I really liked this article by John Kennedy over at Silicon Republic, and decided to reproduce it here as it’s fitting for the kickoff of 2018.

Who are the fintech start-ups in Europe worth banking on in the year ahead?

Europe is in the grip of a fintech revolution and 2018 is set to be a pivotal year, with seismic developments ranging from Brexit ructions to the onset of GDPR, the implementation of PSD2 and the ongoing evolution of blockchain-based services.

In many ways, Europe represents the perfect storm in terms of the challenges and opportunities that fintech portends.

Fintechs were once seen as a potential threat to the stability of traditional financial services but now, banks are emerging as major supporting pillars for the fintech community as the diversity of new services and apps actually dovetails nicely with banks’ strategic goals.

Everything from peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers, know your customer (KYC) and clever APIs, to open banking and the use of blockchain to sit atop banks’ legacy infrastructure and more, will bring about the biggest changes to the financial system in decades.

And start-ups are in the driving seat. Here are the ones we consider worth watching in 2018.

Advanon (Zurich)

Advanon is an online platform for invoice-financing SMEs. The platform enables SMEs to better manage their cash flows and focus on their core business. Founded in 2015 by Philip Kornmann, Phil Lojacono and Stijn Pieper, Advanon has raised $3.9m in funding so far, including a $3.5m Series A round from Btov Partners, VI Partners and Swisscom Ventures.

Capital.com (Limassol, Cyprus)

Capital.com has developed a mobile trading app that uses AI to allow customers to invest in various financial instruments as well as access educational materials. Regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, the company raised $25m in a Series A round led by VP Capital.

Circle (Dublin and London)

Circle is a P2P payments platform founded by Sean Neville and Jeremy Allaire. Using the technology – available as an app on iOS and Android devices or even through a Circle app for iMessage – users can send and receive P2P payments with native euro support. Circle also claims to be the first and only cross-border payments platform in the world to make it possible to beam cash from an app into a US bank account at no cost. The company has so far raised $136m in four funding rounds from 19 investors.

CurrencyFair (Dublin)

CurrencyFair allows individuals and businesses to exchange currencies and send funds to bank accounts worldwide. CurrencyFair was founded in 2010 by Brett Meyers and has surpassed the $1bn barrier in terms of money-matching services. Last year, it appointed a new CEO, Paul Byrne, and raised €8m in a funding round, bringing the total funding raised by CurrencyFair to €28m.