Everything you need to know about fintech startups. At a glance. You can follow the short news from the industry here.
February 14, 2022: According to Finance Forward, the Berlin fintech Forget Finance is said to have collected a high seven-digit amount. The startup did not want to comment on the round. The Forget Finance app gives users recommendations for savings plans, and a chatbot helps with specific questions. The company is almost two years old, and in the future the fintech also wants to offer its own banking products. The Berlin Seed-VC Btov, UVC Partners from Munich and TA Ventures from Frankfurt have now financed the growth and development as well as various business angels from the first round. (Source: Finance Forward, lks)
N26 loses top manager again
January 25, 2022: The smartphone bank N26 apparently has problems retaining its executives in the long term. With Adrienne Gormley, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) is now leaving the Berlin fintech. The former Dropbox manager was hired in October 2020 and will hand over her responsibilities to the current CFO Jan Kemper at the end of April. According to N26, they are not looking for a replacement, Kemper will then take on both roles. Gormley was the last woman in the Unicorn’s C-level, HR manager Eva Glanzer is only temporarily employed at the managerial level. The fluctuation at N26 is not only high in the entire team, the online bank, founded in 2013, has also lost several top personnel in the past two years. (Source: company, lks)
Trade Republic appoints two top bankers to the board
January 19, 2022: The Berlin neobroker Trade Republic is changing its management team: According to information from Finanz-szene.de, Andreas Torner and Gernot Mittendorfer are to take over the management. Accordingly, they are to replace the previous managing directors Andreas Willius and Karsten Müller. Torner most recently worked for Deutsche Bank, while Mittendorfer was on the CFO of Austria’s largest bank, Erste Group, for six years. Trade Republic was founded in Munich in 2016 by Christian Hecker and Thomas Pischke and is now one of the most valuable fintechs in Europe, in which prominent investors such as Sequoia and Peter Thiel have invested. (Source: Finanz-szene.de, fm)
Banxware collects 10 million euros
January 13, 2021: The Berlin loan startup Banxware has raised 10 million euros in a seed expansion round. The investment is led by the British VC company Element Ventures. Meanwhile, D4 Ventures, FinVC, Varengold Bank and High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) are involved as co-investors. The fintech grants loans of between 15,000 and 30,000 euros to platform traders. The capital injection should serve to further develop the company’s offer and to enlarge the team. Banxware was founded in 2020 by Ratepay founder Miriam Wohlfarth, Jens Röhrborn, Fabian Heiss and Nicolas Kipp. (Source: company, fm)
Berlin fintech Re:cap collects 10 million euros
December 16, 2021: The Berlin fintech Re:cap has collected 10 million euros. The investment is led by Berlin venture capitalist Project A and Felix Capital from London. Software companies should be able to have recurring income paid out in advance via the startup’s platform. The loans are to be made available by institutional lenders. In addition to this investment, the Berlin startup has collected a further 90 million euros in outside capital. This money should flow into the companies that want to be pre-financed via the platform. Paul Becker and Jonas Tebbe founded Re:cap in early 2021. The founding duo previously made a name for themselves in the fintech scene with the digital asset manager Liqid. (Source: company, fm)
Berlin investment fintech Othoz receives 10 million euros
December 14, 2021: Berlin-based fintech Othoz has completed Series A financing of ten million euros. The financiers include the Munich VC Acton Capital, which counts companies like the multi-billion dollar fintech Mambu among its holdings. Other sponsors include former SAP manager Werner Brandt. Othoz was founded in 2017 by Daniel Willmann, Mathias Eitz and Ronald Richter and specializes in AI-led investments. In addition to private investors, the target group primarily includes banks and family offices. (Source: company/financefwd, hue)
Berlin NFT fintech collects 12 million
November 29, 2021: The German NFT fintech Timeless has closed a financing round of twelve million euros. The Swedish financier EQT has invested nine million euros, with a further three million coming from existing investors such as Porsche Ventures or EOS VC and La Roca Capital. With the Timeless investment app, users can buy shares in rare sneakers and watches and benefit from their performance. The fintech was founded in 2018 by Jan Karnath, Andreas Joebges and Malte Häusler. (Source: Financefwd, hue)
