Berlin Finance Initiative

🎄✨ Celebrating, Reflecting, and Looking Ahead at HoFT.Berlin ✨🎄 Last night the House of Finance & Tech Berlin community came together to celebrate incredible first months at our Christmas Party at Spielfeld Digital Hub. We hope you enjoyed the event as much as we did—it was a moment to reflect on what we’ve achieved together: 🌟 Building a Thriving Network  Since the start in September, over 24 new members joined us, from traditional financial leaders to fintech unicorns and rising stars. 🌟 Launching Our Core Pillars  We introduced and began delivering on three core pillars that guide everything we do:  ▪️Scale-Ups: Supporting the next wave of game-changing companies in the financial services industry.   ▪️Financial Wellbeing: Tackling key societal challenges like retirement planning and wealth participation through impactful events, including discussions with Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner, top entrepreneurs, and renowned academics.  ▪️Ecosystem: Strengthening Berlin as Europe’s 3rd largest fintech hub. 🌟 Growing Our Team  Martin Wihnaleck and Peter von Knobloch joined us, bringing expertise and energy that’s already shaping our future. Great to have you on board!    Building on this great base, we are looking forward to kicking of 2025 with you 🚀 – new milestones, more initiatives, and stronger connections.     Thank you for being part of this journey!    Merry Christmas Everyone 🌟    #ChristmasParty #HOFTBerlin #FinancialWellbeing #Ecosystem #FinTech

Wow! Big news for all startups! Join the FIBE Berlin April 9/10. and take advantage of this support! Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz Digital Hub Initiative ! #BerlinFinance #FinTechCapital

🎉 100 Days at HoFT! What better way to celebrate my first 100 days as Managing Director than with our amazing community – and a touch of festive holiday cheer? 🎄✨    On September 1st, I proudly stepped into this role, building on the incredible foundation laid by our Founding Partners and the HoFT Support Association.  With Berlin ranking as Europe’s 3rd largest FinTech hub, the bar was set high – and we got straight to work! In just 100 days, we’ve hit some fantastic milestones: ✅ Found a Home: We secured our first welcoming base for HoFT at Spielfeld Digital Hub.  ✅ Strengthened the Team: Our HoFT team expanded with the additions of Martin and Peter, bringing fresh expertise and energy.  ✅ Grew Our Community: Welcoming over 23 new members – a diverse mix of traditional players, FinTech unicorns, and rising stars.  ✅ Launched Our Strategy: Introduced our three core pillars with focus on Ecosystems, Financial Wellbeing and Scale-ups.  ✅ Kicked Off Our Financial Wellbeing Initiative: Hosted several impactful events, including an engaging discussion with Christian Lindner and our member-only quarterly meeting with Tim Kaiser last week.     In short: In these 100 days, we’ve set the stage for further strengthening Berlin’s position as a leading FinTech hub. Thank you to everyone who supported this journey—your contributions are key to driving collaboration and innovation. Wishing you a joyful holiday season 🎄 Here’s to the next 100 days and beyond! Warm regards,  Sebastian

🚀 Pitch Night 2025 – The Stage for Visionaries! 🎤 The de:hub Pitch Night 2025 is where the digital future takes shape. On 13 January 2025 in Karlsruhe, the Digital Hub Initiative brings together start-ups, industry leaders, policymakers, and academics to connect, inspire and drive innovation. This year's spotlight? Artificial Intelligence, the technology shaping tomorrow. 💡 What to expect: 10 ground-breaking start-ups will pitch their ideas to a panel of venture capitalists, competing for the prestigious de:hub Award and the AI Award. Keynotes from visionaries, including Robert Habeck, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, and Dr. Danyal Bayaz, Minister of Finance for Baden-Württemberg. 📍 When and Where: 🗓️ 13th January 2025, from 5:30 PM 📌 Kulturzentrum Tollhaus, Alter Schlachthof 35, 76131 Karlsruhe ⏳ Seats are limited – secure your spot today! 👉 Get your tickets here: https://shorturl.at/gSBb7  #PitchNight2025 #DigitalInnovation #AI #Entrepreneurship #Networking Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Digital Hub Initiative

