1. Who are you?

My name is Bastian and I am the CEO of compaio, where we follow the vision to become the most customer-centric financial advisor.

2. Which services do you sell and who are your competitors?

Compaio offers holistic financial advice, by covering all relevant topics of personal finance from accounts to insurances, investments and financing through to pension planning.

On the one hand our obvious competitors are bank advisors and independent brokers, and, on the other hand, there are competitors like comparison platforms and PFM-Tools of course.

3. How did you get your startup idea and how did you finance your startup?

Me and one of my other co-founders worked in the banking industry before and experienced first-hand, that the financial advisory process is nowhere close to being customer-centric. From there, we gathered an interdisciplinary team, covering all relevant fields to build a great product. Currently, we are financed through the Axel Springer Plug and Play Accelerator – one of the most prestigious accelerator programs in Germany – and are about to close the business angel round.

4. What were the biggest challenges in starting?

When pursuing a comprehensive approach with such a big vision, it is extremely challenging to bring together all relevant resources.

5. What areas within FinTech do you personally find most interesting and why? 

Not only do I personally, but we as a team, find it interesting how the evolution to open banking will change the whole industry from established players to FinTechs and big tech companies, and how this change will affect customer behavior.

6. What opportunities do you see for FinTech startups in the DACH region, and how can we help to accelerate it?

The DACH region is a promising market in all verticals inside the financial industry, where FinTechs are already providing great digital and competitive products. Essentially every banking and insurance product has the potential for a digital first challenger. Furthermore, there is a lot of potential in customer interaction as well as fast and reliable B2B-solutions for the financial industry.

7. What tip would you like to give FinTech entrepreneurs?

Since the field of FinTech is highly competitive with a lot of regulatory constraints, you as a FinTech entrepreneur have to be consistent and persistent, always striving to push innovation further, while still considering constraints, given by the industry.