Papara
“Can Türkiye's largest neobank become a pan-emerging-markets consumer financial app while surviving acute regulatory scrutiny at home?”
Founded2016
HQIstanbul, Türkiye
FoundersAhmet Faruk Karslı
IndustryFintech / Neobank
The story
Founded in 2016, Papara grew into Türkiye's largest neobank and licensed EMI under Central Bank supervision, with 21M+ users by 2024 and over 23M by 2025. Its product evolved from free 24/7 money transfers into a full digital wallet stack — prepaid Mastercard, bill pay, FX, investment/savings accounts, precious metals, insurance distribution and cross-border via Thunes. The 2024 SadaPay acquisition signalled an international platform ambition, while the May 2025 detentions tied to alleged illegal betting flows now overshadow the franchise.
Last 12 months
Product timeline
2016
Papara founded in Istanbul as a digital wallet / e-money institution offering 24/7 free money transfers.· banking
2020
Papara crosses millions of users, expanding card and cashback products.· card
2024
Papara acquires SadaPay (Pakistan), expanding internationally.· acquisition
2024
Partners with Thunes to enable cross-border transfers to/from Türkiye, joining its Direct Global Network.· banking
2025
Turkish authorities detain 13 individuals including founder Ahmet Faruk Karslı over alleged money laundering / illegal betting investigation.· pivot
Regulated entities
Electronic Money Institution (EMI)
Türkiye (Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey)
Papara Elektronik Para Anonim Şirketi
The stack
Payments / PSP
Banking / BaaS
Card issuing
FX & payouts
Accounting gap: none