Meet the 2025 Dare2Scale Cohorts – IRIS Solutions
33 founders from 18 companies across Bulgaria and the Western Balkans are joining Dare2Scale 2025 — united in one program to scale bold ideas and grow thriving businesses.
Meet Iris Solutions – the leading licensed provider of Open Banking services in Southeast Europe. They enable secure access to account information and direct account-to-account (A2A) payments across the region. They launched Southeast Europe’s first cardless payment app and build advanced business solutions powered by transactional data — including automated account aggregation, personalized financial services, and credit scoring models. Their connectivity covers 98% of the market through integrations with banks in Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Cyprus, and Italy.
Tell us how your story began. What was the inflection point that made you realize this could become a serious business, not just an idea?
Our story began with a simple but powerful insight — that banking data has the potential to unlock better financial services for both consumers and businesses in Southeast Europe, a region traditionally underserved by digital finance.
The real inflection point came when we secured our first banking partnerships. Until then, Open Banking was just a concept, but when we saw financial institutions willing to collaborate — not just comply — we realized the ecosystem was ready.
That’s when we understood that we weren’t just building an API — we were laying the groundwork for transforming payments, credit assessment, and financial personalization in a region that needed it most.
This validation from the market and the banks gave us the confidence to scale, innovate, and become the licensed Open Banking leader we are today.
Share a little-known fact about your industry, product, or market that would surprise most people.
The first product paid with payment initiation services in Bulgaria was a book – The Catcher in the Rye.
Five years from now, what headline would you love to read about your company?
“Iris Solutions Transforms Southeast Europe into the First Fully Open Banking-Enabled Region”