What happened at FinForward 2019? Have a look back at the programme.
On 7th November 2019, FinForward happened for the second time in Hamburg. At the conference, we wanted to talk not just about technical details but also about emotions, so we chose the theme "Don’t Be Afraid Of German Angst.“ Our aim was to help international fintech startups understand the German market while putting inspiration from the Nordics, Baltics, UK and many other countries at the centre of Germany’s largest fintech event, Fintech Week. The format was compelling enough to capture the imaginations of 170 delegates and many more online viewers. We strive to improve the gender balance of all our events and this time achieved 37% female speakers. This time, we decided on an "international first“ strategy and were grateful to our community of international partners and for the generous financial support of Hamburg's Ministry of Economy, Transport and Innovation as well as our sponsors.
What happened at FinForward 2019? Have a look back at the programme.
We’ll introduce the day’s theme and give you all the information you need to know to make the most out of FinForward 2019.
Martin Kulik, banker turned digital evangelist, will offer insights regarding the future of fintech and especially hopes and fears relating to the German market.
Felicia Meyerowitz Singh, founder and CEO of Akoni, will give us a view from London and help us embrace fears of innovation and openness.
While the Nordic companies rapidly do away with cash, just a few miles south the adoption of card payment is years behind. What is it about German customers that make many of them reluctant to succumb to the temptations of round-the-clock banking, easy financial management and convenient identification? Are the Germans irrationally afraid, or are their fears understandable? How do we move forward, finding solutions that the majority of people are happy with? And does Germany’s reticence make it a less attractive market to invest in? Or is this an opportunity for businesses that can win German customers’ trust?
Following the 2008 financial crisis, banks were seen as a brake on progress and in need of opening up. Enter PSD2 and open banking. But does PSD2 run the risk of making banking services mere commodities for startups to build on? Is it unfair for GAFAs and startups to have a back door into banks via API but not the other way round? Banks are afraid of what the future holds: but should they be more afraid of missing the opportunities to innovate?
Big banks and insurers know they need to keep up with the agile innovators. They know they need to update their legacy systems, and use technology to deliver customer value instead of making their lives difficult. They don’t need telling that whoever wins the battle for talented, creative, tech-savvy employees will prevail. So it’s no wonder that existing employees, many of whom have loyally served their employers for decades, are getting fidgety. Their livelihoods are at stake and until recently, they thought they could look forward to a comfortable retirement. How do we deal with these employees, taking their fears seriously – while at the same time paying attention to those who are afraid that Germany will drift ever further behind if we don’t keep up with the pace of innovation? Is it possible for people nearing the end of their career to adopt a new customer-centric mindset?
Despite the proliferation of digital technology, many people around the world are cut off from banking. This includes people moving to unfamiliar countries, who face offputting bureaucracy and people sending remittances back home to support their families but facing high charges for doing so. What are the challenges to opening up banking to everyone, what solutions already exist, and what hope is there for the future? And is Libra the solution to everything?
It could be said that a regulator’s job is to prevent nightmares while still allowing dreams to come true. What fears specifically drive German regulatory practices? How does this affect the attractiveness of Germany as a market? Is Germany likely to follow the examples of places like London and Lithuania in starting a sandbox for new business models to be tested in? How can we ensure that we fuel European innovation, rather than simply regulating imports from the US and China? Will Libra prompt a harmonisation of international regulations by forcing a joint response from national regulators?
A look back at the European fintech conference circuit 2019 and a look ahead to 2020.
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Several German startups have expanded to the USA. Why did they choose to break America? What is different there? And what have they learned about Germany as a result? Share in their experience and ask your questions.
Listen to the experiences of several startups who have gone international. In smaller states, going global is not a choice but a must in order to access a large enough market. But in some countries, such as Germany, that is not the case. Are German companies at a disadvantage because they don’t think globally from the off? Or are they lucky to have a large enough market that they know well and can serve perfectly?
