The Fintech Challenge · Madrid
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Every company started somewhere

It never started easy.

Before they were household names, they were a few people in a room, stuck on something. Here is who they were, and the wall each of them hit.

Stockholm · 2005

Klarna

Lastplace at their school’s entrepreneurship award

Sebastian, Niklas and Victor. Three students at the Stockholm School of Economics.

They entered the idea in the school’s award. The jury ranked it last. The same year, one angel said yes anyway.

  1. 2005Ranked last
  2. 2005A first angel says yes
  3. 2017Swedish banking licence

In the Challenge

Mentors share what they know during the 90 days. At demo day, you show it to people who work in finance and tech.

Wikipedia “Klarna”; Tech.eu 19/06/2017

Wall 06 ↓

Palo Alto · 2000

PayPal

$10M+lost to fraud, every month, by mid-2000

Max Levchin, 24, the engineer who had to stop the bleeding.

Fraud rings opened accounts with stolen cards faster than anyone could close them. The team had to build its own fraud checks to survive.

  1. 1998Founded
  2. 2000Fraud peaks
  3. 2002Bought by eBay

In the Challenge

Identity and fraud checks come as APIs, with free test access. You plug them in. You don’t build them.

Sequoia “Crucible Moments: PayPal”; Wikipedia “Max Levchin”

Wall 04 ↓

San Francisco · 2010

Stripe

50users, two years in

Patrick and John Collison. Two brothers from Ireland, barely in their twenties.

They wanted payments in a few lines of code. First they had to find a bank willing to back them.

  1. 2010Company founded
  2. 2011Public launch
  3. ~2 yrsAbout 50 users

In the Challenge

Payment APIs come with a test mode. Your first payment goes through the day you start building.

John Collison via Startup Archive; Chris Skinner “The untold story of Stripe”

Wall 01 ↓

São Paulo · 2013

Nubank

4 yrsfrom the first office to a banking licence

David Vélez, a Colombian in Brazil who struggled to open a bank account. With Cristina Junqueira and Edward Wible.

So they built a bank. The first office was a house on Rua Califórnia. The first card came a year later, the licence three years after that.

  1. 2013A house on Rua Califórnia
  2. 2014First card
  3. 2017Banking licence

In the Challenge

You don’t need a licence to build and show a product. A guide tells you which one you would need later, and who to ask.

Wikipedia “Nubank”; Sequoia “Crucible Moments: Nubank”

Wall 05 ↓

London · 2015

Monzo

500first users, on prepaid cards

Tom Blomfield and four co-founders, in February 2015.

No licence yet, so the first users got prepaid cards to get the app into their hands. The full banking licence took two more years.

  1. Feb 2015Founded
  2. Oct 2015500 users, prepaid
  3. Apr 2017Full banking licence

In the Challenge

Card and account sandboxes let you ship a product that works, while the licence question waits.

monzo.com blog 05/04/2017; Wikipedia “Monzo”

Wall 03 ↓

London · 2015

Revolut

5 yrsapplying for a UK banking licence

Nik Storonsky, a trader, and Vlad Yatsenko, an engineer.

Two desks at Level39, in Canary Wharf. Years later, with millions of users, it was still waiting on its UK banking licence.

  1. 2015Two desks at Level39
  2. 2021Applies for UK licence
  3. 2026Full UK licence

In the Challenge

Open banking APIs give you account data in test mode. And the room is Madrid, with around 100 builders in it.

Wikipedia “Revolut”; CNBC 11/03/2026

Wall 05 ↓

The road to market, mapped

Six walls between an idea and a customer.

We mapped where fintechs get stuck, stop by stop: the rules you have to meet and the tech you have to plug into. Then we matched each stop with what the stack providers already give builders.

Out of the way for 90 daysShorterStill ahead
  1. 01

    Taking a payment

    TechnicalRegulatory

    You need a bank or a processor willing to back you before a single euro moves.

    Hit it: Stripe

    Out of the way for 90 days

    Payment APIs in test mode from kickoff.

  2. 02

    Reading bank data

    RegulatoryTechnical

    Under PSD2, reading someone’s account takes a licence, or a licensed provider.

    Out of the way for 90 days

    Open banking APIs in sandbox, through providers that hold the licence.

  3. 03

    Cards and accounts

    TechnicalRegulatory

    Issuing a card means an issuer, a scheme and a processor, all signed up.

    Hit it: Monzo

    Out of the way for 90 days

    Card and account sandboxes. Ship first, sign later.

  4. 04

    Identity and fraud

    RegulatoryTechnical

    Anti-money-laundering rules make you know every customer, and fraudsters test you from day one.

    Hit it: PayPal

    Out of the way for 90 days

    Identity and fraud APIs with free test access.

  5. 05

    The licence

    Regulatory

    Payment, e-money or bank licence. Months to years, and a lot of paperwork.

    Hit it: Nubank, Revolut

    Still ahead

    We don’t hand out licences. You leave knowing which one you need, what it takes, and who to ask.

  6. 06

    A first yes

    Market

    Banks and companies rarely buy from a team they have never heard of.

    Hit it: Klarna

    Shorter

    Corporate challenges from real roadmaps, and a demo day in front of finance and tech.

So what is this?

Not an accelerator. All of this, in 90 days.

Each story above took months, often years, before a product was in anyone’s hands. The goal here, starting from an idea, is to get there in 90 days. Not by working harder than they did, but by starting where they had to arrive: with the doors already open.

From day one to a first working product

Months

StripeFall 2009 → Sept 2011

~2 years

NubankMay 2013 → Apr 2014

11 months

MonzoFeb 2015 → Oct 2015

8 months

YouKickoff → demo day

90 days

Stripe, Nubank, Monzo: first product in users’ hands (sources on the story cards). The Challenge, from an idea: a working product on the stage at demo day, built on test access. Going live with real customers comes after, and the licence may still be ahead.

The tools

The stack providers’ APIs, in test, from kickoff. Payments, bank data, cards, identity.

What Stripe waited for, Monzo worked around and PayPal built alone.

The people

Mentors, and weekly office hours with the people behind the stack.

What Klarna found in one angel who said yes.

The room

Around 100 builders in Madrid, from kickoff to demo day.

What Revolut started with: two desks, and people around them.

  • No stake. The team owns what it builds.
  • No fee. Free to enter.
  • No one picks your idea. Take a problem, a company’s challenge, or bring your own.

We bring the tools and the 90 days. The magic is yours.

Build the future of finance.

Kickoff · Sunday 15 November 2026 · Madrid

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