German Fintech Firm figo Secures Over $7m in Funding from Deutsche Börse

Wednesday, 23/11/2016 | 15:45 GMT by Jeff Patterson
  • A drive towards PSD2 has helped figo secure over $7m in funding from several investors.
German Fintech Firm figo Secures Over $7m in Funding from Deutsche Börse
Bloomberg

The German Fintech sector is starting to flex its muscles, with the Hamburg-based startup figo securing almost $7.2 million (€6.8 million) in Series B financing, with additional investments coming from DB1 Ventures, the Corporate Venture Capital arm of Deutsche Börse Group.

figo is a provider of comprehensive fintech solutions and services to help support firms overall Payments Services Directive strategies (PSD2), which will dramatically impact multilateral interchange fees (MIFs). figo has strategically placed itself at a key point in the payments realm, helping build a new banking infrastructure in a world hamstrung by open APIs.

Presently, PSD2 is one of the key instigators of a global move to help open up banking, which is slowly forcing traditional banks’ hands in offering heightened access to account information in order to better facilitate innovative payment initiation and account aggregation services.

Legacy Challenges

The propensity of legacy IT challenges faced by many banks across Europe, seems to also illustrate a demand for technological solutions such as figo’s Banking API and other solutions with regard to PSD2. DB1 Ventures, the Corporate Venture Capital arm of Deutsche Börse, has handed over a seven-figure sum to secure a ‘significant’ minority stake.

Deutsche Börse’s investment constitutes an endorsement of PSD2’s implementation – according to DB1 Ventures’ MD and Head of Venture Portfolio Management, Ankur Kamalia, in a statement on the investment: "In a changing financial landscape, figo has established itself as a reliable partner and has built up a fantastic fintech ecosystem around itself. We look forward to supporting their growth and also learning from the innovation they are driving.”

The German Fintech sector is starting to flex its muscles, with the Hamburg-based startup figo securing almost $7.2 million (€6.8 million) in Series B financing, with additional investments coming from DB1 Ventures, the Corporate Venture Capital arm of Deutsche Börse Group.

figo is a provider of comprehensive fintech solutions and services to help support firms overall Payments Services Directive strategies (PSD2), which will dramatically impact multilateral interchange fees (MIFs). figo has strategically placed itself at a key point in the payments realm, helping build a new banking infrastructure in a world hamstrung by open APIs.

Presently, PSD2 is one of the key instigators of a global move to help open up banking, which is slowly forcing traditional banks’ hands in offering heightened access to account information in order to better facilitate innovative payment initiation and account aggregation services.

Legacy Challenges

The propensity of legacy IT challenges faced by many banks across Europe, seems to also illustrate a demand for technological solutions such as figo’s Banking API and other solutions with regard to PSD2. DB1 Ventures, the Corporate Venture Capital arm of Deutsche Börse, has handed over a seven-figure sum to secure a ‘significant’ minority stake.

Deutsche Börse’s investment constitutes an endorsement of PSD2’s implementation – according to DB1 Ventures’ MD and Head of Venture Portfolio Management, Ankur Kamalia, in a statement on the investment: "In a changing financial landscape, figo has established itself as a reliable partner and has built up a fantastic fintech ecosystem around itself. We look forward to supporting their growth and also learning from the innovation they are driving.”

About the Author: Jeff Patterson
Jeff Patterson
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About the Author: Jeff Patterson
Head of Commercial Content
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