Early stage European FinTech deals include TerminusDB, DIEM, Concordium etc. We feature Q&As with Stefan Klauser of Aisot and Max Lautenschläger of Iconic Holding.
If you are an early stage startup in Europe building the next big thing in FinTech, reach out to Frank Schwab or Samarth Shekhar.
7 Questions with Max Lautenschläger of Iconic Holding
1. Please tell us a bit about yourself, both at work and leisure.
Born and raised in Heidelberg I started my professional career in consulting and after a few years, I transitioned more towards finance. In particular, the alternative investment space has always been very attractive to me. This is why I decided to do the MBA program at the Frankfurt School of Finance and in parallel, I did the CAIA designation. After a few years in Private Equity, Venture Capital and FinTech Company Building, I decided to found my own business Iconic, of which I’m still one of the main shareholders and managing partners.
I’ve never been this 5-hour-startup guy, who begins his business on the side while still working full-time on something else. As soon as Pat (Co-Founder, Managing Partner) and I had the idea for Iconic we went “all-in”, quit our jobs, moved to Berlin and bootstrapped our startup. And so far, it seems as if it has been the right approach. If you love something and are convinced of its potential, just do it! The worst result could be failing and even this will give you more joy, experience, and learnings than any corporate job could.
When it comes to leisure time, I love sports, spending time with good friends and traveling. Since I think relationships are one of the most important things in life, I try to see all of my friends on a weekly basis. Independently from how busy I am, I try to fit sports into my schedule 5 times a week since this refreshes not only my body but also my mind.
7-questions-with-max-lautenschlager-of-iconic-holding
7 Questions with Stefan Klauser of Aisot
1. Please tell us a bit about yourself, both at work and leisure.
Hi, I am Stefan, Co-Founder & CEO at aisot. We are a leading provider of (predictive) analytics for the financial industry. I always had a passion for both entrepreneurial work and predictive tools. The Oracle of Delphi was by far the coolest thing in Latin class. And my first business I „founded” as a kid, when selling cherries from our garden on our village’s streets. In my free time, I like to be in nature or sing. I have played in rock bands since I was a teenager.
http://www.fintechforum.de/7-questions-with-stefan-klauser-of-asiot/
Dublin-based data collaboration tool TerminusDB raises €3.6 million in seed round
Dublin-based open-source data collaboration tool, TerminusDB has raised €3.6 million in seed round.
Led by Sander Vonk of Volta Ventures, the round also saw participation from US firm Acequia Capital. TerminusDB is reporting that their existing investor, Atlantic Bridge Ventures, also followed on.
The new funding is expected to double the firms headcount to 22, as well as grow the user base and further develop new offerings.
A spinout of Trinity College Dublin, TerminusDB has had approximately 150,000 downloads of their software since going open-source at the beginning of 2020.
DIEM raises £4M: Fintech fuels circular economy with fast payments for unwanted items
London-based DIEM is a circular economy-oriented fintech startup that lets customers sell their unwanted items to the firm and receive instant payments. The company has now bagged $5.5 million (nearly £4 million) seed funding in an oversubscribed round.
The investment round was led by Fasanara Capital, a UK based finance focused specialist fund, and supported by Chris Adelsbach, founder of Outrun Ventures and a notable investor in emergent winning fintechs. Additional investors included Andrea Molteni (early investor in Farfetch.com luxury marketplace), Ben Demiri (co-chairman at fashion tech PlatformE) and Nicholas Kirkwood (founder of the eponymous fashion brand).
https://www.uktech.news/news/london-circular-economy-fintech-diem-funding-20210315
Concordium Raises $15M in Private Sale
Concordium, a Zug, Switzerland-based privacy-centric blockchain, secured $15M in additional funding via a a private sale of tokens.
The company intends to use the capital to fund further development.
Led by CEO Lone Fonss Schroder, Concordium is a next-generation, broad-focused, decentralized blockchain introducing built-in ID at the protocol level.
https://www.finsmes.com/2021/03/concordium-raises-15m-in-private-sale.html
Swedish digital bank Northmill raises €24.7M as it looks to establish itself in ten European markets by 2023
With the Covid-19 pandemic’s restrictions now relaxing across the globe, everyone is adapting themselves to the new normal. Almost all the sectors are still going through a rough patch. However, for the fintech sector, things seem to be progressing and getting an all-new dimension during this crisis.
