Behind the Scenes: FinLeap

Behind the scenes at: FinLeap!

The famous Berlin TV Tower on one side, the historical Berliner Dom on the other – our office is situated right in the busy heart of Germany’s capital city. An old factory building, first floor, high ceilings, the sound of the S-Bahn passing by: Welcome to FinLeap!

At a first glance, it’s the typical startup environment. Spread across three working areas, people are busily in front of their computers while parked on the side are some office rollers. In the kitchen, one can find a large range of colourful müsli and fruits, coffee and water. The large wooden table and the couches in the lobby are often used during lunch time and for short coffee meetings. Blue old-school telephone cabins can be seen everywhere in the office, providing some privacy during calls. A big blackboard in the lobby gives an overview about the FinLeap ecosystem with each team member featured there with a polaroid picture and name.

On a second glance, FinLeap is much more than a typical startup. FinLeap builds Fintech companies from scratch – from a tech platform with a full bank license (solarisBank) to a crowd investment platform for real estate (zinsbaustein.de). So far, more than 270 employees from 30+ countries are working for FinLeap and its nine ventures.

FinLeap supports its ventures closely. They fully profit from the FinLeap expert team, consisting of the departments of People and Organization, PR and Marketing, Accounting, Business Intelligence, Legal and Regulations, Finance, Product, Business Development, and Tech. This kind of support, especially at the start, cannot be found in an accelerator program or an incubator. Also, FinLeap provides each venture with seed funding from 0.5 until 5 Million Euro.

One other advantage is the close proximity. Only four of the ventures – Savedo, financeAds, Clark, and solarisBank – have moved into their own office spaces so far. All of them are near the FinLeap office in Berlin. The rest of the ventures are still located in the FinLeap office. Each venture is at a different development stage and thus, the teams range from several people to bigger groups. Most importantly, each team has exactly the experts needed to make plausible, innovative and successful business decisions. Also, each venture gets it’s own sparring partner from the FinLeap Management Team.

And here comes in the biggest FinLeap factor: the talents. In the FinLeap team, one can find the financial expert with more than 20 years of experience in banking as well as the tech developer who has been working already on the most complex projects. Former bankers are working right next to a 19-years-old designer student. It is the mix of ages, experience and different backgrounds which makes the FinLeap team itself unique. Team events like the famous summer strategy event, boat parties, the FinLeap volleyball group or the monthly all hands meeting with pizza at the end are creating a familiar atmosphere.

The FinLeap recruiting team is always on the search for the best experts, as the ventures are rapidly growing and FinLeap is constantly launching new ones.

Although FinLeap has, as every company, a defined structure, hierarchies are on a low level. The Team leaders are not hiding in separate offices, but sitting in the middle of the team in the large working space, approachable for everyone. Although every department has its specific tasks, daily collaboration between colleagues from different areas of expertise is not only present, but also encouraged.

A great team with an ambitious goal: Reshaping Finance!