Albanian fintech company Rubicon announced the closing of its pre-seed round worth ALL55mn (€450,000) on June 2. 

The funding will be used to accelerate Rubicon's business plan in Albania, where it provides financial solutions and is developing a payment processing network. 

The funding was secured from a group of local Angel Investors, US Venture Capital firm Navy Yard Capital LLC and APC Integrated.

On approval of its license application Pago will be licensed as an electronic money institution by the Bank of Albania, the company said. 

“Considering the digital revolution of the last 20 years and following the ever-increasing traction of the challenger banks and fintechs, like Revolut, Number 26, Monzo but also e-payment solutions such as WePay, Venmo throughout the world, it is time for Albania and the wider region to also benefit from similar innovation,” said Dr Armand Brahaj, founder of Rubicon. 

Brahaj noted that around 60% of Albania’s population is un-banked and the total number of cashless payment transactions per inhabitant in Albania is among the lowest in Europe. 

However, he added, "the central bank of Albania is strategically focused to increase the banked population to 70% by the end of 2022. In April 2020 Albania harmonised its legislation with the introduction of the Payment Services Directive, known as PSD2. The foundation stones are in place to allow us to exploit these anomalies through the creation of a range of payment services never witnessed in the Albanian market."

Rubicon was advised on the fundraising by Deloitte Legal Shpk and Oficina Incubator.