finleap Insights June 2020
Dear finleap friends,
The summer in Europe is in full swing as restrictions around COVID-19 are slowly being lifted and business gradually picks up. It is important for us to stay alert to the latest developments and to maintain a positive business view.
In our last newsletter, I shared my view on the current state of the fintech industry and that it is becoming more relevant than ever. While the crisis puts a strain on companies worldwide it also presents many opportunities for everyone to rethink their business models, product strategies and investments. Resilience is now more important than ever. What have we learned from the crisis so far?
The lockdown and standstill of business life forced many people to reconsider their stands on sustainability, travel and consumption. It also affected investments, as a recent study by Forum Nachhaltige Geldanlagen showed. According to the study, the number of private investments in sustainable funds increased by 94% in 2019 to the previous year. While not as impressive, institutional investments grew by 27% in 2019. These numbers are expected to grow further this year.
Sustainability has been on the rise for years now and reached the fintech industry as the mindset of consumers shifts and requests for sustainable products rises. Players such as the sustainable challenger bank, Tomorrow, who entered the German market together with solarisBank, are bringing sustainable financial products to a growing customer base.
Investment in sustainable projects and companies is key to living more sustainable lives. In the future, they will become more and more relevant, not just the ones focusing on climate change and natural resources, but also the ones that challenge the way we involve circular economy, manage mobility, see human rights and live alongside each other. ESG funds (Environmental, social and corporate governance) offer a lot of stability even in turbulent times. According to BloombergQuint, despite the crash induced by the pandemic, sustainable indexes exceeded expectations during the Corona crisis.
As Europe’s leading fintech ecosystem, we have been closely observing this topic for some time. On the one hand, the awareness of sustainable investments grows worldwide. On the other hand, new opportunities arise and the need for further development of sustainable solutions increases. We will continue to challenge the status quo and look for ways to sustainably reshape the future of finance. Together. If you want to be part of this mission and have an impact on the financial industry of tomorrow, contact us.
Read on to find out more about the launch of our latest joint venture, our contribution to the recently launched Corona Warn App, and our portfolio companies’ latest wins.
All the best,
Ramin
Joint venture between finleap and DVAG goes live
Deutsche Vermögensberatung AG (DVAG), Germany’s largest independent financial advisor, launched a new digital financial advisory app and integration platform for its financial advisors – built by Deutsche Fintech Solutions (DFS), a joint venture of DVAG and finleap.
Further collaboration between DVAG and the fintech ecosystem will be continued mainly by finleap connect. Find out more about the cooperation in Handelsblatt (German) or read the press release in English here.
Insights on the ‘Future of Venture Building’ in a post-COVID world
Venture building is one of finleap’s core disciplines, with 17 portfolio companies built in the past 6 years. The #covid19 outbreak is now impacting the economy and #venturebuilding worldwide.
On Wednesday, 4 June our CBO, Florian Resatsch, joined a panel discussion hosted by Kamet Ventures and Mike Butcher MBE, Editor-at-large of TechCrunch, about the future of venture building in a post-COVID world. Learn more from Florian and other inspiring speakers such as Cynthia Nadal, Michaël Niddam, and Stephen Berenson and watch the panel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
GesundZusammen: Corona Warn App launches
Earlier this week, Germany launched its own official Corona Tracing App – called “Corona Warn App”. Next to T-Systems and SAP, the HealthyTogether initiative was part of the app development. The finleap team supported in the areas of communication and campaigning, as well as in UI/UX design, research and acceptance testing. The launch of the app is a great step forward to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Studies found that 60% of all citizens need to use the app in order to reach sufficient information. To achieve that, everyone needs to spread the word and encourage as many people as possible to download the app. There have been over 6 Million downloads of the app only on the first day, which is a great result. You can find the link in the app store or on the website of the German government. Let’s support it to get back to a new normal.
GesundZusammen: Future Perfect Accelerator hosts first virtual Demo Day
Is it possible to start a successful startup accelerator remotely? That is what the team of the GesundZusammen or “Healthy Together” initiative asked themselves about two months ago and then set out to test this with their impact accelerator Future Perfect (by GesundZusammen/Healthy Together and Tech Open Air (TOA)). In the following six weeks of acceleration, the team supported the first batch of four companies in the development of digital products, built partnerships, acquired customers and financing through the network of over 90 partner companies and over 100 outstanding mentors. June 8, the virtual Demo Day, marked the end of the first successful accelerator cycle.
All teams made great progress in bringing their ideas to life while contributing in their own way to support our healthcare system, society and economy to fight against Covid-19.
If you couldn’t make it to the virtual Demo Day, you can meet the teams and see the fireside chat about Healthy Together under this link.
Alliance of European fintech launches European FinTech Association (EFA)
The European FinTech Association (EFA) is the first not-for-profit organization representing leading fintech companies of all sizes across Europe. With 21 members, the EFA is ready to promote, communicate and develop cooperation and dialogue between fintech companies within the European Union.
