Our monthly review in October 2020
In the Fintech world it never gets boring. New companies are founded, investments are made and new products are brought to the market. Sometimes it is difficult to keep track of things. We take care of that and summarize the most important news of the past month in a compact overview. So here are our news for the month of October.
Audi goes among the payment providers
Under the name Audipay, the car manufacturer Audi is launching its own payment service to buy digital services for cars. The service will initially be launched in Germany and Norway, with a further 20 European markets to be connected soon. Audipay currently works with stored credit cards, in the future Audipay wants to integrate further payment services such as Paypal, Klarna and other providers. The first usecase for the new payment service is the “Functions on Demand” service. This allows equipment features to be flexibly booked via an app even after the vehicle has been purchased.
Chargebee secures further money
Chargebee, a specialist in recurring payments and subscription management, has secured $55 million in funding. In total, it now has
105 million US dollar investment. The U.S. company wants to expand its product range and thus enable its more than 2,500 customers worldwide to try out and implement additional revenue models. Currently, Chargebee companies in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia have sales of over $3 billion and serve consumers in over 160 countries.
Comparison portal Check24 starts its own bank
The comparison portal Check24 starts with C24 its own Neobank, which currently offers five different account models. In addition to the account and debit card, all accounts are available for immediate disposition. A few features are probably still missing at the moment, but these will be added over time. The payment functions of Google Pay and Apple Pay are connected right from the start, but instant payments are still available.
- https://www.it-finanzmagazin.de/start-der-c24-bank-wie-eine-bank-den-neobanken-den-kampf-ansagt-112675/
- And the PaB team has commented on the start: https://paymentandbanking.com/alter-wein-in-neuen-schlaeuchen-wohin-steuert-check24-mit-c24/
Klarna is cooperating with Macy’s
US dealer Macy’s and Klarna have announced a five-year cooperation agreement. The US retailer will offer Klarna’s installment purchase in its online shop. How large the investment will be is not yet known. The decisive factor is more likely to be the agreed partnership: Klarna’s “buy now, pay later” technology will be implemented in Macy’s online shop as part of a five-year contract.
Oops, where are my customers?
Paydirekt loses two thirds of its affiliated shops at a stroke. Reason : 7.000 of these “shops” are mostly small online traders who offer their products via the online marketplace Rakuten. But Rakuten.de is now switched off and the merchants fall out of the statistics.
https://finanz-szene.de/payments/bezahldienst-paydirekt-verliert-auf-einen-schlag-tausende-haendler/
Revolut with new features
The British neo-bank Revolut launches the new function “Planned Payments” in its finance app. With its help, users can quickly overview subscriptions, direct debit orders and recurring payments from their smartphones and keep them under control. The aim is to help customers track down and cancel unused gym memberships, unnecessary insurance policies and smartphone apps that are becoming a cost trap. Revolut now also takes care of junior savers: With “Junior Goals”, parents can set a goal together with their children for what they want to save for – e.g. on trading cards, magazines or a new bicycle. Children can also create goals for themselves and store them with a value.
(both press releases by e-mail)
Naga launches Naga Pay
Hamburg-based FinTech Naga, which offers a social trading and investment platform, plans to launch the app “Naga Pay” on November 15, which was announced some time ago: Users will be able to open a free IBAN account via the app and will also receive a credit card. Users will also be able to invest their money directly in shares, ETFs and the like. There will be an “Invest” button in the app and trading will be completely free of charge.
Affirm plans IPO
The “later pay” company Affirm from San Francisco wants to go public. There are still few details about the IPO, as Affirm has initially confidentially submitted initial documents to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). However, experts expect that Affirm should aim for a valuation of at least 10 billion dollars. Klarna also wants to go public in one to two years, the company Afterpay is already listed. Klarna and Afterpay are considered the biggest competitors in the domestic market.
French Joko secures 10 million euros
FinTech Joko from Paris, founded two years ago, is collecting 10 million euros from investors and intends to use it to finance its expansion into other European countries. Joko is offering an app with a cashback function, through which Joko users can get a part of their expenses reimbursed. To be rewarded, users must connect their bank card to the app. Afterwards, purchases paid for with it from partners are automatically recognised and the users receive a cashback. Joko has already attracted more than 1,000 retailers as partners. Joko users have already collected over 1 million euros in cashback from well-known brands.