🇺🇸🇩🇪🇫🇷🇪🇺 A few years ago, we met with the Berlin Finance Initiative in #SanFrancisco 🌉… ✈️ This week, we had the pleasure of organizing a visit to the House of Finance & Tech Berlin for the innovation leaders from several business lines at BNP Paribas, a strategic LP of Cathay Innovation, to introduce them to the #Fintech ecosystem in #Berlin. A big thank you to Cathay Innovation’s amazing local team in #Berlin: Costanza Carissimo & Adélaïde Renié. We love building bridges: 🚀 Between Startups & Corporates 🏦 🌍 Between countries, markets, & cultures It was fantastic to see you again, Achim Oelgarth, this time on the other side of the #Atlantic! 🙏Danke! See you soon! .cc Dr. Sebastian Schäfer, Martin Wihnaleck Alex Daamen

A WEEK TO REMEMBER This week marked a major step forward in our mission. With the launch of HVB FlexFinanzierung powered by Banxware, we’ve taken a huge step towards making SME financing better than ever before. Until now, we could offer financing up to €250,000. Now, we’ve scaled that up to €5,000,000—20 times more. This milestone is proof of what can be achieved when fintech and banks come together to create real solutions that meet the needs of SMEs. A big THANK YOU to everyone who joined us at the reveal event earlier this week. It was great to experience this moment together. ❤️ Now, we’re excited to roll out the product with our platform partners and see it in action! ( 📸 𝖠𝗇𝖽𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗌 𝖵𝖺𝗋𝗇𝗁𝗈𝗋𝗇/𝗏𝗈𝗋-𝗈𝗋𝗍-𝖿𝗈𝗍𝗈.𝖽e)

The House of Finance & Tech Berlin (HoFT.Berlin) is the place where FinTechs, corporates and investors meet. Today we, Dr. Sebastian Schäfer, Martin Wihnaleck and myself welcomed Cathay Innovation and BNP Paribas & BNP Paribas Cardif to showcase the Berlin and German FinTech landscape and to dive deep into some brilliant Berlin startups. The goals of such vists are manyfold from 🔹️learning about the German market, their FinTechs and the perspectives for doing business from Berlin for Europe and the world, 🔹️meeting relevant startups for cooperation, investments and/or partnerships and 🔹️to building trust and networks across the world and in our home market Germany. This all pays forward into the three pillars of the HoFT.Berlin in order to scale sustainable succesful startups and to collaborate for the best of the economy and society. 🧿 Scaleup Academy 🚀 Financial Wellbeing Lab 🇩🇪 Ecosystem showroom If you want to get in touch with the HoFT.Berlin ➡️ www.hoft.berlin Thanks for this very fruitful afternoon and especially seeing you again, Matthieu and Arnaud! Nathalie Doré, Chief Impact & Innovation Officer, Executive Committee member at BNP Paribas Cardif Caroline COIFFARD GUYADER, Head of Innovation at BNP Paribas Cardif Anne Choktsang, Head of Innovation Management at BNP Paribas Asset Management Camila Quessette, Head of Innovation at BNP Paribas Wealth Management Florian Couret-Ginoux, Chief Innovation Officer at BNP Paribas Real Estate Déborah Tempesta, Innovation coordinator at BNP Paribas IPS Matthieu Soulé, Partner & Head of C.Lab, Cathay Innovation Arnaud Auger, Director and Deputy head of C.Lab, Cathay Innovation #BerlinFinance #FinTechCapital Berlin Finance Initiative

Es geht der heimischen Wirtschaft nicht gut. Kein vorübergehender Infekt, vielmehr ein strukturelles Leiden. Vor diesem Hintergrund haben wir mit unseren Gästen auf dem Podium und Saal diskutiert: Welche Weichen müssen jetzt gestellt werden, um auch 2050 ein erfolgreicher Standort zu sein? Eine #Rückschau zu unserem #OstBVForum am vergangenem Donnerstag können Sie hier lesen: 📌 https://lnkd.in/epJycrDc Wir danken dem Bankenverband für die Location, Sascha Hingst für die Moderation und all unseren Gästen für einen intensiven Austausch auf der Bühne und beim anschließendem Netzwerken. Fotos: Jens Schicke für den OstBV #BeEeast