Cavalry Ventures invests €4 million in teenage bank Pockid
November 18, 2021: The Hamburg-based fintech Pockid has raised four million euros in venture capital as part of a seed financing round. This is led by the Berlin early-stage investor Cavalry Ventures. Vorwerk Ventures is also taking part in the round. Among other things, the money is to be used to further develop the startup’s product. Pockid is a banking app specifically designed for teenagers to open an account and analyze their income and expenses. The account works on a credit basis and cannot be overdrawn. Jes Hennig, Max Schwarz, Timo Steffens and Deepankar Jha founded the startup in 2020. The fintech currently has eleven employees. (Source: company, fm)
Insurtech Ottonova collects 40 million euros
August 5, 2021: The Munich-based health insurance fintech Ottonova has closed a further financing of 40 million euros. Half of the fresh capital is said to be a convertible loan. The round is led by the VC Earlybird. Existing investors have also gone along with it. Most recently, there were 60 million euros from Debeka, Holtzbrinck Ventures, Vorwerk Ventures, Btov and Sevenventures. With the fresh capital, partnerships are to be expanded through which the policies can be sold. The Insurtech was founded in June 2017 and offers, among other things, digital comprehensive health insurance and supplementary dental insurance. (Source: Finance Forward and Finanz-szene.de, mw)
Finleap Connect buys Spanish open banking startup
July 28, 2021: Finleap-Connect buys the open banking startup My Value Solutions. The CEO does not provide any information on the purchase, but according to media reports, a valuation in the single-digit millions is likely. My Value was founded in 2009 and mainly helps Spanish financial institutions to collect and sort bank data. Finleap-Connect now wants to make this technology available to other service providers such as insurance companies and fintechs – especially outside of Spain. Finleap-Connect currently employs 160 people, with the acquisition adding 27. The technology company emerged from the merger of Finreach and Figo and operates an open banking platform that gives customers access to more than 3,600 banks in Europe. (Source: Handelsblatt, fm)
Securitization portal Acatus in insolvency proceedings
July 27, 2021: The Berlin startup Acatus has filed for the opening of insolvency proceedings, according to the public register. The fintech sends individual securitizations, i.e. converts assets into securities and bonds via its credit portal. The fintech told Finance Forward that a planned round of financing had failed. However, a buyer should be found for the credit portal who will continue the model. Acatus co-founder and CEO Marie Louise Seelig left the company earlier this month. The exact background is not known, but according to Finance Forward, the investors basically wanted a team with more banking expertise. (Source: Finance Forward, lks)
88 million for online wealth manager Liquid
July 16, 2021: The online asset manager Liquid has received 88 million euros in a recent financing round. The Liechtenstein private bank LGT has acquired an estimated stake of just under 30 percent in the fintech. The money will be used to hire new employees “above all to accelerate growth in southern and central Europe,” said Liquid founder Christian Schneider-Sickert to the Handelsblatt. According to his own statements, his company currently manages more than 1.4 billion euros. (Source: Handelsblatt, tib)
800 million round with Softbank: N26 rival Revolut now worth 33 billion
July 15, 2021: British N26 competitor Revolut has raised more than $800 million (€676 million) in a funding round with Softbank and Tiger Global. The company is now valued at $33 billion. For its current 16 million customers, the company says it wants to build a “super app” in which customers can manage all their financial transactions, but also get other services. Revolut is targeting India as the next market. (Source: Finance Forward, tib)
Next unicorn? Investor values Raisin DS at 1.3 billion
July 12, 2021: The German startup scene can look forward to a new unicorn – at least according to the Swedish investor Kinnevik. He writes that the fintech Raisin DS, recently created through a merger, has a “fair value” of 1.3 billion euros. At the end of June, Raisin and Deposit Solutions, operators of interest portals Weltsparen and Zinspilot, announced their merger. Kinnevik has had a stake in Deposit Solutions for some time. According to Finance Forward, the investor’s figures also provide information about the balance of power in the merged company: The Raisin shareholders therefore hold around two-thirds of the shares, while those of Deposit Solutions hold a third. (Source: Finance Forward, tib)