Trality from Vienna gets money
The Viennese startup Trality by Moritz Putzhammer and Christopher Helf focuses on trading crypto-currencies like Bitcoin – and follows a special approach: On the platform, users should be able to follow trading bots in terms of the social trading principle and copy their investments. This idea has now also convinced investors: Trality will receive a total of 1.5 million euros for its further growth. The money comes on the one hand from Viennese angel investors from the trading sector, the German block chain accelerator Blockrocket and the German Fintech VC tokentus. On the other hand, the financial injection comes from a COVID start-up aid fund and from the Austrian Research Promotion Agency.
Trade Republic grows enormously
The Neobroker Trade Republic, one of the Candidates for the Payment and Banking Award “FinTech of the Yearis currently one of the fastest growing FinTechs from Germany. With the help of the annual report, the financial scene has calculated that Trade Republic earns just under 3 euros per purchase/sale. Amazing: Trade Republic charges only 1 Euro for external costs per trade, but no own fees. Ultimately, Trade Republic earns its money with refunds from exchanges and ETF providers. While this commission income was still at EUR 728,000 in the first business year, it is expected to rise to EUR 9 million this year – and this forecast comes from a time before the trading boom since Corona.
Indian FinTech Razorpay becomes Unicorn
Razorpay, the leading online payment processing platform in India, is raising $100 million from Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIQ, Sequoia India and some existing investors. For the first time, the total valuation exceeds 1 billion dollars, which puts Razorpay in the “Unicorn” status. Including the previous financing rounds, Razorpay has so far received 206.5 million dollars. Razorpay plans to process a payment volume of 25 billion dollars this year. In addition to this core business launched in 2014, the neo-bank RazorpayX and the credit specialist Razorpay Capital were added in 2018.
Further capital for Donationk
Venture capitalist Eight Road, backed by global asset manager Fidelity, has joined the French fundraising fund and, together with other VCs, is investing a total of $18 million in the company, which has developed software to help small and medium-sized companies manage their spending. The offer also includes corresponding approval processes for supervisors and corporate credit cards. Spendesk does a third of its business in Germany, including the bus providers Flixbus and HR-Startup Personio.
Finom starts in Germany
Behind the new Fintech Finom the founders of the Russian Module Bank. Finom is registered in the Netherlands and offers a B2B financial platform that combines accounting, financial management and banking functions. The aim is to eliminate the need for separate accounting software in addition to the corporate account. Target groups are early stage start-ups, SMEs and freelancers. German customers can also obtain debit cards from Visa. Partner is the Solarisbank.
Stripe takes over Paystack
Stripe and Paystack have already been working together since 2018, now the takeover is taking place. Paystack enables organisations of all sizes to accept payments from around the world. More than 60,000 companies in Nigeria and Ghana already use the company, which is based in Lagos, Nigeria. Stripe led the Series A financing round at the time, and has continued to support Paystack as it has expanded into new markets.
(Press release by e-mail)
Getsurance runs out of money
Getsurance is insolvent and has filed for insolvency proceedings. Neither the insolvency administrator nor founder Johannes Becher, in response to Gründerszene inquiries, wanted to say anything about the exact reasons for the impending insolvency. Nor did he want to say whether it had anything to do with the disagreements between Getsurance and one of its financial backers, the Swiss state bank Postfinance.
https://www.cash-online.de/versicherungen/2020/getsurance-muss-insolvenz-anmelden/520878
N26 introduces penalty interest
N26 has confirmed media reports according to which Neobank will charge penalty interest of 0.5% p.a. on balances over EUR 50,000 from November. However, the “safekeeping money” will only apply to new customers. Premium accounts (“Metal”) are also likely to be excluded from the introduction of the fee.
New Vantikcard plans cashback
The Berlin retirement provision FinTech Vantik is planning a free debit card with the Vantikcard, which can be used for every payment – worldwide offline and online – to provide for old age. 1 % cashback will automatically flow into the old-age provision with every booking, in ETFs. The card can be linked to an existing bank account, a new one is not required.
Likelihood of confusion: Vanta must give itself a new name
Because the logo and name are too similar to the brand appearance of competitor Vantik, Berlin-based Fintech Vanta has to change its corporate identity. Vanta has launched a credit card for companies, while Vantik offers a retirement app with a bank card.
