Tink
Tink is a European open banking platform providing payment APIs and financial data infrastructure across 20 European markets.
Profile
Provides APIs that let fintech companies and banks access customer account data and initiate payments directly from European bank accounts, replacing card payments with open banking alternatives.
Tink is a European open banking platform providing payment APIs and financial data infrastructure across 20 European markets. Founded in Stockholm in 2012 by Daniel Kjellén and Fredrik Hedberg, the company was acquired by Visa in 2022 for €1.8 billion ($2.2 billion USD). The platform connects to over 6,000 financial institutions and covers roughly 250 million European bank customers, serving 300+ banks and fintech companies with standardized APIs for account information access, payment initiation, and transaction data enrichment.
Major customers include Revolut, Adyen, Younited, PayPal, BNP Paribas, American Express, and Lydia. Tink's core product suite includes Pay by Bank (account-to-account payments), Income & Expense Analysis, Risk Signals for affordability assessment, and Money Manager for consumer engagement. As a Visa subsidiary, Tink operates as the company's flagship open banking business in Europe, with 600+ employees across 13 offices.
In January 2025, co-founders Kjellén and Hedberg departed to build Freda, an AI-driven compliance tech venture, with François Tornier assuming CEO responsibilities and VP Open Banking duties at Visa. Recent 2025 partnerships include Coinbase (crypto payments in Germany), Splitwise (France/Germany/Austria), Fidelity International, and Vipps MobilePay. Glassdoor reviews cite organizational instability and frequent restructuring as pain points, though the platform remains Europe's largest standardized open banking aggregator by bank coverage.
Who buys this
- Fintechs and lending platforms using affordability and income data for credit decisioning
- Payment processors (Adyen) and merchants offering account-to-account payment methods
- Large banks and neobanks (Revolut, Bank Norwegian) integrating payment initiation into consumer apps
- European cryptocurrency exchanges enabling instant bank account funding
- Accounting and expense management apps consuming transaction categorization and insights
Publicly disclosed clients
- Revolut
- Adyen
- Younited
- Coinbase
- PayPal
- BNP Paribas
- American Express
- Lydia
Strengths and what to watch
Strengths
- Broadest European bank coverage with 6,000+ institution connections across 20 markets, significantly outpacing competitors in standardized connectivity
- Embedded within Visa's global payment network and resources, enabling rapid product expansion and integration with Visa's merchant base
- Transaction enrichment and categorization capabilities that translate raw banking data into actionable financial insights without separate onboarding
Watch for
- Founder departure in January 2025 (Kjellén, Hedberg, COO Göthlin) to launch competing venture; institutional knowledge concentration and team stability questions in transition period
- Glassdoor-documented organizational instability and revolving-door environment with frequent restructuring, potentially affecting engineering retention and product continuity
- Regulatory concentration: all revenue derived from EU/UK open banking markets regulated by PSD2/PSD3; exposure to regulatory rollback or mandate changes affecting business model
Recent moves
Key Information
- Industry
- Financial & Market Data
- Founded
- 2012
- Headquarters
- Stockholm, Sweden
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Tink?
Tink is a European open banking platform providing APIs that enable fintechs and banks to access customer account data and initiate payments directly from bank accounts. Founded in Stockholm in 2012, it was acquired by Visa in 2022 for €1.8 billion and operates across 20 European markets.
How does Tink's Pay by Bank work?
Pay by Bank enables account-to-account payments, allowing customers to fund accounts or make purchases directly from their bank accounts instead of using cards. This replaces traditional card payment processing with open banking alternatives, offering faster settlements and reduced transaction costs for merchants and fintech platforms.
Who owns Tink now?
Visa acquired Tink in 2022 for €1.8 billion ($2.2 billion USD). Tink operates as Visa's flagship open banking subsidiary in Europe, with 600+ employees across 13 offices. In January 2025, co-founders Daniel Kjellén and Fredrik Hedberg departed to launch their own AI compliance venture, Freda.
Which companies use Tink?
Major customers include Revolut, Adyen, Younited, PayPal, BNP Paribas, American Express, and Lydia. Tink serves 300+ banks and fintech companies across Europe, spanning payment processors, lending platforms using affordability and income data for credit decisions, neobanks integrating payments, cryptocurrency exchanges, and accounting apps consuming transaction insights.