Helu raises 4.2 million euros from celebrity investors
July 8, 2021: Viennese software fintech Helu has raised 4.2 million euros (5 million US dollars) in its seed round. Atlantic Labs, Wefox founder Fabian Wesemann and Bitpanda founder Eric Demuth participated in the expansion of the round. Founded in 2020, Helu has developed financial planning software for tax advisors and smaller companies. The idea: Using the online tool, employees can work together on the business data. (Source: Finance Forward and company, mw)
8 million for crypto startup Blockpit
July 7, 2021: The Austrian company Blockpit gets around eight million euros in a Series A round. The money comes from investors in the fintech and blockchain space, including Middle Game Ventures, Fabric Ventures, Force over Mass Capital, Tioga Capital, Avaloq and existing investor Venionaire. The startup developed the Cryptotax software, which crypto traders and investors can use to file their tax returns. The results are then checked by auditing firms. With the capital increase, the startup wants to further develop its product and expand into other countries. The software is already available in six countries. Florian Wimmer founded the startup in 2017. (Source: company, fm)
Crypto startup Nuri raises 9 million
June 28, 2021: A few weeks ago, the Berlin-based crypto fintech Bitwala changed its name to Nuri. The company can now announce a new round of financing. Nine million euros came from existing investors, including the state fund Coparion. DIP Capital is on board as a new shareholder. Nuri is thus expanding its 15 million round from last winter. The company was founded in 2015 by Jan Goslicki, Benjamin Jones and Jörg von Minckwitz and started out as a crypto exchange platform. However, this business model collapsed in early 2018 when a partner no longer received a license from Visa. Bitwala transitioned its product to its own blockchain-based bank account with crypto wallet. The account runs through the Solarisbank. (Source: Finance Forward, hue)
Auto1 Fintech wants to raise four million with token financing
Vehicle financier Auto1 Fintech plans to raise EUR 4 million in loans via blockchain securities. This is a Security Token Offering (STO). The token financing is aimed at professional financiers who can invest from a value of 200,000 euros. The offering is to be processed via the investment platform Ive.one. With the loan, Auto1 Fintech wants to pre-finance the purchase price of vehicles for car dealers. The fintech split off from the used car platform Auto1 in 2020 after a dispute with the founders. (Source: Finance Forward, mw)
Anti-money laundering startup gets millions
June 23, 2021: Hawk AI from Munich has collected about 8.5 million euros (10 million dollars) in Series A. The fintech received money from Blackfin Capital Partners from Paris and from Samwer-VC Picus Capital. Founded in 2018 by founders Tobias Schweiger and Wolfgang Berner, the company analyzes transaction data from banks to uncover money laundering. The company has 30 employees. Schweiger and Berner previously launched payment and risk management tool Pay.On, which they sold for $200 million in 2015. (Source: Finance Forward, gr)
Myos: Pre-financer for online shops receives 25 million
June 22, 2021: The Berlin fintech Myos has raised outside capital and received an investment. The total amount is 25 million euros, the exact breakdown is not known. Xploration Capital and Fasanara Capital are new to the startup, and Cédric Waldburger’s VC Tomahawk also participated. Myos gives online retailers loans to pre-finance their goods, so far a total of 30 million euros is said to have flowed. According to CEO Nikolaus Hilgenfeldt, the company now wants to expand to Great Britain. (Source: Finance Forward, tib)
Ex-Speedinvest principal gets millions for his fintech
June 22, 2021: Christopher Zemina invested in fintechs for the Viennese VC Speedinvest for four years. In January he founded one himself with Airbank and has now secured seed financing of over 2.5 million euros. Money comes from New Wave, a new European seed fund from a former Accel investor, his former employer Speedinvest, Tiny VC and some investors and scouts from Accel and Sequoia. Airbank offers medium-sized companies and start-ups software that they can use to keep an eye on their finances and thus their liquidity in real time. (Source: company, lks)
