Fintech MVPs need to be fast to build and correct about money from day one.
We build fintech MVPs with the compliance infrastructure and financial correctness that allow you to process real transactions — not a prototype that needs to be rebuilt before your banking partner will sign a BAA. Fixed scope, fixed price.
Your fintech MVP needs to pass your banking partner's technical due diligence before you process a single real transaction. Building it without the compliance infrastructure isn't shipping faster — it's delaying the first real customer.
Fintech has a compliance-first requirement that distinguishes it from every other MVP category. A consumer app MVP that doesn't scale is a v2 problem. A fintech MVP that can't pass a banking partner's technical due diligence is a company-ending problem — because without the banking partner, you can't process real transactions, and without processing real transactions, there is no product.
The fintech MVPs that get to market fastest are not the ones that skip compliance infrastructure — they're the ones that build the compliance layer correctly the first time and don't have to rebuild it to satisfy a banking partner or regulator. KYC integration, transaction monitoring, audit logging, and data encryption aren't features you add later; they're foundational requirements that the transaction data model needs to be designed around from the start.
The scope discipline that makes a fintech MVP achievable in 12–16 weeks is about limiting the transaction types and user flows, not about skipping the compliance infrastructure. One payment type, one user segment, one primary use case — built on correct financial infrastructure.
A fintech MVP with a correct transaction data model, KYC integration, basic compliance logging, and a payment rail integration — validated, production-ready, and able to pass a banking partner's initial technical review.
Transaction data model
Account table with balance tracking. Transaction table with debit and credit entries per transaction, idempotency key, and state machine (pending, processing, complete, failed, reversed). Atomic balance updates with Postgres row-level locking. Decimal precision throughout — no floating point.
KYC integration
Persona or Alloy for identity verification and OFAC/sanctions screening. User identity verification flow in the product UI. Customer risk tier assignment. Basic suspicious activity monitoring rules.
Payment rail integration
Single payment rail integration scoped for the MVP transaction type: ACH via Stripe or Dwolla for bank-to-bank transfers, card processing via Stripe for card-funded transactions, or wallet-to-wallet for peer transfer products.
Compliance event log
Immutable log of all user actions and financial events. Timestamp, user identity, action type, and relevant financial data captured per event. Queryable for regulatory reporting and banking partner review.
Product UI for the core transaction flow
Onboarding with KYC. Account overview with balance and transaction history. Core transaction initiation flow (send, receive, or pay — scoped to the MVP use case). Transaction status and notification. Built on Next.js, Postgres, Stripe or Dwolla, Persona for KYC, and AWS with HIPAA or FedRAMP-aligned configuration where required.
One honest number to start.
Fixed-scope, fixed-price. The number below is the starting point — final scope is built from your brief.
A fintech MVP with a correct transaction data model, KYC integration, basic compliance logging, and a payment rail integration — validated, production-ready, and able to pass a banking partner's initial technical review.
Three steps, every time.
The same repeatable engagement on every project. No surprises, no mystery, no billable ambiguity.
Brief & discovery.
We send you questions, then get on a call. Output: a written scope with every step, feature, and integration listed.
Build & ship.
Fixed schedule, weekly reviews. No scope creep unless you change the scope — and if you do, we reprice it transparently.
Warranty & retainer.
30-day warranty on every launch. Most clients stay on a monthly retainer for ongoing features and maintenance.
Why Fixed-Price Matters Here
Fintech founders are often fundraising while building the MVP. The build cost is a line item in the seed round use of proceeds. Fixed scope and fixed price is how that line item stays credible in front of investors and doesn't creep.
Related engagements.
Questions, answered.
A well-built fintech MVP with correct data encryption, access controls, KYC integration, and audit logging passes the standard technical due diligence process for most tier-2 banking partners (Evolve, Blue Ridge, Cross River). Tier-1 bank partners (JPMorgan, BofA) have higher requirements that typically require a SOC 2 audit in addition to the architecture review.
The user completes a form with name, date of birth, SSN (last 4 or full, depending on your product risk tier), and uploads a government ID photo. Persona processes the verification in real time (under 30 seconds for most users). Approved users proceed to the product; flagged users are queued for manual review.
State money transmitter license requirements are a legal question for your compliance attorney. The technology we build can operate under an existing banking partner's license (for products using a BaaS partner), under an agent-of-a-payee exemption, or in preparation for your own MTL application. We're not a legal advisor on licensing strategy.
Transaction data model, KYC integration, payment rail integration, compliance logging, and core product UI typically runs $35k–$65k. Additional payment rail integrations and complex transaction types add scope. Fixed-price.
12 to 16 weeks for a production-ready fintech MVP with KYC and payment processing live.
Tell Ryel about your project.
Describe what you’re building and what outcome you need. You’ll have a written, fixed-price scope within the week.