Munich x Berlin x Frankfurt UniCredit x Banxware Product Launch When FinTechs and banks work together this is good news for everybody. ✔️For clients: Loans in no-time. Small and medium-sized entreprises (SME) need reliable and swift financing, e.g. in e-commerce, (re)selling goods on platforms. ✔️For banks: Financing becomes a commodity, fast end-to-end processes. The loan is delievered in-time (24 hours) and with deep understanding of the client‘s performance and outlook which reduces risks. And the new product is good for the bank‘s existing client base and secures market shares in new (fast growing digital) markets. ✔️ For FinTechs: Partnerships, funding and stability scaling-up. FinTechs create state-of-the-art user journeys, fast and innovative on-bording and reliable credit processes. And they focus on under-banked target clients, solving financing needs. And this new partnership of Banxware (FinTech) and UniCredit (bank) is just one example for loans up to 5mn euros that is very promising. More? -> https://lnkd.in/dJKg4gsS Many more such cooperations are needed in all areas from retail, SME and corporate banking to wealth management. Thanks for the invitation and very insightful thoughts by Lukas Zörner (ex Penta and Qonto), Christian Steiger (Lexware), Miriam Wohlfarth, Jens Roehrborn (both Banxware) and Sven Stipković (UniCredit) brillantly moderated by Kathrin von Ilberg. This is the stuff what makes me very happy and think positive about our future in finance and tech. By the way, this is a good example why we launched the House of Finance & Tech Berlin & the international FinTech Festival FIBE Berlin in order to enable and promote better products, better services that solve problems and foster growth for clients, banks and FinTechs. The evening showed that it’s fun and fruitful when Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt work together. We need more of this Frank Nicolaisen, Falko Meißner #FinTechCapital #BerlinFinance Berlin Finance Initiative

Heute kamen wir zum ersten Quarterly des House of Finance & Tech Berlin (HoFT.Berlin) zusammen. Wir begrüßten eine hochkarätige Runde gemeinsam mit Mitgliedern des HoFT.Berlin-Netzwerks und ausgewählten Expertinnen und Experten zum Thema von zentraler Bedeutung: 🔶️ Financial Wellbeing. Ein besonderer Höhepunkt des heutigen Abends war die Keynote von Prof. Dr. Tim Kaiser von der Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU). Es geht um nicht weniger als die Zukunft unserer wirtschaftlichen Stabilität und die Förderung von Vermögensbildung als Grundlage für eine starke Demokratie. Die Themen reichen von Altersvorsorge und Wohneigentum bis hin zur Financial Literacy. Daher sind die Maßnahmen wie 🔹️das private Altervorsorgedepot, 🔹️das Kinderstartgeld und 🔹️die umfangreichen Aktivitäten zur ökonomischen Bildung so wichtig. Nur durch nachhaltige Strategien können wir Ungleichheit verringern, den Wohlstand sichern und unsere Demokratie gegen populistische Tendenzen stärken. Der Abend brachte gemeinsam Impulse aus Wissenschaft, Finanz- und Techszene für das Financial Wellbeing Lab des HoFT.Berlin. More to come! Danke an die Experten und Expertinnen, die da waren Robin Binder | NAO Petra Greif | Verein Börsenplatz Berlin Vanessa Müden | Bundesministerium der Finanzen Sophie Thurner | beatvest sowie alle Mitglieder und selbstredend an Dr. Sebastian Schäfer, Martin Wihnaleck vom HoFT.Berlin sowie an den Förderverein, Markus Becker-Melching. 👏an Robin Binder und Zeitgeist als Gastgeber in dieser schönen Location in Berlin. #BerlinFinance #HoFT.Berlin