The new year is still young and many weeks full of surprises lie ahead. And while we’re not the Oracle of Delphi, there are a number of companies and fintechs that we’ll be taking a special look at (among many other companies, of course) in the coming months. The reasons for this are manifold, as is the list of selected companies.
In addition to newly invested companies, the list also includes companies that have already completed several funding rounds. In addition to old hands and unicorns, the list includes newcomers to the market, companies with and without German CEOs, as well as fintechs that want to become successful in new terrain in addition to their tried-and-tested business models. Our look into the crystal ball:
Vanguard/Fidelity
The US asset manager Vanguard plans to attack the robo-advisor market in Germany, which is already prominently occupied with companies such as Scalable Capital, Quirion (which successfully completed a financing round of €13 million a few days ago), Ginmon or Growney.
In the U.S., Vanguard is already the largest robo-advisor, managing about $150 billion in funds. The German project is called Fidelity and is scheduled to launch in 2021 after a long period of secrecy. The company has sought prominent supporters for the project: former Solarisbank manager Andreas Bittner and Jesper Wahrendorf, who set up Ratepay at the time. The triumvirate has been completed since the beginning of this year by ex-Scalable manager Thomas Wolff. It is still too early to talk about Fidelity, but it will definitely remain exciting, Wahrendorf announced when asked.
Mambu
We don’t have many unicorns in Germany, but Berlin-based Mambu has added one. Spotify investor TCV is putting a total of €110 million into Mambu together with Tiger Global and Arena Holdings as well as legacy investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Runa Capital and Acton Capital – bringing the company’s valuation to over €1.7 billion.
Mambu develops cloud-compatible software that enables banks to handle their processes electronically and develop new financial products. In addition to the smartphone bank N26, ABN Amro and Santander also rely on the software of the Berlin-based start-up founded in 2011. CEO Danilkis plans to use the money not only to expand his team (from 30 employees in 2019 to 1000 in 2021), but also to fund acquisitions. The investment will allow it to “look at complementary technologies and businesses from an M&A perspective,” according to a statement from the company. What other names will we be writing about as the year progresses? We’ll stay on it.
Banxware
When Ratepay founder Miriam Wohlfarth (also on the Payment & Banking founding team) launches a new project, many take a particularly close look. After her gradual withdrawal from Ratepay, together with Fabian Heiß, Aurel Stenzel and Jens Röhrborn, she launched Banxware, a company that aims to provide credit to platform merchants as a white-label solution. The start at the beginning of 2020 was initially bumpy:
Wirecard should initially act as the bank in the background. For well-known reasons, nothing came of it. “Fortunately,” Wohlfarth said afterward, when a replacement was found late last year. The Vereinigte Volksbank und Raiffeisenbank, an association of regional banks from Franconia and Southern Hesse, now acts as a partner in the background. In future, it will provide €100 million for the fintech to lend via its platform. We are certain that it will probably not stop there.
Qonto
It was only last year that Qonto was launched in Germany with some media attention. This was partly because Qonto, as a French company, was both successful in its home country and already reasonably well known beyond its borders. But it was also due to the fact that Philipp Pohlmann, the head of Germany at the time, quickly became a prominent figure on the scene. All signs pointed to growth in this country.
Then the bang: Pohlmann left the company at his own request to devote himself to his own projects. Since then, things have been quiet for the French. However, the company recently announced that it had found a new head of Germany in Torsten Rabe. He comes from the scooter startup Bird and now wants to push the business here in Germany. Qonto must now step on the gas in order not to lose touch with German competitors.
WeFox
To make do rather than to spill the beans: as early as December last year, WeFox founder Julian Teicke was expecting sales of 100 million euros. This is set to become a whopping 300 million in 2021, he announced to Reuters agency. According to information from Finanz-Szene and Finance Forward, Wefox raised at least €100 million from investors in September.
Only last year, the company received almost 100 million euros from its backers. This round was not communicated. Does this hint at preparation for more rounds? It remains exciting: Will Teicke succeed in following up his announcement with action?
To be continued…
In Part 2 of our list tomorrow, we look at five more payments companies and fintechs we’re sure to hear from in 2021.