In a recent development, a Stockholm-based fintech Northmill Bank has raised SEK 250M (approx €24.7M) through its parent company Northmill Group.
https://siliconcanals.com/crowdfunding/northmill-raises-24-7m/
Bitpanda bekommt 142 Millionen Euro und wird Österreichs erstes Einhorn
Das Wiener Fintech Bitpanda wird jetzt mit mehr als einer Milliarde US-Dollar bewertet. Die einstige Krypto-Plattform soll sich zum vollwertigen Neobroker entwickeln.
Österreich hat sein erstes Unicorn: Der Neobroker Bitpanda steigt mit seiner neuen Finanzierungsrunde in den Club der Startups auf, die mit mehr als einer Milliarde US-Dollar bewertet werden. 170 Millionen Dollar (142,5 Millionen Euro) sammelte die Wiener Firma in einer Series-B-Runde ein. Damit steigt die Bewertung auf insgesamt 1,2 Milliarden Dollar (1,01 Milliarden Euro), wie das US-Magazin Techcrunch berichtet.
https://www.businessinsider.de/gruenderszene/fintech/bitpanda-unicorn-status-142-milllionen-r/
UK Insurtech Unicorn: Zego Raises $150 Million at $1.1 Billion Valuation
Insurtech Zego says it has raised $150 million at a $1.1 billion valuation thus emerging as the UK’s first Insurtech unicorn.
Zego is an automobile insurance provider for businesses, from entire fleets of vehicles to self-employed drivers and riders. Zego believes that the problem with traditional insurance is its too expensive and time-consuming, and it no longer suits businesses who use vehicles to earn money. To date, Zego has raised $200 million.
SumUp raises $895M in debt to double down on its B2C payments business
SumUp, a London-based startup that helps businesses power revenues through card payments — by way of physical readers, online payments, invoices and other services — is itself powering up in a big way.
Today it announced financing totalling €750 million (around $895 million at today’s rates), money that it will be using to continue expanding its business — specifically, for acquisitions; to launch in new markets in Europe, Latin America and Asia; and to build out the suite of services that it provides to businesses.
The company is already active in 33 countries (most recently Chile, Colombia and Romania) and has some 3 million businesses as customers.
Arachas buys fintech to target consumer insurance market
Purchase of Orange Bear part of plan to target the online consumer market
Arachas, an Irish insurance broker that was bought last year by larger UK peer Ardonagh Group, has acquired a Kilkenny-based fintech company as it prepares plans to actively target the consumer market here.
The purchase price of Orange Bear, which has a developed digital insurance platform that Arachas sees as key to making inroads in the online consumer market for motor and household coverage, has not been disclosed.
Arachas, whose name is Irish for insurance, has focused mainly on commercial lines since it was established 15 years ago through the merger of Cork-based broker Tyrrell Coakley with two Dublin-based peers, Hodgins Percival and Slattery Jermyn.
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/financial-services/arachas-buys-fintech-to-target-consumer-insurance-market-1.4511174
Scaling Enterprise FinTech | The Handbook
Scaling Enterprise FinTech brings together insights on the journey to scale – sales, (US) go-to-market, raising venture financing etc. – from the founders, investors and financial institutions behind Europe’s leading B2B FinTech scale-ups. Email contact (at) fintechforum.de if you would like to learn more or contribute to our upcoming Handbook (out in Mar. 2021), featuring proprietary research of ca. 65 scale-ups and Q&As with founders and investors.
http://www.fintechforum.de/sef/
Meet us at:
Finovate Europe, 23-25 Mar. 2021
https://informaconnect.com/finovateeurope/
InsurTech Insights, 1-2 Sep. 2021, London
https://www.insurtechinsights.com/europe/
Meet Our Partners:
Heussen https://www.heussen-law.de
Nagarro https://www.nagarro.com/en
Opportunity Network https://www.opportunitynetwork.com/fintech-forum
Money2020 Europe https://europe.money2020.com
InsurTech Insights https://insurtechinsights.com
Finovate Europe https://informaconnect.com/finovateeurope/
FN FinTech 40 https://www.fnlondon.com