Startups’ reasons for choosing a country to expand to are manifold. We’ll be talking about the factors that influence their decision and discussing examples of where it went right as well as wrong.
Verifying a customer’s identity is a the core of a bank’s day-to-day business. Facial recognition and other biometric procedures mean there are more technical solutions to ensuring somebody is who they claim to be. But differing regulations in different jurisdictions are a headache for fintechs looking to roll out in other countries. What are the differences between European markets, and is there hope of harmonisation on the horizon?
Dividing up assets into tiny little pieces and transferring them digitally makes it easier for Peruvians to invest in Parisian property and Bahrainians to buy into Berlin businesses. Or at least that’s the promise of Security Token Offerings. But can this promise be fulfilled? Do regulations and other hurdles get in the way? What’s the difference between these and regular securities?
A look back at the European fintech conference circuit 2019 and a look ahead to 2020.
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This Masterclass, co-hosted by Arkwright Consulting, is for everybody keen to learn how electronic identities (eID) drive process efficiency and already simplify daily life in the Nordics. It will look into the successes of eIDs in Scandinavia and work out why they are part of today’s life.
* Quo vadis? Explore future impact and benefits, sketch out business opportunities!
* Connecting the dots – inside out and outside in: John Erik Setsaas (VP Identity & Innovation @ Signicat) and Frank Wunderlich (Director @ Arkwright) – two industry experts who know the whole bandwidth.
* Connect to eID providers? Intentions to digitize processes? Everything in between?
First capital raised, where to go from here? Navigating the various financing strategies to achieve scale is a challenge faced by fintech entrepreneurs early on in their growth journey.
In a discussion led by NIBC Bank, fintech industry players will share their perspectives on growth funding as a fintech company, investor and debt provider.
- Veronika von Heise-Rotenburg, CFO of Cluno, will give insights into Cluno’s successful funding journey to growth of a German fintech company.
- Fernando Zornig, Director of Plug and Play Fintech Germany, will share his experience as one of the largest accelerators and Fintech investors worldwide.
- Mélanie Dufour of NIBC Bank will share insights on debt financing of high-growth companies, an often a lesser known – and less dilutive – growth financing instrument.
The promise of PSD2 was to open up banking through APIs and let a thousand flowers bloom. Where have we got so far? Some seem to be embracing the emerging platform economy: putting your best foot forward in the form of your core product and pulling in the rest from elsewhere. Is there a race to be the first killer app? The Amazon of finance? Or will payment and finance play a backstage role in future?
A look back at the European fintech conference circuit 2019 and a look ahead to 2020.
Thanks to all the experts who spoke at 2019's FinForward conference
Gibran Armijo has more than 20 years of experience in the IT sector, in digital banking and Fintech. Currently, he is Advisor to the Board on Innovation Technologies at GLS Bank (Germany) sowie Associate of the Institute for Social Banking (EU).
Before, Gibran Armijo Deputy Head of Product Management at Fidor (Data, AI and UX streams), and Delivery Manager of FidorOS (Germany), Project Manager, Functional Architect, trend analysis and innovation within Santander Group (Spain). He also worked as a Development Manager at software startups (Mexico, USA).
Gibran Armijo Studied computer science (Mexico) and opensource management (Spain).
Jeroen de Bel is the founder and principal consultant of Fincog. Fincog is a strategy consulting agency specialized in Fintech. Fincog helps financial service providers to understand the world of Fintech, develop a future-proof strategy, and also build the bank of the future.
Jeroen is expert in banking and fintech, with over 10 years of experience. Prior to establishing Fincog, he worked for dutch De Volksbank in Corporate Strategy, for the Boston Consulting Group as Senior Analyst Financial Institutions and for Innopay as Payments Consultant.
Enthusiastic and passionate Fintech ecosystem builder on the Nordic,European and International level, co-founder of Sthlm Fintech Week.
