Fintechs want to revolutionise the financial industry: Fintechs are challenging the established players in banking and payment services, credit offers or financial investments. These include the smartphone bank N26 (founded in 2013), the Swedish unicorn Klarna (founded in 2006, payment services for shopping) and ratepay (founded in 2009, services for instalment payments).
Here is 7 promising FinTech start-ups from Germany. Young companies, not older than 7 years. Have fun browsing!
Solarisbank
If a company wants to offer its customers (or also: its employees) loans or payment services, perhaps even issue its own credit card, then a banking licence is required for this. Or the company uses the offer of Solarisbank. This is a “banking-as-a-service platform with a full banking licence”. In other words: It is a white-label bank whose banking ecosystem can be used by other companies.
Not only corporates use this offer, but also smaller banks that do not (want to) operate their own banking system.
Foundation in 2016. In Berlin. Website: www.solarisbank.com
Omnius
September 2019: Jonathan Larsen gives an impressive key note speech at a congress of FinTech Incubator finleap: Larsen is Chief Innovation Officer at Ping An, one of the largest Chinese financial institutions. The company is 100% tech-minded and pursues a consistent data strategy: AI, blockchain, data mining. To this end, the company not only has 30,000 employees in R&D at its disposal, but also the data of around 500 million internet users, 200 million customers and 400 million annual service calls.
Among other things, Larsen described how the process of claims management is partially automated with the help of artificial intelligence. This is done with the help of chatbots or the automatic analysis of photos from the damage documentation.
Only a few weeks later, I became aware of the start-up Omnius. The Berlin-based company of serial entrepreneur Sofie Quidenus-Wahlforss is developing just that: an Artificial-Intelligence-as-a-Service (AIaaS) platform for cognitive claims management. The start-up has already received over 44 million US dollars in funding since its founding.
Foundation in 2015. In Berlin. Website: www.omnius.com
Vane (formerly: BillFront)
Is your company from the digital, tech or media industry? Then you can turn your receivables into cash with just a few clicks. The start-up Vane specialises in optimising working capital. More precisely: It optimizes working capital in an industry it knows very well.
In short: Vane is thus a factoring provider with a clear industry focus. Receivables from currently 15 countries can be converted into liquidity.
Foundation in 2015. In Berlin. Website: www.vane.capital
CAPTIQ
The start-up CAPTIQ also has a clear focus on its target group: namely loans for professions organized in bodies such as doctors, solicitors, architects or pharmacists. This target group has a homogeneous risk profile and no collateral is required for the loans. The loan amount for long-term or short-term loans can be between 10 and 250 thousand euros. The promise: “Loan decision within 1 to 2 working days”.
Foundation in 2017. In Frankfurt. Website: www.captiq.com
Capveriant
Capveriant is a European platform that brings together lenders and borrowers from the municipal sector.
Municipalities can put their financing needs out to tender. Financing requests can be entered with all parameters (term, repayment type, etc.), and relevant documents can be made available in the portal. Municipalities (more generally: local authorities) can make open tenders or invite specific investors to tender.
Lenders can easily access information and documents related to financing projects (budgets, permits, regulations, etc.). Statistical key figures of the municipalities are available (currently: from Germany and France). Lenders / investors are automatically informed about new tenders.
Foundation in 2017. In Munich. Website: www.capveriant.com
Heymoney
This app helps to keep track of one’s finances and optimise costs. It gives an overview of account balances on all bank accounts or payment service providers such as PayPal. The app makes it easy to transfer money. And in the app, contracts with regular payments such as insurance contracts, telecom contracts, magazine subscriptions and the like can be easily managed and optimised. The user is informed in good time about cancellation deadlines, and the start-up also promises the user to “get more value for your money”.
Such an idea is not entirely new. The crucial difference: the start-up (IconicFinance GmbH) is a 100% subsidiary of Allianz SE. The app is therefore a service provided by Allianz to existing customers and an excellent communication channel for Allianz offers. About the reach: There are more than ten million customers with Allianz life insurance alone.
Currently, you still need the invitation code of an Allianz agency.
Foundation in 2019. In Munich. Website: www.heymoney.de
EcoCrowd
EcoCrowd is a crowd-sourcing platform for sustainable projects. This platform was launched by the Deutsche Umweltstiftung (=German Environmental Foundation) and therefore does not pursue any profit motives. What distinguishes this platform from other crowdsourcing platforms are the following characteristics.
Projects on this platform are reviewed by the Deutsche Umweltstiftung. This ensures that only projects that meet the sustainability criterion make it onto the platform. In addition, the initiators of projects get valuable advice – based on more than 30 years of project work around sustainability. All good wished for continued success!
Foundation in 2014. In Berlin. Website: www.ecocrowd.de
Promising StartUps in other industries and areas
- 7 promising InsurTech Start-Ups
- 7 promising European RPA start-ups
- 7 promising German start-ups in Cloud Computing
- 7 promising start-ups in the automotive industry
- 7 promising start-ups about the Factory 4.0
- 7 promising German StartUps in Marketing
- 7 promising German StartUps in the Health Industry
- 7 promising German StartUps in Logistics
- 7 promising German Start-Ups in Clean Energy & Eco Tech
- 7 promising German Start-Ups in Cyber Security
