Wallester
Also a provider — view Wallester’s profile →“Can an Estonian Visa Principal Member become the go-to European alternative to Marqeta for embedded card issuing and BaaS?”
Founded2016
HQTallinn, Estonia
FoundersSergei Astafjev, Dmitri Logvinenko
IndustryInfrastructure / Card issuing
The story
Wallester started as a small Estonian payment institution in 2018 and built a Visa Principal Member card-issuing platform, launching its White-Label product in 2021. It has since evolved from a pure card issuer into a broader embedded-finance infrastructure provider, adding multi-currency IBAN business accounts, BIN sponsorship, expense management and a free business tier. The 2026 UK EMI authorisation marks a deliberate expansion beyond the EEA into UK/Ireland/Switzerland coverage.
Product timeline
2018
Wallester founded in Estonia as a small startup· founding
2021
Launched Wallester White-Label card issuing product· product_launch
2022
Partnered with Onfido for AI-powered KYC identity verification· partnership
2024
Launched multi-currency IBAN business accounts alongside card issuing· banking
2026
Received EMI authorisation from UK FCA to expand into the UK market· regulatory
Regulated entities
3
regulatory licences held by Wallester
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
The stack
6 layers disclosed in Wallester’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
Card issuing
in the full report
Card network
in the full report
KYC
in the full report
FX & payouts
in the full report
Accounting gap: minor
8 more providers across 5 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.