Anna has built up a strong network within the Nordic, Dutch and European banking and financial ecosystems. This active position in the Fintech space led her to create the annual Sthlm Fintech Week conference, and she has worked with different actors in the Fintech ecosystem and helped them to develop their business and bring it to the next level.
Anna currently is based in Stockholm, Amsterdam, Vienna.
Mélanie is Associate Director in the Fintech and Structured Finance team of NIBC Bank in Frankfurt. Together with her team she supports innovative and fast growing companies to achieve their growth ambitions by providing tailor-made and scalable financing solutions. Prior to joining NIBC, Mélanie was active in the credit and risk department of major German and French banks.
Kian has been a consultant and investor in Adtech and Fintech companies since 2017 and is involved in strategy projects as well as on an operational level. In his professional career, he has also been successful as a founder and entrepreneur and has extensive experience in launching and marketing of complex products and services. Kian holds a degree in business administration from the Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt with majors in marketing and international management.
As CFO of Cluno GmbH, Veronika von Heise-Rotenburg is responsible for accounting, controlling, refinancing and legal topics of the car-subscription provider. Prior to joining Cluno, Veronika was engaged as Head of the German branch of AutoBank AG and covered regulatory back-office and financing topics at McKinsey.
Sukhi Jutla is an award-winning entrepreneur, author of 3 books and co-founder of MarketOrders, an online marketplace for the gold and diamond jewellery industry. A sought after international speaker, thought leader and qualified IBM Blockchain Developer, she has won numerous awards including Asian Women of Achievement, Female Entrepreneur of The Year and named Top 100 European Digital Pioneer by The Financial Times and Google. In April 2018 Sukhi made global headlines becoming the World’s First #1 Bestselling ‘Blockchain’ Author.
With two decades of experience in banking and brokerage, Paul has taken on Raisin’s expansion from Europe to the USA. Prior to Raisin he ran multi-billion dollar deposit and investment programs, from Merrill Lynch and Citibank. At robo-advisor Wealthfront he built up the new investment line. He gained additional experience with financial management in the digital space as a Director or VP at E*TRADE and TD Ameritrade. With an MBA from Boston University, Paul is also a CFP with personal, hands-on experience advising high net-worth individuals.
Ute König-Stemmler joined Visa in 1998. Ute has held roles including Manager of New Products and Senior Relationship Manager, and is currently Head of Business Development for Central Europe. In this role, Ute is responsible for leading the regional cluster in developing new business opportunities for Visa. Prior to joining Visa, Ute worked for several years as Sales and Marketing Manager for Aral Card-Services in various regions across Germany.
Ute holds a Diploma in Business Administration from the University of Mannheim.
Martin Kulik is a trained banker, political scientist and passionate digital evangelist.
He has been at home in the digital world for over 10 years, focusing on the development of digital products, the creation of outstanding customer experience experiences and always looking for a strategy to successfully shape the future.
Conceived of Akoni as a frustrated saver both individually and as a business director, holding £50m cash, with very few market options. Akoni leverages the market trend of convergence of both Open data and technology with full cash and savings solutions as the future driving solutions on a white label basis - marketplaces existing within trusted marketplaces. Akoni provides a white label B2B2x Cash/deposit marketplace to the wealth sector, personalised cash and product solutions using multiple sources of data beyond open banking.
Danish-born and now Berlin-based, Marie is Pleo's Country Manager Germany, responsible for driving the success in the market across commercial teams. Formerly Pleo's Director of Customer Success, she has played an instrumental part in the company's growth in the last three years.
As a former competitive athlete and sociology graduate, Marie believes disciplined goal-orientation, empathy and strong team spirit are the key drivers to any business success.
Steven is the Chief Product Officer at Regis24, where he is responsible for product strategy and marketing. He was previously founder of Satago Ltd, a UK fintech that specialised in B2B credit control, risk assessment and debt factoring. In a former life Steven was a biologist and worked in the pharmaceutical industry. He has a PhD in Genetics from University College London, and a MBA from Oxford University.