How many banks does Tink connect to?
Tink connects to over 6,000 financial institutions across 20 European markets, covering roughly 250 million European bank customers. This represents the broadest standardized open banking aggregator coverage in Europe, significantly outpacing competitors in terms of financial institution connectivity and geographic market reach across the continent.
What happened to Tink's founders?
In January 2025, co-founders Daniel Kjellén and Fredrik Hedberg departed Tink to launch Freda, an AI-driven compliance technology venture. François Tornier assumed CEO responsibilities, with Glassdoor reviews citing organizational instability and restructuring concerns, though Tink remains Europe's largest open banking aggregator.
How Tink compares
Direct head-to-head against 3 competitors. Picked by 7wData.
Tink
- Positioning
- Provides APIs that let fintech companies and banks access customer account data and initiate payments directly from European bank accounts, replacing card payments with open banking alternatives.
- Customer segments
- Fintechs and lending platforms using affordability and income data for credit decisioning
- Strengths
- Broadest European bank coverage with 6,000+ institution connections across 20 markets, significantly outpacing competitors in standardized connectivity
- Watch for
- Founder departure in January 2025 (Kjellén, Hedberg, COO Göthlin) to launch competing venture; institutional knowledge concentration and team stability questions in transition period
- Recent moves
- Coinbase and Tink launch Pay by Bank crypto payments in Germany, allowing direct bank account funding for crypto purchases
TrueLayer
- Positioning
- European Pay by Bank platform chosen by Stripe as its open banking partner for Payment Element in France and Germany.
- Customer segments
- Fintechs, merchants, and PSPs embedding account-to-account payments; iGaming and e-commerce operators requiring high-volume instant payouts.
- Strengths
- First open banking provider integrated inside Stripe's Payment Element, distributing directly through Stripe's European merchant base.
- Watch for
- Cut roughly 25% of staff in 2024 restructuring; engineering retention and roadmap consistency are documented enterprise buyer concerns.
- Recent moves
- Acquired Nordic Pay by Bank provider Zimpler, October 2025, adding Sweden and Finland coverage plus Swish network integration.
Yapily
- Positioning
- Developer-first open banking API infrastructure provider across 19 European countries for banks, fintechs, and PSPs.
- Customer segments
- API-native fintechs, PSPs, accounting platforms, and banks embedding bank data access and payment initiation directly via API.
- Strengths
- Selected by Google in October 2025 to power business bank account verification across Europe, validating enterprise data reliability.
- Watch for
- No funding round since Series B in July 2021; reported $13.4M ARR raises runway questions for multi-year enterprise commitments.
- Recent moves
- Partnered with Google, announced October 2025, to supply bank account verification infrastructure for Google business customers across Europe.
Plaid
- Positioning
- US financial data platform expanding European open banking coverage, offering a single API for US and European bank access.
- Customer segments
- US-rooted fintechs and global platforms requiring unified bank connectivity across North American and European markets simultaneously.
- Strengths
- Dominant US market penetration lets global fintechs consolidate US and European bank connectivity under one vendor relationship.
- Watch for
- European bank coverage still expanding; gaps in Nordic and Eastern European markets documented by buyers comparing to Tink.
- Recent moves
- Expanded MoneyGram partnership to Europe for Open Banking-powered payments, announced October 2025.
Sources
- tink.com — Product offerings (Pay by Bank, Risk Signals, Income Analysis), customer list, market coverage (6,000 institutions, 20 markets)
- techcrunch.com — Visa acquisition details (€1.8B/$2.15B), co-founder names and roles, customer count (300 banks/fintechs, 250M customers)
- www.fintechfutures.com — Founder departure in January 2025, founding dates, departure of Kjellén, Hedberg, and Göthlin, new CEO François Tornier
- www.glassdoor.com — Employee count (600+), organizational instability and restructuring concerns, 3.5/5 star rating from 123 reviews
- www.crowdfundinsider.com — Coinbase partnership October 2025 for crypto payments in Germany
- www.pymnts.com — Coinbase Tink partnership details and timing