“Can a bank-owned mobile brand become Italy's default consumer neobank and financial routine app?”
HYPE was launched in 2015 by Gruppo Sella and its Sellalab innovation hub as a mobile-first prepaid account in Italy. It scaled to over 1M customers by 2020, then spun out as HYPE S.p.A. and obtained its own e-money (IMEL) license under Banca d'Italia supervision, later adding AISP/PISP open banking licenses. The company was subsequently merged back into parent Banca Sella S.p.A., where HYPE continues to operate as a brand — meaning the entire regulated stack (deposit-taking, card issuance, KYC, open banking) now sits on Banca Sella's bank charter rather than on a third-party BaaS provider.
Hype discloses Banca Sella S.p.A. (in-house) as its banking provider, according to the Embedded Finance Index 2026.
Hype does not disclose a bank charter of its own; its banking services are provided through Banca Sella S.p.A. (in-house).
Hype processes payments through Banca Sella S.p.A. (in-house).
Hype's cards are issued through Banca Sella S.p.A. (in-house) on the Mastercard network.
Hype uses Persona for KYC and identity verification.
Hype connects to bank accounts through Fabrick.
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 7 layers in Hype's stack: Payments / PSP (Banca Sella S.p.A. (in-house)); Banking / BaaS (Banca Sella S.p.A. (in-house)); Card issuing (Banca Sella S.p.A. (in-house)); Card network (Mastercard); Open banking (Fabrick); KYC (Persona); Sponsor bank (Banca Sella S.p.A. (in-house)).
Hype is founded in 2015 and headquartered in Biella / Milan, Italy.
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Hype and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.