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Newsletter: 15 Oct 2018

Startups at 10th FinTech Forum address bigger, more complicated opportunity areas

With just over a month to go, we have been talking to some of the 15 startups selected to present at our 5th anniversary event: http://www.fintechforum.de/category/7-questions/

Startups are taking on areas ranging from alternative investment fund-raising, index and data for cryptocurrencies, “commodity” trading of cloud resources, data management and onboarding for institutionals, and hedging B2B insurance risks- a far cry from the simple payment- or lending- oriented offerings that dominated our first event. Check out the line-up or register for the few remaining seats here: https://fintechforum10.eventbrite.com

 

Klarna raises $20M from H&M, will build financing and payment services for the fashion retailer

As more traditional brick-and-mortar retailers look to capitalise on the growth of e-commerce and mobile to compete against the likes of Amazon, fintech startups are reaping the rewards. In the latest development, Klarna, the payments startup out of Sweden that helps online shoppers arrange for financing at the point of sale, has picked up $20 million from H&M, the fashion retailer with 4,800 stores in 70 markets. The investment kicks off a partnership between the two to build an “omni-channel” payments service spanning H&M’s physical and online storefronts.

https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/08/payments-startup-klarna-raises-20m-from-hm-its-second-backer-from-the-fashion-world

 

Artificial Solutions Raises $15.8M in Funding

Artificial Solutions, a Stockholm, Sweden-based unified natural language development and analytics platform, raised $15.8m in funding.

The backers were not disclosed.

http://www.finsmes.com/2018/10/artificial-solutions-raises-15-8m-in-funding.html

 

7 Questions with Karl-Michael Molzer, CCEX

1. Please tell us a bit about yourself, both at work and leisure.

I am the Co-Founder & CFO at CCEX Cloud Commodities Exchange GmbH headquartered in Frankfurt am Main / Germany. CCEX is a truly global project with partners in US, Asia and Europe and the goal to establish a new Asset Class, namely Cloud Commodities. In other words, we are going to commoditize a portion (up to 10%) out of the Cloud Market (USD 170bn, growth rate: c. 19% p.a.)

http://www.fintechforum.de/7-questions-with-karl-michael-molzer-ccex/

 

Berlin-based fintech startup Kontist secures 7-digit investment from Haufe Group

The Berlin-based fintech startup Kontist just secured a big investment by Haufe Group – a German market leader in enterprise management and accounting for SMEs and freelancers. The Series A investment of Haufe Group comes on top of €5 million seed financing that Kontist had previously secured from founders, a Danish company builder, and the Danish growth fund VœkstFonden.

http://www.eu-startups.com/2018/10/berlin-based-fintech-startup-kontist-secures-7-digit-investment-from-haufe-group/

 

PayPal integration with Google Pay is rolling out in Germany

As reported by Caschys Blog , some users are seeing a new option to add PayPal to their Google Pay accounts. It’s seemingly a slow rollout, as many aren’t seeing it yet, but it’s coming — confirmed by a page on the German Google Pay site, a Google support page, and a PayPal Help Center post. Unfortunately, it only works if you link your bank account to PayPal — you can’t just use a debit/credit card.

https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/10/10/paypal-integration-google-pay-rolling-germany/

 

You can now withdraw cash from 10 Euro onwards at Rewe

Wer im Supermarkt kein Bargeld zur Hand hat, kann nicht nur mit Karte bezahlen, sondern auch direkt an der Kasse Geld abheben. Das ging bei Rewe bisher aber nur, wenn man für mindestens 20 Euro eingekauft hatte. Nun hat der Einzelhändler diesen Mindeseinkaufswert halbiert: Von diesem Montag (8.10.) an können Kunden schon ab einem Mindesteinkaufswert von 10 Euro kostenlos mit der Girokarte Bargeld abheben. Unverändert lassen sich beliebige Summen bis zu 200 Euro ziehen, wobei grundsätzlich das bekannte PIN-Verfahren verwendet wird.

http://www.faz.net/aktuell/finanzen/meine-finanzen/geld-ausgeben/bei-rewe-kann-man-jetzt-ab-10-euro-mindesteinkaufswert-geld-abheben-15828792.html

 

Digital professional liability insurance for freelancers: Holvi partners with exali.de

Holvi, der europaweit erste digitale Banking-Service für Selbstständige, integriert ab sofort die Berufshaftpflichtkonzepte von exali.de. Freiberufler, Selbstständige und Start-ups erhalten so Zugriff zu einem umfassenden Versicherungsschutz für ihr Business, der neben den Grundbausteinen Vermögensschaden-, Betriebs- und Berufshaftpflicht um viele individuelle Zusatzbausteine erweitert werden kann.

https://www.presseportal.de/pm/131295/4083654

 

This startup can help German student loans

Als David Meyer mehr als 100 Studenten befragte, gaben viele an, auf die Förderung zu verzichten, weil der Weg zum Bafög extrem umständlich ist. „Eine Beantragung kann schon einmal sechs Stunden dauern“, sagt Meyer. In der Regel dauert es mehrere Tage bis die Belege zusammen sind. Mit seinem Startup DeineStudienfinanzierung will er diesen Prozess vereinfachen und digitalisieren, innerhalb von etwa einer halben Stunde soll es möglich sein, seinen Bafög-Antrag fertigzustellen.

https://www.gruenderszene.de/fintech/deinestudienfinanzierung-bafoeg-plattform

 

Meet our partners:

www.investhk.gov.hk/

www.advinda.com

www.be-tse.de/en/

www.boersen-zeitung.de/

www.innovationhub.innogy.com

www.miles-and-more.com

http://www.dvfa.de/