Along with Funding Circle, Moneyfarm, N26, Raisin and TransferWise, finleap is proud to be a board member of the EFA. Find out more about this historic launch (in German) here.
Stay up-to-date with the EFA and follow them on Social Media:
German finance blog shares insights of finleap’s female leaders
German Finance Blog, Finanz-Szene.de recently started an interview series on women in fintech. Many finleap leaders are among the interviewees, such as:
Delia König – MD Identity Unit solarisBank
Birte Sewing – COO finleap
Carolin Gabor – CEO Joonko
Jessica Holzbach – Co-Founder and CCO Penta
Laura Deneke – VP Business Development Elinvar
Cornelia Schwertner – CRO finleap connect.
Make sure to read their perspectives on female leadership and what needs to happen for more women to join fintech and become leaders of tomorrow.
Pylot – Digital platform for medium-sized businesses takes off
The new platform bundles market-leading software solutions in one place and enables medium-sized companies to increase their online visibility. The aim is to have a single digital cockpit to control processes in the areas of marketing, finance or organization. Ramin Niroumand, founder and CEO finleap, “We see that more and more financial service providers are developing individual products for small and medium enterprises. However, these are all separate solutions. So far, there is no integrated tool available that unites and simplifies processes. Pylot will change this. We are pleased that together with Signal Iduna, we can prove that corporate venturing is a successful business model in this area as well”.
Pylot was founded as a joint start-up by the SIGNAL IDUNA Group and finleap. Next to that Michael Hartwig joins the digitization and software platform as CEO. Hartwig has more than 20 years of experience in marketing and digitization and has held leading positions for Opel, BMW, among others, Google, Zanox and Yext. Read more about the cooperation between SIGNAL IDUNA and finleap here.
Penta announces partnership with German Bank Volksbank Bielefeld-Gütersloh and expands its target group to freelancers
Volksbank Bielefeld-Gütersloh is expanding its successful cooperations with fintechs from the German start-up scene. The cooperative bank is now the first regional institute to cooperate with the mobile business bank Penta. The customers of the digital platform for business banking are primarily small and medium-sized enterprises, some of them from the East Westphalia-Lippe region. The aim of the cooperation is to provide them with urgently needed liquidity support during the Corona crisis. Find out more about the partnership here.
Additionally, Penta is taking a broader positioning in the market and expanding its target group to independent or self-employed users who can now use Penta’s banking offer. Previously, Penta’s services were only available to small and medium-sized companies, start-ups, sole proprietors, and freelancers with at least one employee. Read the full story here.
solarisBank helps Vivid Money offer a holistic mobile banking experience
solarisBank has welcomed a new, exciting partner to its Banking-as-a-Service platform – Vivid Money, the mobile platform to spend, save and invest. Together with Visa and solarisBank, Vivid Money aims to help people to get the most out of their money by combining the all-in-one mobile-first approach with a full-service package. TCS Group Holding PLC, a leading provider of online financial and lifestyle services through the Tinkoff ecosystem, is an anchor seed investor in Vivid.
Interested in offering financial services to your customers or want to find out more? Be sure to reach out to our colleagues at solarisBank.
ELEMENT and Vodafone Germany cooperation
In May, ELEMENT announced their new partnership with Vodafone Germany. Mobile clients of the telecommunication giant can now purchase private cyber insurance, tailored to their needs. It consists of a worldwide cover against online fraud and identity theft and follows ELEMENT’s vision of fully embedded insurance solutions. Read more here: https://coverager.com/
Act now: Digitale Luftbruecke and PAIR Finance digitize stationary retail
The initiative Digitale Luftbruecke has now partnered with PAIR Finance, Germany’s first AI-operated debt collection service, to allow Germany’s stationary retail market to make quick revenues, despite the COVID-19 crisis. Digitale Luftbruecke leverages PAIR Finance’s deep knowledge in the e-commerce sector in order to digitize their partner’s receivables management. Read more here: https://www.pairfinance.com/
Happy Birthday Clark
Earlier this week, Clark celebrated the 5th anniversary. In the past five years that Clark has been part of the finleap ecosystem, Germany’s leading digital insurance manager CLARK has achieved many milestones. The latest one was reaching over 200 000 users and over 1 Million contracts managed. Congrats to the entire team of Clark to this achievement. Find out more about Clark here.
Link Tips
Want to find out more about finleap and its ecosystem, we recommend the following links:
Finance Forward Podcast with Marko Wenthin (German)
Webinar of Banken Verband (Association of German Banks) on “Digital fintech solutions for banks” (Germany)
Moreover, in the past four weeks, finleap celebrated diversity across its ecosystem. Read the interviews with fins in the interview series:
- What Diversity means to us – Part 1
- What Diversity means to us – Part 2
- What Diversity means to us – Part 3
