We have a special feature for you today as we hear from FinLeap – a Berlin-based company builder that specialises in the financial services industry.
FinLeap was founded at the end of 2014 to address a deep structural change, triggered by digitalisation, occurring in the financial industry at the moment. With customers shifting towards easy and accessible mobile-friendly services, the financial sector is changing and, thus, Fintech has grown into an important development in the market. It adds value for customers, empowers them, disrupts the business of established banks, and revives an industry that has been in a standstill for years. The goal for Fintechs is to establish worthy cooperation with banks that transform financial services into dynamic, innovative, and easy-to-access industry. Therefore, we have created a setup that allows for innovative and digital financial services to be developed quickly and where entrepreneurs, financial- and tech-experts come together to reshape finance.
FinLeap comes in with the objective to reshape financial services, because we believe that consumer empowerment is key to bringing the financial industry back to the point where it belongs: to be a facilitator and supporter of the economy and ultimately, of human needs. Thus, we support startups in establishing sustainable, impactful, customer-centric and technology-driven businesses. We combine entrepreneurial execution with industry expertise and technological capabilities to launch several ventures every year. By providing entrepreneurs with 0.5 to 5 million Euros in seed funding, access to a strong network of investors and top talent, an integrated development platform, and best practice processes, we ensure our ventures a smooth launch filled with beneficial expertise. At FinLeap, we are able to increase the success rate of our Fintech startups. By repeatedly founding Fintech companies, we mitigate the costs and risks that a single company would face. We let our co-founders focus on executing business ideas instead of repetitive exercises such as accounting or recruiting. Additionally, we give them access to regulatory specialists and financial experts to ensure compliance on the highest level and the quality of their process. As for our location, Berlin brings in an unique ecosystem of people. From highly-educated tech experts and experienced founders to venture capital firms, the city can provide for any position. In addition, the international community in Berlin makes us fortunate to have a diverse environment in the office.
As a company, we have faced numerous challenges while trying to grow and expand our reach. Of course, one of the main struggles was to find the highly qualified applicants amongst the 1000 applications we receive every month. At the moment, we have more than 250 employees already that included finance, insurance, and tech talents.
The FinLeap Managament Team: Ramin Niroumand, Hendrik Krawinkel, Dr. Carolin Gabor, Eckhardt Weber and Dr. Matthias Lange.
An overview of our Ventures
In less than two years, we have launched nine ventures. The ideas behind each of them are evaluated by a team of experts that makes detailed market assessments including level of digitalisation and competition. After the launch, we work closely with the management team of each company and provide the support they need.
In December 2014, our first venture Savedo got its start as an European online marketplace for retail investment products. As such, it offers investors an opportunity to deposit savings across the European Union safely at attractive interest rates. BillFront was the second venture introduced to the market in February 2015. It provides an online platform that offers a working capital solution to app developers, app publishers, and ad networks with a faster access to their revenues. In March 2015, our third venture Valendo was launched as an online provider for high-value asset-based lending, targeting a wide range of B2B and B2C customers in Germany. financeAds International GmbH was next as an international affiliate network with a focus on the financial sector. It has already successfully extended its services into eight European countries. Clark, our insurance platform, followed in June 2015 and ensures transparent, cheap, and comprehensive insurance coverage. Customers can find the best deal from over 160 partners with Clark. In August 2015, FinReach was introduced as a developer of digital solutions for financial services. It offers an automated current account switch kit on the market. In the beginning of 2016, FinLeap launched Pair Finance, a digital data-drive debt collector, aiming to increase repayment rates and turn debtors back into customers. solarisBank – a tech company with a banking license that enables digital companies to create solutions for their financial needs – followed in March 2015. Most recently, FinLeap founded zinsbaustein.de, an online platform to invest into selected real-estate projects.
At FinLeap, we want to keep up with the transformational world of financial services by continuing to launch great companies for the future that provide for generations to come and their needs.
Our thanks to the team at FinLeap for this contribution. If you provide a service to the FinTech sector or have a FinTech related topic you’d like to share, please get in touch. We’d be delighted to hear from you.
