The concept of group payments has always been more than just financial – it’s about shared experiences and connections. Yet, despite the technological advances in finance, paying together often involves unnecessary hassle.
Enter Cino, the fintech company co-founded in 2021 by Elena Churilova, which offers a fresh approach by making bill-splitting easy and automatic. Through its app, Cino connects directly with users’ bank accounts to eliminate awkward IOUs, empowering friends, families, and colleagues to focus on the moments that matter.
In this week’s Behind the Idea, Churilova, CEO of Cino, shares its fresh approach to group payments and how it aims to simplify expense sharing for Gen Z.
Elena Churilova, CEO and co-founder of Cino
Tell us more about your company and its offering
Gen Z share costs frequently, splitting purchases over 20 times a month – yet, settling each bill usually requires multiple apps, tedious admin work and constant discussions about money (which no one wants to do). Cino eliminates this hassle by enabling seamless group payments directly from everyone’s bank accounts— meaning there is no need to request money, track, or chase payments afterwards.
At Cino, we have a bank-agnostic approach meaning that Cino can be connected to any bank, which makes managing shared expenses as easy as paying for things individually.
What problem was your company set up to solve?
Our company was founded to address the challenges of managing group payments, which historically has been a manual, time-consuming and antiquated process. Whether it’s splitting costs for travel, events, or household expenses, the process is typically cumbersome – one person pays upfront, and others have to pay them back later. This method creates inefficiencies and potential complications in tracking who owes what.
In 2024, it’s surprising that paying together is still so challenging. Until now, there has never been a seamless way for multiple people to make a payment together in one transaction. Technology is so advanced that it feels like we can do just about anything with ease nowadays – but when it comes to booking flights, for example, we still have to rely on one person to front the cost, manually calculate contributions, and then pay them back.
Cino provides a function that should really have existed years ago; our users can make group payments in a single tap, ensuring that everyone contributes at the same time, without the hassle of one person handling the entire payment.
Since launch, how has your company evolved?
Since our launch, Cino has experienced significant growth and evolution, both in terms of user base and transaction volume. For example, from July 2023 to July 2024, our gross merchandise value (GMV) has grown by an average of 44 per cent each month, whilst our number of monthly active users (MAU) has increased by 18 per cent.
We are also particularly excited by the fact that in August alone, we saw a remarkable 155.47 per cent increase in app users and a 54.17 per cent rise in processed transaction volumes, with MAU rising by 38.32 per cent. Over the past year, both the number of transactions per MAU and the transaction value per MAU have increased by 50 per cent; this reflects our impressive growth, and the consistent, frequent use of our product by our user base.
One of the key drivers of our success is the strong network effect as a result of our product. Each user typically brings two to four new people to Cino, contributing to a majority of our acquisition happening organically, and for free.
What has been the biggest challenge or most ‘tricky moment’ to overcome?
When we started out we had only the idea – no product, and no users. We were often told two things: that the idea was impossible to build, and that no-one had this problem. Investors, in particular, questioned the demand for a solution like ours.
However, through our research at universities and insights on Gen Z from my time at Bumble, we knew the problem was not only real but incredibly painful. I experienced it first-hand in my own relationships, where splitting payments was a constant frustration. One investor even shared that he disliked having conversations about paying people back but would gladly invest if there were an easier way.
It was a challenge to get people who are at different life stages and financial statuses compared to Gen Zers to understand the demand. Today, our user growth and engagement metrics speak for themselves, proving the undeniable need for a solution like Cino.
What are your biggest achievements or ‘proudest moment’ so far?
We’ve been the recipients of multiple awards from around the world (Estonia, Finland, the US, Japan), and from the likes of Mastercard, Mitsubishi and Github. Yet, the proudest sense of achievement we get is always from our users. It gives us the biggest smile whenever we receive a photo with a message such as, ‘you saved our relationship, thank you’, or ‘you guys are just amazing – please keep doing what you’re doing’.
How would you describe the culture of your company?
At Cino, we recognise that money and love are two strong forces in our lives, shaping not just our decisions but also some of our most cherished moments. We’re not just creating a payment platform; we’re redefining how people interact with each other when it comes to money—from simple daily routines to big, exciting events and spontaneous fun with friends. Whether it’s splitting a dinner bill, planning a trip, or celebrating milestones, we aim to make these social interactions seamless and stress-free.
We are growing a company where we can all embrace change and break new grounds. As a young startup, we live by perseverance and empathy. We like to innovate through creativity and purpose – always with our main focus on our present and future users. We’re dedicated to making life’s shared moments better, because we believe that simplifying those experiences will improve connections between people.
What’s in store for the future?
We’ve just started scratching the surface – there are so many new products and use cases we’re not covering yet. Imagine being able to split the rent easily, or pay together with a colleague who doesn’t have Cino, or be easily recommended how to coordinate group trips depending on your spending preferences. And of course, there are many new markets we are yet to launch in, but have a waitlist for.
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