Fintech company Cino, which focuses on shared payment solutions, has secured €3.5m ($3.74m) in seed funding.
Balderton Capital led the round, which also saw contribution from Connect Ventures, Tera Ventures, and angel investors, including Cleo founder Barney Hussey-Yeo.
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Cino’s app allows group members to pay their portion directly at the point of sale.
Launched in 2023 in Tallinn, Estonia, Cino aims to “revolutionise” how groups split bills and make purchases together.
The app eliminates the need for one person to cover a payment and chase others for their share.
Instead, it enables all group members to pay their portion instantly from their own bank accounts.
The investment will help Cino prepare for its UK launch, where the company reports a growing waitlist.
The funds will also drive its expansion across Europe and support the development of new shared payment features.
Furthermore, Cino aims to explore opportunities in B2B transactions and rental payments.
Cino co-founder and CEO Elena Churilova: “Fintech has always been one-dimensional but we are social creatures. Our payments should reflect how we actually spend money – together. Back in the cash days, it was simpler. Now that we have gone digital, payments need to evolve to keep up.”
Users can link their card to the Cino app, receive a virtual card, and join shared payment groups with custom split ratios.
Any member can pay where Visa is accepted, with automatic cost splitting at checkout.
Cino works across banks, eliminating the need to share bank details.
Payments are tracked in a group feed, and users can join or leave anytime.
Cino’s growth is said to have been driven by viral user adoption, especially Cino’s expansion has reportedly been fueled by viral user adoption, particularly in Finland and Italy, where the app has achieved 100% month-on-month growth.
On average, user groups engage with Cino 17 times per month, with collective spending reaching up to €3,000.
Balderton principal Greta Anderson said: “For too long, people have accepted standard bill-splitting, debt tracking, and repayment requests as the only way to manage shared expenses – simply because there was no alternative. Cino’s viral growth demonstrates that there is an alternative which users love.”
