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Hype

“Can a bank-owned mobile brand become Italy's default consumer neobank and financial routine app?”

Founded2015
HQBiella / Milan, Italy
IndustryFintech / Neobank
The story

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.

Last 12 months
2026-04
Product timeline
0
HYPE S.p.A. obtained IMEL (e-money institution) license from Banca d'Italia.· banking
0
Obtained AISP/PISP (open banking) licenses, expanding from account to broader financial ecosystem.· banking
0
HYPE S.p.A. merged by incorporation into Banca Sella S.p.A.; HYPE continues as a brand of Banca Sella.· acquisition
2015
HYPE launched as a mobile-first digital account by Gruppo Sella / Sellalab in Biella.· banking
2020
Reached 1,000,000 customers, becoming the leading Italian fintech by user count.· banking
Regulated entities
2
regulatory licences held by Hype
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
The stack
7 layers disclosed in Hype’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
Banca Sella S.p.A. (in-house)
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
Card issuing
in the full report
Card network
in the full report
Open banking
in the full report
KYC
in the full report
Sponsor bank
in the full report
Accounting gap: minor
6 more providers across 6 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.