How Finhike Uses Google Cloud and Gemini to Deliver 99.95% Availability in Volatile Markets

Finhike operates a fully digital alternative to traditional banking in markets where legacy financial infrastructure is slow, paper-heavy, or inaccessible. Serving over 100,000 clients across five countries, the Lithuanian-headquartered company provides consumer finance products through an online platform that must function reliably even in challenging connectivity environments — including Ukraine, where maintaining stable service for clients despite local infrastructure disruptions is a direct operational requirement.

The core challenge is a familiar one for fintechs operating in volatile emerging markets: availability must be non-negotiable while the cost and complexity of infrastructure must stay manageable. Finhike’s previous security setup also introduced operational friction, with a third-party provider generating frequent false positives that blocked legitimate clients while attempting to filter malicious traffic — creating a poor user experience on a platform where trust is paramount.

Finhike built its core infrastructure on Google Cloud, using Compute Engine to power its proprietary risk engine, which analyzes diverse data pools for real-time lending decisions. A modular deployment approach lets the team stand up services in new markets in as little as one week — starting with minimal compute, validating the platform, then scaling as the client base grows. Google Cloud partner Wise IT supports ongoing reconfiguration of project environments to align with each country’s legal and financial regulatory structures. For security, Finhike migrated to Cloud Armor and reCAPTCHA Enterprise, eliminating the false-positive problem without compromising the user experience.

Gemini entered Finhike’s engineering workflows as an AI assistant for complex coding and database management. The result was a 20% increase in the speed at which engineering tasks are completed, freeing developers to spend more time on product features rather than manual technical work. On the marketing side, BigQuery replaced a manual reporting process that had introduced delays of up to three months; the marketing team now tracks client acquisition sources and conversion rates automatically, enabling faster audience targeting decisions.

Finhike meets its 99.95% availability SLA and achieves a 95 Google PageSpeed score, both key measures of reliability for a digital lender. Storage and compute costs have fallen 10% year over year through active visibility into usage via the Google Cloud Console. Looking ahead, the company plans to migrate its web platform to mobile apps and is exploring AI-powered KYC automation to further reduce friction at onboarding. The bet on Google Cloud has let Finhike stop worrying about infrastructure and focus on its core mission: making financial products accessible to everyone, everywhere.