Vipps — status

Vipps is a Norwegian mobile payment service that has become the dominant player in the country, with its name becoming synonymous with mobile payments. Launched in 2015 by DNB, Norway's largest bank, Vipps quickly grew in popularity, reaching over a million users in its first six months. Although initially a service from DNB, its ownership was later transferred to a separate company owned by a consortium of more than 100 Norwegian banks. The service is best known for its simple peer-to-peer (P2P) functionality, which allows users to send and receive money using only a recipient's phone number, eliminating the need for bank account details. This streamlined process made it incredibly popular for splitting bills among friends or settling small debts. Over time, Vipps has expanded its offerings beyond P2P payments to become a comprehensive digital wallet. It now offers a range of services for businesses, including in-store payments via QR codes, online checkouts for e-commerce, and digital invoicing. A significant milestone in the company's history was its merger with the Danish and Finnish mobile payment service MobilePay and the Finnish service Pivo. While Pivo later withdrew from the merger, the union of Vipps and MobilePay created a new company called Vipps MobilePay, with an ambition to become a leading mobile wallet across the Nordic region. This merger gives the company a combined user base of over 12 million people and a larger scale to compete with international payment giants. The company continues to invest in new features and integrations, with a focus on simplifying payments and enabling cross-border transactions for its users and business customers.