winner of the Mastercard Lighthouse MASSIV program is a meaningful milestone for Arbonics. Building connections with fellow participants, investors, and advisors has been invaluable. Beyond the industry connections, the program has given us a platform for amplifying our message, which has been very helpful as we gear up to scale across Europe," says Lisett Luik, co-founder of Arbonics.

Tespack, which offers Smart Mobile Energy solutions for off-grid usage, was awarded the Impact Potential Award for creating a real, positive and tangible impact on the world in line with Mastercard Lighthouse MASSIV's vision of helping 1 billion people live more prosperous and secure lives.

“As we stand at the mid-point of the 2030 Agenda, it's inspiring to see more impact scaleups come to fruition, and it is imperative to celebrate and support their efforts. In this year’s cohort, we were tasked with many dedicated startups, supporting them in working with impact measurement and management tailored to their concrete solutions," says Stine Kirstein Junge, Private Sector Advisor at UNDP Nordic Office. "One of these startups, and this year's winner of the Impact Potential Award is Tespack. Tespack isn't just about business; they're about solving a real challenge and improving lives by providing connectivity and mobile energy generation to underserved markets, giving them a fighting chance against the grip of poverty. Throughout the programme, Tespack worked diligently with its impact measurement and management while being dedicated to its mission of bringing reliable and green energy infrastructure to remote locations. At UNDP, we’re pleased to be once more able to award and support companies like Tespack."

Over three months, five companies have participated in the MASSIV program where they have attended workshops and received support from experts and advisors from amongst others Swedbank, Danske Bank, UNDP, VNTRS and Synch. MASSIV’s fall class also included Openframe a finalist providing a software that transforms ESG strategies into operational processes, Responsibly providing an AI enabled sustainability due diligence engine and 7 Analytics a startup that uses hydrology, geology, and data science to develop high-precision risk tools.

“Both Arbonics and Tespack are highly impactful companies touching upon both social impact and sustainability," Mastercard's Taraldsson says. "We are proud to have worked on the scaling journey of five impact tech start-ups this fall program. With Mastercard Lighthouse MASSIV we have the vision of helping one billion people live more prosperous and secure lives by 2025. It is important to support start-ups impacting both people and planet and contribute to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals."

Read about Mastercard Lighthouse partnership news and growth of the alumni companies in the recently published Mastercard Lighthouse research report.