Everything already there, everything already seen? Not true. What else is there to come? A lot! That Germany is still a place of founders, who still come up with something new even in the finance, payment and banking industry, we prove from now on in our loose episodes on new companies in the finance industry.
The following five startups were finalists of Pitch&Pinot, supported by Get Started (Bitkom) and High Tech Gründerfonds.
Coindex
In times of economic uncertainty, zero interest rate policy and media hype, the interest of retail investors in contemporary investment products is extremely high. With coindex it is possible to invest in the crypto market, index-based and in a savings plan. Coindex transfers the recipe for success of ETFs to the world of crypto stocks and at the same time combines it with all the advantages of a direct investment in crypto stocks.
“We see huge potential in being the first provider to help shape the market with a product like coindex with full regulation in Germany and a very potent platform that is particularly tailored to B2B white label models in addition to the B2C use case,” says the still-young company based in Bielefeld. The founding team around Kai H. Kuljurgis got to know each other in the co-working space there. So far, Coindex has raised €1.5 million from well-known business angels, including the founders of bitcoin.de, Solarisbank, IOTA, fairr.de and ideal, among others, as well as via crowdfunding.
Climo
Many people have now realised how important it is to do something for climate protection. In everyday life, however, they sometimes lack the solution of how to combine everyday life with it. This is where Climo comes in and wants to offer a solution. The Stuttgart-based company has developed an app that can be linked to the bank account.
For example, all digital payments at the supermarket checkout can be rounded up with it. The money is invested in the energy turnaround and paid back with interest at the end. The amount to be rounded up can be selected. Johannes Lager’s team works in innovation management at EnBW. The spin-off should take place in a few months. So far, therefore, the project is still being financed by EnBW. Now the team is looking for partners and investors.
ChummyTech
Payment transactions between banks currently take 1-5 days and process up to 900 billion euros a month in the so-called “off”. This means that the amount is not available to the market during this period. Founded in 2020, Berlin-based ChummyTech aims to provide the solution by creating a digital infrastructure based on blockchain for real-time payments between banks, fintechs, payment processors and other companies. Real-time payments will be linked to smart contracts and the system will be mapped in real currency, not cryptocurrencies. The founding team is currently looking for investors and initial partners for nationwide implementation.
Tokenstreet
Founded in 2020, fintech tokenstreet describes itself as the first family office for the small investor. With tokenstreet, the First Class Investments team wants to make investments accessible to everyone and also give small investors the opportunity to participate with amounts starting at 25 euros. “The goal is to provide the best option for long-term wealth accumulation by applying the same investment philosophies that are typically only available to high-net-worth individuals,” according to the founding team, which consists of Vincent Amm, Lenny-Campino Hartmann, Alexander Borowski and Mona Feder.
The four got to know each other during their studies at the CODE University in Berlin. Tokenstreet is based in Berlin and a first funding round of €450,000 was raised in fall 2020 with multiple angels.
Blocksize Capital
Back in 2018, Christian Labetzsch and Christoph Impekoven brought Blocksize Capital to market in Frankfurt. Blocksize Capital provides SaaS solutions for trading and managing digital assets for institutional clients. Users thus have access to over 30 crypto exchanges. Thanks to the Smart Order Router, larger transactions can be distributed across different exchanges.
“With our solution, we provide everyone with access to various crypto exchanges with reliable market data. We also guarantee optimal execution and reporting across all exchanges and assets,” said the founders. The company has an office in New York and a sales outpost in Singapore. After a seed round and a pre-Series A, the fintech is currently in the Series A fundraise process.
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