1. Who are you?
I am Stefan Kupferberg. I studied management in Berlin, London and Philadelphia. Before I started SentiTrade I worked for the Allianz Group, Volkswagen and PNE Wind.
Since 1997 I have been trading actively in the stock market, and with SentiTrade I have turned my passion into a profession.
2. Which services do you sell and who are your competitors?
We license trading strategies that are based on our proprietary sentiment indicator.
We can analyze the news sentiment in real-time and we can tell when fear or euphoria dominate the market.
Our competitors are Stockpulse and Ravenpack.
3. How did you get your start-up idea and how did you finance your startup?
It began with the development of our software, which can automatically determine the tonality of financial news.
Because of my passion for trading, it was an obvious next step to develop an indicator that makes use of the market psychology for quantitative models.
We are funded by our customers and own capital. The company is 100% in the hands of the founders.
4. What were the biggest challenges in starting?
The biggest challenge was to bring SentiTrade in the shortest time to market.
5. What areas within FinTech do you personally find most interesting and why?
What factors drive stock prices? Is it the one big news or the combination of several small ones that set off a trend?
To answer these questions and to develop trading models is what fascinates me.
6. What opportunities do you see for FinTech startups in the DACH region, and how can we help to accelerate it?
SentiTrade is an algo trading application. With algo trading well above-average returns can be achieved.
For this, however, it needs investors who are willing to take risk and to concede time to the strategies. Some promising concepts were unfortunately abandoned, e.g. the Talent Hotel from Lupus Alpha.
A forum that brings together investors and provider of innovative financial services is a very good start.
7. What tip would you like to give FinTech entrepreneurs?
Do not look at what others are doing. If you are passionate about your idea, then stick to it. But do not be too stubborn- adjust your product based on what customers want.