Cino bags seed funding for virtual card that makes bill-splitting less awkward

Fintech startup Cino, a TNW community member, has secured €3.5mn for its shared payments app that lets friends and family pay together. 

Cino is designed for tech-savvy Gen Z’ers, who expect to split bills instantly and effortlessly together without “financial awkwardness,” the company said.

Unlike payment request apps like Tikkie — ubiquitous in the Netherlands — Cino splits bills in real-time, so you don’t have to chase down your mates to cough up on that exorbitant sushi bill you covered last week.      

Cino is available across the EU but, fuelled by fresh funding, the startup will now expand to the UK. Balderton Capital led the seed round, with participation from  Connect Ventures, Tera Ventures, and angels including founder of Cleo AI Barney Hussey-Yeo. 

Cino’s CEO Elena Churilova, a former product lead at Bumble, and COO Lina Saleh founded the startup in 2023 to reduce financial friction between friends and family. “I realised that everyone was trying to solve the process of settling debt, instead of coming earlier, at the moment of payment,” Churilova previously told TNW.  

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Cino users link their bank card to the app, where they get a virtual card. They can then create or join custom payment groups with fully adjustable split ratios. Everyone’s share is then deducted at checkout. Every payment appears in a shared group feed for total transparency, and users can hop in or out of groups anytime.

“Fintech has always been one-dimensional but we are social creatures,” said Churilova. “Our payments should reflect how we actually spend money — together. Back in the cash days, it was simpler. Now that we’ve gone digital, payments need to evolve to keep up.”

Cino said it has seen 100% month-on-month growth in Finland and Italy. Groups use Cino 17 times a month on average, spending up to €3,000.