Study

Download a free excerpt of our 2nd Study of FinTech, covering 200+ Startups in Germany, Austria, Switzerland & CEE, published in May 2015. Write to us at contact@fintechforum.de for the complete study, available for $450 (plus VAT where applicable).

About the Study

Looking to understand the FinTech landsape in Germany, Austria, Switzerland & CEE? With startups in the region raising over $300 M in funding in 2014 (Source: Financial News / Dow Jones Venture Source), the region is second only to the UK in Europe in funding volume. This Study covers 200+ players in the region’s fast-growing FinTech sector (grouped by business area), as well as:

  • A look back to the key funding rounds and deals in the early days of the sector in 2011-2013
  • The startups that attracted funding in 2014, and their key investors: on our 2014 Funding Map.
  • Deal highlights in 2015 (up to end-April)
  • Our analysis of the funding in the region: e.g. 8 of the 24 funding rounds in 2014 were led by publishing and media firms, and just one involved a bank!

How do you make sense of this fast-moving market, and where do we see the market going?

  • Our section “The State of FinTech in D.A.CH / Europe” covers contributions from founders and active VCs in specific FinTech areas, ranging from lending and payment to insurance and robo-advisory.

Finally, we provide a guide to the key FinTech investors, accelerators and startup challenges that FinTech startups should consider when raising funding.

While this is a study prepared purely for academic purposes, using publicly available information, and with no claims to the completeness, correctness, currentness or validity of the data, we do hope this is a good first introduction for investors, financial institutions, startups and many others that – like us – are on a mission to create the financial services of the future.

Foreword to our 2nd Study

2014 was a landmark year for FinTech, culminating in the historic IPO of LendingClub.  Global FinTech investments hit $6.8B in 2014: nearly thrice the 2013 volumes and seven times the $930M in 2008 (Source: Investment in fintech startups soars; The Boom in Global FinTech Investments ). European FinTech VC funding in 2014 grew to ~$1B, of which ~20% in D.A.CH  – second only to the UK (~50%).

Things were not quiet in Germany / D.A.CH either: even as per our estimates based on disclosed deals, FinTech startups in the region raised over $175 mn, nearly triple the amount raised in the three previous years (2011-2013). Of the nearly $1 bn FinTech funding in Europe in 2014, D.A.CH was at the second place, behind London which accounted for $539 mn in funding.

FinTech Forum, started as an idea at a breakfast meeting in 2013 with the mission to put more FinTech players from the region on the world map, and quickly became the first sizeable FinTech community outside of the US and UK. So far, nearly 80 FinTechs have presented at our four events, in front of over 200 investors, financial institutions and corporates, with the last two events (Nov. 2014, Mar. 2015) selling out over a month in advance!

o   The roundtable panel “FinTech startup ecosystems en Europe”, NextBank Europe, Barcelona

o   The session “FinTech ecosystem: Lessons Learnt/Opportunities for Collaboration”, Innotribe / SIBOS 2014, Boston

o   Working group, Designing the Bank of 2020, Financial News / WSJ.D FinTech Conference, Nov. 2014, London

o   Working group: Startup Ecosystem, FinTechStage Milan, Mar. 2015

o   “A FinTech Industry Snapshot”: 1st DVFA FinTech Forum, Mar. 2015, Frankfurt.

o   Working group, Building the Asset Manager of the Future, FN / WSJ.D FinTech Conference, Apr. 2015, London

 

None of this would have been possible without the support of our sponsors, partners, mentors and of course the startups, investors and financial institutions in our community: thank you all and we look forward to continue working with you!