German fintech Deposit Solutions has acquired Savedo; Savedo is also a startup in the fintech space and the two firms offer similar services; Deposit Solutions provides a deposit marketplace for savers allowing them to move funds among 15 European banks in order to achieve the highest rate of return; Savedo will help Deposit Solutions expand its offering by adding 13 new banking partners and integrating 18,000 new customers. Source
CB Insights reports on two of Europe's top markets for fintech investment, the UK and Germany; the UK is reporting significant early-stage investment in personal banking platforms and insurtech with insurtech also a top investment in Germany; year-to-date, European fintech companies have raised approximately $2.6 billion with early stage fintech financing in the UK at $202 million and Germany reporting financing of $83 million. Source
Target Global, based in Berlin has closed a new fund; the fund will focus on Seed and Series A rounds and expects to fund 20 companies primarily in Germany and Israel; Shmuel Chafets, General Partner at Target Global stated, “Target Global’s Early Stage Fund will serve as a bridge connecting Tel Aviv and Berlin. Germany in general and Berlin more specifically have been able to produce great companies, but if Berlin truly hopes to become a global tech hub it must open itself up to real innovations and groundbreaking technologies. On the other hand, If Israel wants to continue to be the “start up nation” , it has to create sustainable, long-term companies and efficient business processes. We already see some early signs of collaboration taking place, but we believe we can help expand it to other industries.” Source
Auxmoney is an online lending platform based in Germany; the platform grew origination volumes by 75% in the year to €316 million across 40,000 loans; the company now has lent around €700 million across 100,000 loans to date; last year auxmoney announced a partnership with digital bank N26 to expand their borrower base; auxmoney was profitable for the first time in the second half of 2017 which sets them apart from many platforms. Source
Penta is a German based fintech company that is looking to improve business banking with their Compass platform; Penta is streamlining the process to allow founders the ability to open up an account in less than 15 minutes; further features will be added in the coming months to assist founders with other registration and legal issues related to starting a small business. Source
German-based savings marketplace Raisin has received over EUR4 billion (USD $4.7 bn) in investments on its platform in less than four years; founded in 2013 it was the first investment marketplace of its kind in Europe and now has two times the total investment assets of its closest competitor; partnering with 34 banks across 17 European countries it helps customers find the highest retail deposit market rates. Source
PayPal founder Peter Thiel, and his fund Valar Ventures, led a $10 million seed round in German insurtech startup Coya; other investors in the round include e.ventures and La Famiglia; Dr. Peter Hagen, one of the founders of Coya, tells Business Insider, "This investment will allow Coya to further extend our team and build up an exceptional product for our customers."; the company is planning to build a digital insurance provider and is in the process of trying to get full authorization from German regulators; founders of Coya include two former Kreditech employees and ex-CEO of Vienna Insurance Group. Source
P2P-Banking reports that the bank ING Diba has acquired the marketplace lender Lendico; the company had challenges in Germany where it is based and also had shifted from consumer to SME Lending. Source
The company reported an increase in profits and sales last year which were helped by growth in the Nordics and Germany; Klarna processed €18bn in transactions last year which was an increase of 42%; the company partnered with Asos, Topshop and JD Sports in the UK to drive further growth; in the US they have partnered with Microsoft. Source
This November we will host our fifth installment of LendIt Fintech Europe in London. Although London is most often referenced...