CAPTION: The founder of the direct bank N26, Valentin Stalf from Vienna, stands in the office of his bank. (picture alliance/Wolfgang Kumm/dpa/archive)
German financial start-ups last year generated more money from investors than ever before, for the first time breaking the one-billion-euro mark.
Thanks to strong year-end results, financial start-ups in 2018 attracted 1.1 billion euros (1.26 billion dollars) for such new business areas as online asset management, interest rate operations and digital payment services, according to figures in a report by the Barko Consulting company that dpa gained a copy of. The sum was 55 per cent up on 2017, underscoring how "Fintechs" with their business model in recent years have established themselves alongside classic banks. With their innovative energy the Fintechs are at times competitors with the banks, at other times partners, Barko Consulting said.
Once again, it was a just a handful of firms that brought in the lion's share of investment money. The Berlin online bank N26 for example took in 130 million euros from investors, among them the Allianz insurance concern and the technology concern Tencent in China. Solarisbank attracted 56 million euros from investors such as the publishing concern Bertelsmann and credit card company Visa, while the holiday home portal Hometogo found 75 million euros' worth of backing from several funds. The digital insurance platform Element meanwhile attracted 23 million euros in investment money.
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