From this interview, you will learn: How Peter Grosskopf, solarisBank’s CTO, scaled up a tech team How having no financial background was actually the prerequisite in his leading role in the banking platform What Lego bricks have in common with digital banking What the recent investment by BBVA might mean for the Berlin-based fintech startup. For anyone not yet familiar with the company: solarisBank is a Berlin-based, 150-person tech company with a full banking license, serving 60 corporate customers. It all started with the concept of building solarisBank as the first banking platform native to the digital economy – a platform that would enable any company to offer financial services. A few years ago, fintech startups used to working in the agile way, were struggling with lengthy and inefficient setup processes with traditional banks.

At first, traditional incumbent businesses seemed to neglect N26’s existence.

Insurance, a travel startup, and insurance again. That would be the shortest description of the professional career of Tim Kunde, a 38-year-old German on a mission to disrupt the insurance industry.

ChaperHome is a simple mobile app, but it could save the life of someone you love – or your own. Based on research and user feedback, ChaperHome is a safety companion, connecting you to a network of ‘protectors’ – your friends and family. You can easily set up scenarios and the app will send a notification to your loved ones as soon as it registers something going wrong. The point is that it will happen without any input from you. In a situation where you might not have time for more than a single tap, ChaperHome has your back.

The Policygenius story goes as follows: back in the day, two McKinsey consultants were advising insurers on growth and marketing strategies. They found a repetitive pattern: the insurers didn’t have a clue how to engage with customers online. So they decided to start their own company to tackle that challenge.

China earned its reputation for copying, but it would be naive to let this “can’t innovate” myth persist. “You can no longer lose sight of what is happening in the East”, warns one of the largest consulting companies. And this is especially true for the financial and insurance industry. China, with almost 800 million Internet users, propitious regulators, and behemoths such as Alibaba or Tencent, is quickly becoming the world's largest innovation incubator. To crack the Chinese secret code, I spoke to Mikołaj Bołtuć and Marcin Nedwidek of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

 

“No one else does it the way we do.” said Asaf Navot, the founder of Home Made, when I asked him about his company’s unique selling point. “We bring the quality of service of a top-notch traditional estate agency, but for a low flat fee,” he added. Yet, it’s not easy to compete on such a demanding market. Thousands of other real estate agencies, complicated regulations and dealing with owners of multi-million pound homes are just a few day-to-day challenges.

Millennials and the frenzy around social media are alone enough to force banks to rethink strategies. Invite the PSD2 directive to the party and you’ll get the message: 2018 will bring serious change to the financial sector.

Helpling is the company behind innovative home services platforms available in several countries (including the UK, Germany, Australia and France). We’ve talked to Sebastián Nepote, Helpling’s CTO, about balancing innovation with sustainable growth at a company with a digital focus operating on an extremely competitive market.