John Erik Setsaas is VP of Identity and Innovation at Signicat. With over 20 years’ experience in identity—and over 30 years in software product development - John Erik is a pioneer in the identity space. Before joining Signicat, John Erik was Chief Development Architect for SAP Identity Management and taught ecommerce, identity services and security at Buskerud University College in Norway. He is also a board member of the EEMA, Europe’s leading digital identity think tank, and has received the EEMA Lifetime Achievement Award.
Dr. Tim Sievers is founder and CEO of Deposit Solutions. He is a member of renowned committees such as the FinTech Committee of the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Digital Banking Project Committee of the Association of German Banks. Prior to founding Deposit Solutions in 2011, Tim Sievers successfully built technology companies and worked in the private equity sector. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Hamburg, an M.Sc. in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science and an M.A. in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from the University of Oxford.
Up until April this year Thorsten Terweiden was the Fintech lead for Invest Hong Kong in Europe. In 2018 Thorsten assisted Transferwise, Revolut, Checkout and Ebury with setting up operations in HK.
Prior to joining InvestHK, Thorsten was the Head of Swiss Business Hub UK in London since 2008. He helped set up a soft-landing programme for Swiss tech companies in 2013.
Thorsten is a member of the China and Fintech working groups of Tech London Advocates.He is based in Berlin where he is working as an economic development consultant.
Fernando leads Plug and Play Fintech’s flagship program for continental Europe. Based out of Frankfurt, Fintech Europe connects leading financial institutions with Fintech startups in order to obtain pilots, contracts and explore strategic investment opportunities. As Program Director, Fernando oversees an investment pipeline of early-stage startups in the SaaS space and is responsible for nurturing US-to-Europe tech transfers in finance. Prior to joining Plug and Play, Fernando's background led him to Private Banking at Santander Brazil.
Tanja Aschenbeck is partner and Head of Financial Services Osborne Clarke, Germany. She advises national and international companies, banks and start-ups in capital market and financial regulatory law. Tanja’s advice focusses on the structuring of capital investments and alternative investments, in particular (closed-end) investment funds, crowdfunding, ICOs/STOs and profit participation rights.
In addition, she specialises in advising on payment transaction and other regulatory law for payment service providers and industrial companies. In the area of financial regulatory law, she advises start-up companies – in particular Fintechs (e.g. ICO/STO issuers or crypto trading platforms) – and international companies in the context of licensing and other Bafin procedures.
Valdis Bergs is the CEO of MobillyTX – an advanced GovTech solution that helps state and municipal institutions to provide indirect social benefits to citizens. Under his supervision, MobillyTX has successfully developed a highly efficient welfare management system. It is transparent, fully automated, completely protected from any kind of fraud, and quickly prevents leakage of any data. Valdis is Head of the Finance sector committee at the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He holds master’s degree in law from University of Latvia.
Philipp is a strategy consultant turned serial entrepreneur, specializing in financial services and resources. Having also worked as a developer, he has first-hand experience of the banking revolution from both a business and a technological perspective.
His latest venture, AAZZUR, is building an ecosystem that connects banks and their users to fintech products to thanks to PSD2 and OpenBanking.
Philipp has also spoken at major fintech events including Money20/20, MoneyLive, Finovate, Fintechmatters and the Future of Retail Banking.
Victor Evchatov is the General Manager of DEinternational in Saint Petersburg. DEinternational provides B2B-services for german and other european companies by their entry into Russian markets. Victor Evchatov is experienced in client support in german consulting companies using his legal degree and background. His skills include Business Development, Key Account Management, Negotiations, Customer Service, Team Management, Business Process Improvement, Project Management, B2B Sales, Legal Support, Financial Proposal Preparation, Client Relationship Management and Business Consulting.
