Estonian fintech Cino has raised €3.5 million in Seed funding to support the UK launch and continued growth across Europe.
Cino offers a real-time shared payment app that lets people pay together in a seamless, single transaction. Balderton Capital led the funding round. Connect Ventures and Tera Ventures participated alongside leading angels, including Barney Hussey-Yeo (founder of Cleo).
“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’ve gone digital, payments need to evolve to keep up,” said Elena Churilova, Co-founder and CEO of Cino.
The app is reportedly the first solution that lets people truly pay together—charging everyone their share in real-time, directly from their bank account at the point of checkout. For that users securely connect their card to the Cino app, get a virtual card, and join shared payment groups where they set adjustable custom split ratios. Any group member can pay for anything, wherever Visa is accepted, and everyone’s share is automatically deducted at checkout.
“Fintech has always been one-dimensional, but we are social creatures. Our payments should reflect how we actually spend money – together.”
Elena Churilova, Co-founder and CEO of Cino
Cino is bank-agnostic; people no longer need to use the same bank to make shared payments or share bank details. All payments appear in the group feed for full transparency, and users can join or leave payment groups at any time. In this way, Cino takes the hassle out of shared payments – no follow-ups, no tracking, no payment links, no sharing bank details, no wallets, no pre-loaded funds.
Currently, all users need to be a Cino user for the app to work, but the company is also building a new feature where you can directly join through Apple Pay or Google Pay.
The app has been built in the way Gen Z expects to pay with friends and family – instantly and effortlessly together without financial awkwardness. Photo: Pexels
Cino’s popularity is soaring as it allows to pay with friends and family
“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,” stated Cino investor Greta Anderson, representing Balderton Capital.
The app has been built in the way Gen Z expects to pay with friends and family – instantly and effortlessly together without financial awkwardness – and is designed to be as social as the experiences it enables. As a generation that thrives on connection, Gen Z needs their financial tools to be dynamic, adaptable, and integrated. Cino meets that need by providing a bank-agnostic solution that works across the EU and, soon, the UK.
“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.”
Greta Anderson, Balderton Capital
The company has seen 100% month-on-month growth in Finland and Italy. Groups use Cino, on average, 17 times a month, spending up to €3000. Active users typically make their first transaction within just hours of signing up, and the company has a growing waitlist ahead of its UK launch later this year.
With this latest funding, the company will expand across Europe, launching new shared payment features and exploring new verticals, including B2B payments and rent.
Cino was launched in 2023 by CEO Elena Churilova and COO Lina Saleh. The company is led by experts in product and design: Elena brings experience from Bumble and Booking.com, while Lina has a background in Human-Centred Design from Cornell University.
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