PayPal is now also doing on crypto and plans further takeovers
The online payment service PayPal wants to enable its users in the USA to buy, sell and store these and other crypto currencies from the beginning of 2021. It should also be possible from next year to pay online merchants via PayPal with crypto currencies. There are also rumors that PayPal wants to take over the startup Bitgo. Bitgo is a kind of administration software for Bitcoins. The Fintech last received a cash injection of 58 million dollars in 2018 from investors Goldman Sachs, Galaxy Digital Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, Redpoint Ventures, DRW, Digital Currency Group and Founders Fund.
- https://t3n.de/news/paypal-krypto-bitgo-1330516/
- https://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/bitcoins-auf-paypal-soll-bald-mit-kryptowaehrung-bezahlt-werden-koennen-a-feeaa10b-6d1a-40ad-9a83-5074eb7791cf
PayPal enables instant transfer to Mastercard
After the launch in Singapore and the USA, Instant Transfer from PayPal and Mastercard is now also available in Germany, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Italy, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Spain. PayPal users can use the function to transfer money in real time from their PayPal account to their Mastercard cards.
Insha works with Solarisbank and receives investment
The German-Turkish Fintech Insha cooperates with the Solarisbank and is now supported by a cash injection of 2.5 million euros from the payment provider Param. Fintech is characterised by banking based on Islamic principles: it does not charge interest on loans and, according to its own statements, does not invest in morally questionable companies. In the future, these services are also intended to address users regardless of their religion.
Ant sets price for IPO, but says nothing
Alipay operator Ant has now set the price for the 3.4 billion shares, but the company is still keeping a secret for the time being. Founder Jack Ma, who also founded the online retailer Alibaba, piles high: “This is the first time that the prices for such a large listing – the largest in the history of mankind – have been set outside New York City. We didn’t dare think about it five years ago, or even three years ago. But a miracle just happened.”
Nets buys CCV Switzerland
The Danish company Nets acquires the payment terminal provider CCV Switzerland. The purchase price has not been disclosed. The transaction is expected to be completed in the coming weeks. CCV Schweiz SA employs 90 people. Nets had also already struck a blow in Germany with the acquisition of Concardis.
Vivid Money launches Shared Pocket
The Vivid Money financial platform, previously known for banking, investing and saving, now offers its users extended functions. A cashback system is being added, as well as new payment functions, Shared Pocket with its own IBAN. This allows users to organise their finances together. Vivid Money has also been represented in Germany since June.
Joonko’s lights go out
Joonko will end his business operations on 30 October. With the occurrence of the unforeseeable COVID 19 pandemic in the spring, there was a drastic decline in the motor vehicle insurance business, the first product Joonko had launched last autumn. Another reason for Joonko’s early exit was that the Series A financing round with existing and new investors that had been initiated in spring could not be completed because one of the lead investors cancelled at short notice.
(Press release by e-mail)
Personalia:
Philipp Pohlmann leaves Qonto
FinTech Qonto from France, which specialises in business accounts, loses its German boss again after only a few months: Philipp A. Pohlmann would rather see his “long-standing wish to start his own business become reality”, and Qonto regrets Pohlmann’s decision and is now facing a management gap. Until a successor is appointed, Qonto’s CEO & Co-Founder Alexandre Prot is to take over the legal and permanent representation of Qonto in Germany as Interim Country Manager.
(via e-mail)
German boss for Coinbase
Coinbase has found a German boss. With a small team, the former manager of the German Stock Exchange, Sascha Rangoonwala, is to expand the business in this country and apply for a Bafin license.
Deutsche Kreditbank expands management of retail banking
In addition to the current divisional managers Mark Hauel and Sascha Dewald, Maren Heiß will join the team as divisional manager, reporting directly to Tilo Hacke, DKB’s Board Member for Private Clients. Maren Heiß’s last position was as Associate Partner at a management consultancy specialising in banks and asset managers. Her CV includes almost eight years at Commerzbank and a shorter stint at UBS.
Many new faces in the new advisory board of Fincite
Fincite, a company specialising in financial software for banks, is setting up an advisory board to support Fincite in its future business orientation. Katja Lammert, Dietrich Voigtländer, Franz Josef Nick and Peter Schwicht are experienced top managers who have previously held leading positions in established financial institutions: Lammert as COO & General Counsel of Bayern-Invest, Voigtländer as COO of DZ Bank and then CEO of WestLB, Nick as CEO of Targobank and now as Managing Director of C24 Bank and Schwicht as CEO of JP Morgan Asset Management EMEA.
Bux gets a German boss
Nils-Hendrik Höcker becomes the new German head of the Dutch trading app Bux. A team is to be built around the new manager, and a Berlin office is also being planned.