Nina Grandin joined Deposit Solutions in 2017 as Head of Human Resources, Executive Director, being responsible for all HR activities including USA, UK, CH, and the German entities in Berlin and Hamburg. She is a senior HR leader with more than 18 years of international experience in combining strategic HR management and day-to-day HR operations. She previously worked as an HR generalist for the otto group in Hamburg and a consulting company in Frankfurt and New York. Nina Grandin holds a law degree and is mother of two sons.
Lars Hornuf is a Professor of Business Administration at the University of Bremen, with a special focus on financial technology. He conducted research and taught at UC Berkeley, Stanford University, Duke University, Goethe University's House of Finance and Georgetown University. He is an Affiliated Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition and Affiliate Member of the CESifo Research Network. His research has been covered for example in The Economist and Foreign Policy.
Liudas Kanapienis is one of the most active personalities in the Lithuanian Fintech world. He is a serial entrepreneur, previously responsible for the first Fintech business development from Lithuania, Paysera Ltd, that was successfully built into a fintech bank.
All his career he has held CEO positions in different types of companies and has dedicated the last six years to the Fintech industry as an active Fintech community member.
Delia König is Managing Director of the Identity Unit at solarisBank, the tech company with a banking license. She manages and oversees the business unit that has built a platform comprising cutting-edge customer identification solutions for fintech, banks and other digital companies looking to offer a smooth onboarding process for their customers.
She previously worked as an IT consultant for Germany’s largest financial services-focused consultancy, zeb, and gained experience as a Product Manager and entrepreneur. Delia studied Information Systems at the University of Münster and holds a Master’s degree in Digital Banking from Stevens Institute of Technology.
Jana Koch is Head of Business Development & Innovation Management at comdirect bank AG. Previously, as Head of the comdirect Start-Up Garage, she was responsible for the screening of FinTechs and the respective collaboration. She is involved in the inititive finanz-heldinnen and encourages others to take finances into their own hands. Jana Koch completed her international business studies with a focus on strategy and innovation at Maastricht University.
Nina is a versatile leader with successful track record of more than 10 years experience in business development, sales, marketing, cross-functional teams and channel management for leading organizations including Google, SC Johnson and Unilever. She has significant expertise in the development and management of scaled sales and customer service via both online and customer facing channels.
After her marketing diploma studies in Stuttgart, Susi worked as an innovation and communication strategist at Scholz & Friends in Hamburg and Zürich and as Customer Insight Expert at Happy Thinking People in Switzerland for several years. In 2017 Susi joined LHBS with her acknowledged expertise in the banking and telecommunication industry and works with legacy organisations in the DACH region in the field of transformation and innovation process.
Johannes Moormann is responsible for the transition of Exporo from a conventional bond structure to token-based bonds issued on the Ethereum blockchain. With the approval in July of the first real estate based prospectus in the EU, Exporo was able to successfully close their STO for a real estate object in Hamburg in under half a day. Johannes is a trained economist and deeply involved with the Ethereum tech stack.
Prior to founding Dreams, Henrik was Marketing Director at Avanza Bank. During his 4.5 years the customer base increased by 208% (226,000 - 471,000) and Assets under management with 325%. His extensive experience in driving growth was also demonstrated as Sales Director for EF Education for various countries and regions for 6 years. Henrik has an entrepreneurial background, founding and selling two companies. Henrik has an MSc in Marketing and Finance from Stockholm University.
Half Brit, half German Ben started his career in Marketing at a tech scaleup in Darmstadt before obtaining a degree in Computer Science & Business Management from the University of Glasgow. After his studies he worked for Barclays where he lead the award-winning Barclays Accelerator and helped set up Rise, the Home of Fintech, in London and New York. Since April Ben is heading up Programs and Strategy for the Insurtech Hub Munich that enables Insurers to move faster and startups to reach product/market fit – currently accepting applications!
