UK’s Barclays bank is set to launch Rise Vilnius startup

UK’s Barclays bank is set to launch Rise Vilnius – a 550 sq. m size startup partnering space in the downtown of Lithuanian capital in July.

“Rise is a community of fintech companies that grow and create together with Barclays. We see it as an opportunity to embrace and to discover innovation that disrupts our business models. It is also an opportunity to implement these ideas faster whilst bearing in mind how they can be adapted by Barclays or other companies. Think of an early stage startup – finding first clients is of tremendous importance to it, and so we can be their first customer and a partner at the same time given our experience,” said Mariano Andrade Gonzalez, the Head of Barclays’ Global HR Service Centre in Vilnius.

He also stated that startups will not be pulled into a corporate environment, but will concentrate on creativity, collaboration and scaling instead.

Mr Gonzalez also believes that Lithuania is too small for a Lithuanian-only fintech startup incubator, so he expects to see young creatives from region, including Poland, Ukraine and Belarus, at the Rise centre.

In addition to fintech, Rise would like to see HR or gaming startups at the premises.

The Barclays’ startup space is set to launch at the Vilniaus Vartai business centre. It will host more than 50 working spaces and a conference hall.