Solaris

Launching a current account, a prepaid card, or an embedded lending product in most European markets requires a banking license, an anti-money laundering compliance framework, a settlement infrastructure, and a specialized legal team. For a startup or non-bank company that wants to offer financial services to its users, this barrier is often insurmountable. Solaris was founded in Berlin specifically to remove it. The company is a Banking-as-a-Service provider holding its own banking license from BaFin, the German financial regulator. Through APIs, Solaris makes available to its clients — fintechs, neobanks, and technology companies across various sectors — all the building blocks needed to create regulated financial products: payment accounts, Visa and Mastercard cards, loans, foreign exchange, KYC onboarding services, and compliance management. The client doesn't need to manage regulatory infrastructure — that's handled entirely by Solaris, which operates as the licensed banking partner in the background. The Banking-as-a-Service market is one of the fastest-growing segments in European fintech. Demand for embedded financial services — integrated within non-banking products, from marketplaces to mobility apps to retail loyalty programs — has expanded sharply in recent years, creating structural demand for banking infrastructure accessible via API. Solaris is one of the few European players able to offer this service under its own banking license, which differentiates it from simple license aggregators and gives it direct control over the quality and regulatory compliance of its services. Its business model is built on usage fees for enabled modules and commissions on the transactional volumes generated by clients. The regulatory complexity that Solaris manages on behalf of its clients is simultaneously the business's most significant barrier to entry and its most durable source of value. In a Europe where open banking and digital payment rules continue to evolve, having a partner that embeds compliance directly into infrastructure becomes a strategic advantage that is structurally difficult to replicate.