Kilian Peter Krings founded his first startup in 2014, which was a digital music disruption startup, and switched to the blockchain Industry in 2017. Since then he has worked with a couple of projects in this field and later joined Blockchain Solutions GmbH, which is based in Hamburg. In January 2019, Kilian Peter Krings and the CEO of Blockchain Solutions GmbH decided to launch tokenfinance, a blockchain based investment banking startup.
Matthias Winter is part of the Global Financial Blockchain and Cryptoassets Team advising FinTechs and financial institutions on crypto related regulation at the international law firm Eversheds Sutherland LLP. After graduating from University of Bayreuth with a law degree in 2017, Matthias Winter started working on a PhD in European financial markets supervision at the University of Bayreuth and as visiting researcher at the Max Planck Institute for international and comparative law in Hamburg.
Marina Zubrod is an independent management consultant. Digital transformation in the FinTech industry is her sweet spot. Large corporations such as Schufa, Unity Media, ING, or Signal Iduna rely on her expertise when it comes to making their own company strong for the future. Her topics: for example, the strengthening of digital positioning, a new strategic orientation for companies and its culture, or advisory in M&A, cooperations, and investments in start-ups. However, she is particularly interested in the connection between startups and corporates, being a board member of the German startup association (Bundesverband deutscher Startups). While the old-timers benefit from the digital nature, speed of implementation, and flexibility of the young entrepreneurs, they usually lack the necessary funding to implement their own ideas.
Specialist in #fintech - board @_tomorrow_one, @ownly_app, shareholder and business angel at @figoapi @fincompare @deinestudentenfinanzierung @nufin @loanlink @penseo @sparkdata @vantik @weddyplace, member at fintechrat, founder of @paymentbanking, ex @giropay, @enfore @starfinanz
Steffen is responsible for all legal and regulatory issues in DKB Private Banking and has been involved in Open Banking for many years. He has been working for 20 years in the field of digital transformation in various branches of industry. Whether with the digital association Bitkom or American tech companies, he sees himself as a #strategynerd, #lobbyist, #digienthusiast and #matchmaker. Steffen holds an MBA in business management and business ethics.
Stephan joined Grover shortly after its founding in early 2015. He has since been responsible for all things Business Development and Sales and currently acts as VP Business Development & Sales. He holds an MSc from CATÓLICA-LISBON School of Business and Economics and ESCP Europe. Before Grover, Stephan worked for the Fintech incubator Finleap, which he joined after building up the insurance cooperation side of Insuretech pioneer Friendsurance. Prior to this, Stephan founded his own startup in the recommendation marketing space.
Hartmut Giesen implements digital business models for Sutor Bank. His tasks include Fintech Business Development, the development and expansion of the Sutor Banking platform and the support of internal digitisation projects. After studying German and physics at RWTH Aachen University, Hartmut Giesen began his career at a technology marketing agency in 1996. He left the board in 2003 and founded his own agency for technology marketing. He has been working for Sutor Bank since 2012 and has founded NextFin GmbH as a result of this cooperation.
Frank Stefan Jorga completed his studies in business administration as well as both legal state examinations (admitted to the bar). His key areas of expertise are digitisation, strategic business areas, international collection & payment, risk management and market establishment of new online financial products. After a successful start-up phase in 2011 as a founder and main shareholder of WebID Solutions GmbH, Frank S. Jorga has also been Co-CEO since 2014, responsible for the strategic product and company orientation as well as the worldwide expansion of the WebID Group.
Paul Jozefak is currently in the process of building his newest startup: Receeve GmbH, the first truly digital debt servicing platform. With this platform, he and his team aim to completely disrupt the collections industry and target it with a tech-first approach.
With his co-founder, Paul launched Liquid Labs at the beginning of 2012.From 2016 to 2018, he ran ODGS, the parent company of Liquid Labs, responsible for building new businesses for the Otto Group, driving innovation and managing a broad portfolio of technology companies.
