Fintech start-ups are busy with the financial world in the spring of 2019. Worldwide, a large number of new companies with technologically sophisticated financial innovations are pushing for the markets. This applies to both financial instruments and services.
Startups like Acorns Grow manage to raise huge sums of investment. Germany is also playing a pioneering role in the fintech sector.
Acorns Grow with $ 700 million investment round
An example of a successful fintech startup is Acorns Grow Inc. The US-based company is developing an application for micro-investing. Acorn’s robo-advisor solution takes the user’s unused cash and uses it to invest in computer-controlled investment accounts. At the end of 2018, Acorn’s Grow caused a stir when the company announced its ambitious goal of earning $ 700 million in a single round of investment – and most of all succeeding in doing so.
The Acorns app jumps to the increasingly popular trend of micro-investing: users’ money is automatically invested in EFTs (exchange-traded funds), and the investor can choose the level of risk. EFT trading on relevant exchanges is currently among the most popular investment methods among investors. More and more retailers in the network are offering EFTs. For the fintech industry, the micro-investment method results in a large number of technical solutions and innovations.
Berlin and Hamburg as German centers for fintech startups
The fintech industry is also booming in Germany: metropolitan areas for start-ups from the fintech sector are Berlin and Hamburg. Here, a closely linked scene has formed. One of the most successful German fintech startups is Finleap. With 102 million euros in funding, the company founded by the HitFox Group and Ramin Niroumand in 2014 is one of the stars in the scene and ensures that innovations in the sector reach the market: Finleap has already successfully launched 16 new companies. In interviews, founder Niroumand regularly emphasizes the importance of investor confidence in startups and how difficult it is for fintech companies to gain a foothold in the market and disrupt the financial world.
Other German fintech companies with a high amount of funding are:
- Simplesurance (€ 64.3 million)
- Raisin (€ 79.6 million)
- Perfect Commerce (€ 85.6 million)
Due to the large number of successful fintech startups, experts expect that the financial industry will look fundamentally different in about ten years from today.
Specially adapted solutions for financial needs
Fintech companies are increasingly focusing on offering tailor-made solutions for the financial needs of different clients and banks. Startups such as Solarisbank concentrate on this segment. Solarisbank describes itself as a tech company with a banking license, which has no direct relation to the end customer according to own data however. The digitization of banking processes is a top priority for the young company. Overall, the fintech sector focuses strongly on the banking as a service concept, because the time of private customer service and personal visits to a bank on the ground are a thing of the past: the number of bank branches in Germany between 2007 and 2016 of 42,100 reduced to 33,914. The number of banks has also fallen. Users expect immediate transactions and investment opportunities over the Internet and via app. The fintech sector has the opportunity to fill the gap created in personal consultation.
Conclusion
Start-ups in the fintech industry have attracted a lot of investment last year. Concepts such as EFT trading, banking-as-a-service and innovative technological solutions for financial issues are making the sector grow. But not only American companies, also German fintech startups are currently successful.
Also published on Medium.