PryvX and Softloans selected as winners of Mastercard's Lighthouse MASSIV and FINITIV fall 2024 programs

The winners of Mastercard's Lighthouse MASSIV and FINITIV fall 2024 programs were announced at the Lighthouse award ceremony at SLUSH in Helsinki. PryvX, a Swedish data collaboration platform, was announced the winner of Lighthouse MASSIV, and Softloans, a Lithuanian based company that provides embedded lending solutions, receives double awards – one for being selected as the regional Baltic class winner, and another for being recognized as the overall winner of the Lighthouse FINITIV Program.

PryvX is a Swedish data collaboration platform that partners with telecoms and banks to combat fraud and cybercrime, with a strong focus on preserving data privacy. PryvX receives the award as program winner of Lighthouse MASSIV, Mastercard's partnership program to find and scale tomorrow's impact unicorns, for their innovative and scalable approach in their solution.

“It’s a privilege to be a part of the MASSIV program. The program offered to us something really valuable and difficult to find ourselves: it helped us to scale with the partnerships and gave us much valuable feedback from the industry. The recognition of Mastercard also gives us great credibility and proof that our solution is valuable and needed. Partnerships is not something you can solve by just “throwing money on it”. Bringing on more and more customers on board is hard and expensive, especially for B2B, and in such heavily regulated industry as financial services and telecom. Now, we are working towards onboarding more partners to create more value through data collaboration and addressing common challenge like cybercrime and cybersecurity”, says Gaspar Wosa, Co-founder and CEO at PryvX.

Softloans develops embedded lending solutions (stand-alone Softloans platform or fully embedded solution), that help electronic money institutions, ecommerce and other digital service platforms grow by extending credit to their B2B customers. Offered tools facilitate revenue-based lending, focused on web-based merchants and revenue-based digital service providers. Softloans was selected as the overall FINITIV Program winner on account of their solution addressing the underserved market of SME lending, their partnership potential and overall progress in the program.

"The recognition that comes as a part of this win is of utmost importance for our team and partners working to open up access to capital for SMEs across Europe and beyond. Doing well by doing good is at the heart of our agenda. The Softloans embedded financing solution helps everyone in the ecosystem grow: SMEs, our Partners, and us. To accelerate the impact of our solution and help SMEs grow we are actively looking to build new partnerships in the region. Now is the time to join us in changing how SMEs access capital," says Audrius Griškevičius, Co-founder and CEO at Softloans. 

Both companies will now receive ongoing support from Mastercard and will pitch for Start Path, Mastercard’s global start-up engagement program.

Mastercard Lighthouse MASSIV Fall 2024

The Mastercard Lighthouse MASSIV program runs over a three-month period and offers five Nordic and Baltic impact tech startups the opportunity to attend workshops and receive support from experts and advisors from organizations such as Swedbank, Danske Bank, UNDP, VNTRS and Synch.

This year, RiverRecycle, a Finnish company building an ecosystem that addresses plastic collection, recycling, and product creation, is awarded the Impact Potential Award, for creating a positive, tangible impact on the world in line with Mastercard Lighthouse MASSIV's vision of helping 1 billion people live more prosperous and secure lives. The Investor Award was given to Zero Labs, a climate tech software startup providing pioneering Digital Renewable Energy as a Service platform.

“As we stand at the mid-point of the 2030 Agenda, it's inspiring to see impact-driven scaleups making a real difference. This year’s cohort showcased startups dedicated to impact measurement and management tailored to their concrete solutions. One of these startups – and this year's winner of the Impact Potential Award – is RiverRecycle. They are tackling a real global challenge: plastic pollution in rivers. With innovative technology, they clean rivers and transform collected waste into marketable products through recycling and pyrolysis. RiverRecycle exemplifies how innovation can be a driving force in building a cleaner, more resilient world. At UNDP, we’re pleased to once more be able to award and support companies like RiverRecycle,” says Stine Kirstein Junge, Private Sector Partnerships, UNDP Nordic Representation Office

"Both PryvX and RiverRecycle are highly impactful companies touching upon both social impact and sustainability. 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," says Mats Taraldsson, Head of Fintech and Impact Tech Engagement at Mastercard Nordics and Baltics.

Mastercard Lighthouse FINITIV Fall 2024

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, Swedbank, OP Financial Group, Resurs, Danske Bank and DNB), our tech partners (e.g. AWS), program advisors (e.g. FinTech Mundi and Invenio Growth) and a circle of Investors. Aside from Softloans, three other startups stood out in this fall’s FINITIV 2024 class.

Betalo, a licensed payment institution that enables B2B and B2C invoice payments with credit cards to optimize cash flow and loyalty programs, was announced the winner of the Swedish class of Mastercard Lighthouse FINITIV, Fall 2024. Silcube, a SaaS platform that helps funds, banks, and insurance companies run private debt portfolios efficiently, with AI and intuitive UI, was announced as the winner of the Finnish class. The People’s Choice Award was given to Bilance, a smart budgeting app in the Baltics that helps people save money and make better financial decisions with AI-powered insights.

"Softloans stood out for their innovative approach to tackling a very real customer problem. By connecting platforms with credit options for their B2B customers, they enable both the platforms to scale and their business customers to access financing. The solution is intuitive and accessible, with interactive features and clear data visualizations that make it highly user friendly. The team brings a strong mix of backgrounds in lending and technology and gave a professional impression throughout the program. Softloans is making a valuable contribution to embedded lending in the B2B space and we're excited to see how they continue to push forward in this evolving sector," says Hanna Ivarsson, Senior Strategist, Resurs.

"The financial technology industry is undergoing a transformational shift, and the fintech companies selected for this program are at the forefront of this revolution. 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 and small and medium enterprises. We are very happy to see that Softloans was appointed as the overall winner of the 2024 Fall FINITIV Program with its innovative solution and vision for enabling the possibility for merchants to get revenue-based financing that opens access to working capital that helps them grow, and this without collateral requirement," says Mats Taraldsson, Head of Fintech and Impact Tech Engagement at Mastercard Nordics and Baltics.

Applications for the Mastercard Lighthouse Spring 2025 programs are now open. Companies interested in participating can apply through Mastercard Lighthouse MASSIV or Mastercard Lighthouse FINITIV.