Today building Receeve with my co-founders Paul Jozefak and Michael Backes. Former head of Innovation at Intrum and PayPal Head of BD for the Nordics
Sabine holds a degree in Business Economics and has over 20 years of experience in the financial sector. She is a consultant at Arkwright, a management consultancy with Scandinavian roots and strong expertise in the financial sector and the payments industry. Previously, Sabine worked for 18 years in the Sparkassen organization, most recently as a division manager for corporate and organizational development. Apart from work, Sabine König is enthusiastic about travelling and experiencing other cultures, the development of payment behavior around the world is both her professional and her personal field of interest.
Stefan Krautkrämer founded FinTecSystems in 2014 with Dirk Rudolf in Munich. Previously, the business information scientist spent more than seven years in the founding team developing the online payment method ``Sofortüberweisung``. Most recently, Stefan was COO at SOFORT AG until he was sold to Klarna AB. At FinTecSystems Stefan is responsible for Corporate Development and Investor Relations.
Michael is a Fintech turned investment professional, who has experience in the traditional and startup world and consults Fintech founders and startups as well as the traditional world out of London. Michael co-initiated various event formats for startups like the Fintech Germany Award, where he also co-heads the jury and serves on boards of various Fintech firms. Michael is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Digital Banking and contributes regularly to a variety of financial publications.
@Mellinghoff @FintechGermany #FTGA
Michael Möglich is the Head of Market Development Europe for Monese, the mobile-only banking service that gives people the financial freedom to thrive anywhere. Michael has ~20 years experience, previously working in leadership roles across Operations, Commercial and Product Management at Ebay and Amazon as well as at strategy consulting firm Booz & Company. Michael holds an MBA from Kellogg School of Management. He is also an angel investor and founded a Berlin-based food company.
Brian Reaves is both a global student and a natural entrepreneur. His education includes a bachelor’s degree in business and finance from Lander University as well as post-graduate studies from Moscow State University. Before starting his entrepreneurial path, he gained experience in large multi-national corporations growing numerous companies, including the hiring of over 500 people. As an entrepreneur, he was involved in raising more than $100 MM in debt and equity for projects, along with co-investing in a variety of companies. After much frustration and little help from traditional banks, Brian set out to create a better option for funding small businesses in 2016 by laying the groundwork for what would eventually come to be the Fintech company Factris.
Martin was part of the former core team of SOFORT for 7 years. He successfully established distinctive inside sales profit center with 13 employees in 3 countries – processed more than 35.000 merchant aquisitions and top KAMs such as flyerarm and Kabel Deutschland. Lastly Director Commercial Operations and member of the management board for Klarna and SOFORT. At FinTecSystems Martin is responsible for National/International Sales, Marketing and Customer Success.
Olga is a Berlin-based Associate and Director for fintech investments covering early and growth stages in Europe and Israel. Prior to Target Global, Olga worked for the funds Finsight Ventures and Binomial Ventures where she invested in fintech as well as helped with the business development and fundraising to a few medtech companies. Olga is a fast track career becoming associate at 24 y.o. and has gained a solid VC track already of 12 investments and 3 exists for 3 years. Closed remarkable deals include Raisin, Rapyd, Zego
Ingmar Stupp is a mechanical engineer turned entrepreneur after working in automotive with BMW and Bosch, now looking back onto 10+ years of experience in product management, design, and engineering. After building an online snack retailer in Russia, Ingmar stepped into financial services in 2016 when co-founding Finiata, an SME lender, raising 30m€ in venture capital and scaling a credit product across two markets.
Frank Wunderlich works as an Associate Director and Partner at the consulting firm Arkwright Consulting. For over 20 years he has been advising top management of banks, payment service providers and technology companies. Main topics are strategy development and implementation, improvement of results, design of operating models as well as partnerships and digitization. Here his main focus is how onboarding processes can be streamlined with help of eIDs throughout Europe. He graduated in industrial engineering and lives in the “world's first cashless society” – Sweden.
Where to find us and how to contact the team