This week on Finovate Global we’re highlighting some of the fintech news from Germany.
Scalable Capital, a digital investment platform based in Germany, announced the launch of its neo-broker and new cryptocurrency offering Scalable Crypto in the Italian market. The new solution, introduced in December, will enable Italian investors to buy stock, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), popular cryptocurrencies, as well as set up savings plans for free. The company’s Scalable Broker offering will give investors access to more than 6,000 international stocks, with all trades routed through regulated European exchanges to avoid FX fees. Scalable Broker also provides access to more than 1,500 ETFs and more than 1,700 mutual funds. Additionally, Scalable Broker is available in different price configurations: a free version with commission-free savings plans and trading for stocks and ETFs that charges a fee of EUR 0.99 for transactions in other instruments, and a “Prime” version with an additional trading flat rate enabling unlimited trades for a monthly fee of EUR 2.99.
Scalable Crypto enables investors to buy and sell common cryptocurrencies, which are held as securities in the client’s brokerage account. Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and XRP are among the cryptocurrencies available for trading, each of which is based on exchange-traded crypto products (ETPs) for easy and secure transactions on regulated exchanges.
“The online broker with savings plans and crypto is just the beginning,” Scalable Capital founder and co-CEO Erik Podzuweit said. “Our goal is to introduce our complete investment platform to the Italian market. We will make even more services available to our Italian clients, such as our leading robo-advisor.”
Scalable Capital made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2016 in London.
Moojo, a new startup that helps freelancers, creators, and gig economy workers improve their invoicing process and get paid faster, announced $2 million in seed funding this week. The round included participation from APX, Helvetia Venture Fund, MS&AD, neoteq Ventures, and Red Swan Ventures
In addition to its instant payments and invoicing solutions, Moojo plans to introduce insurance and lending products in the future. The company has partnered with Hiscox to facilitate the development of insurance products.
“The team and their approach to embed insurance into their offering has convinced us,” Markus Niederreiner, CEO of Hiscox Germany, said. “We are delighted to be Moojo’s insurance partner and co-create the next-gen of solutions for the creator and the freelancer economy. We strongly believe in the way Moojo tailors and builds solutions for the community: integrated into their customers’ lives.”
Moojo was founded in 2021 by Amir Djouadi, Christian Engnath, and Utena Treves. The company is headquartered in Berlin, Germany.
Germany’s second largest listed bank Commerzbank announced late this week that it is looking to enter the cryptocurrency space. The company is the country’s first major financial institution to seek a license that would enable it to offer cryptocurrency safekeeping services, as well as create its own cryptocurrency custody solution.
Germany’s new licensing policy for cryptocurrency services went into effect in 2020 and is designed to encourage more regulated financial firms to enter the cryptocurrency market. Commerzbank’s license application appears a year after the institution formed a partnership with Deutsche Börse and Fintech 360X to develop a digital asset trading platform.
Acknowledging the role of the partnership, Commerzbank spokesperson Bernd Reh added that the bank is “pursuing our own digital asset strategy and are also planning our own offerings for our customers in the coming years.” Reh noted that the planned offering is geared initially toward institutional customers.
BaFin, the Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, has so far approved four of the 25 applications it has received from institutions seeking crypto custodian status.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Sub-Saharan Africa
- Umba, a digital bank based in Nigeria, raised $15 million in Series A funding.
- Ventureburn profiled the women entrepreneurs who are building Africa’s fintech industry.
- Nigerian digital payment solution Kippa launched its new solution for extended SME payments.
Central and Eastern Europe
- TechCrunch profiled Ukranian fintech 42Flows.Tech.
- Berlin-based fintech Kadmos raised $9.1 million in seed funding for its international salary payments solution.
- Polish fintech BLIK announced plans to expand to Romania and other markets in Europe.
Middle East and Northern Africa
- UAE-based earned income access platform FlexxPay announced plans for expansion to Egypt.
- Tarabut Gateway secured a license from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) to become the first regulated open banking platform in the UAE.
- Egyptian cashback rewards app Lucky raised $25 million in new funding.
Central and Southern Asia
- Indian cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX raised $135 million.
- Pakistan-based fintech SadaPay announced $10.7 million in a seed-extension round.
- Subscription management platform Chargebee teamed up with Indian fintech Razorpay.
Latin America and the Caribbean
- Citi teamed up with Brazil-based international payment processor EBANX to bring digital collection solutions to its institutional clients in Latin America.
- PayU announced its strategic acquisition of Colombia-based online payments company Ding.
- Mexico-based fintech Zubale secured $40 million in Series A investment.
Asia-Pacific
- Asian Buy Now, Pay Later platform hoolah partnered with no-code payments automation platform Primer.
- Avaloq went live with its first client in Taiwan, Cathay United Bank.
- Ant Group took a majority stake in Singapore-based global payments platform 2C2P.