“We see a strong word-of-mouth effect — founders, especially international ones, who have had a positive licensing experience in Latvia are recommending it to their peers. How many of these enquiries will convert into actual licensing cases remains to be seen, but the ecosystem has clear momentum, and the community is growing,” said Ramona Miglāne, Partner at Sorainen and expert of the Fintech Latvia Association’s Fintech Development Group.
Speaking about how easy or complicated it is to obtain a licence in Latvia, she noted that it is relatively straightforward if the company involves an experienced advisor or has an in-house team familiar with Latvian licensing processes and engagement with the regulator.
“At the same time, quality matters — applications and business plans are scrutinised, the bar is high, and I support that. It ensures serious market entrants who add real value to the country, the fintech sector, and our overall reputation. We should also be bold in welcoming larger international players — an informed, proactive, and confident regulator can be a powerful growth catalyst. Austria is a good example here — it is rapidly becoming a European hub for crypto-asset service providers,” said Miglāne.
Although Sorainen helped two companies secure crowdfunding service provider licences this year — one foreign and one local fintech — she commented that interest in this specific licence type has not increased materially. This is because, at the European level, the crowdfunding platform market is already fairly saturated, and this licence is less versatile than, for instance, MiFID or MiCA licences, which enable a broader range of investment services. “That said, Latvia’s regulator deserves credit — once complete documentation was submitted, both licences were issued very quickly. In one case, the process took only about two months,” said Miglāne.
This article is published in Fintech Pulse 2025 – annual online survey of Fintech Latvia Association, offering a clear and data-driven view of Latvia’s fintech landscape.
