Fintech infrastructure provider Upvest has received five additional licenses from the German federal financial supervisory authority that will enable it to offer B2B clients investment brokerage and custody services via one API.
With the perfect storm of negative interest rates, rising inflation, and retirement plans that simply aren’t going to cut it, wearied consumers have been looking to financial products such as ETFs, stocks, and crypto assets to not only safeguard but grow their wealth. In Germany alone, in 2021 the total volume invested in ETFs increased to a record €150 billion, a number up €50 billion from just one year prior.
“In terms of the total investment volume invested by retail investors, the U.S. market is still significantly ahead of those in Germany and Europe. That is exactly what we want to change by ultimately enabling even more retail investors to benefit from the opportunities of the capital market,” explained CEO and founder Martin Kassing.
Upvest allows other fintechs to integrate investment products into their lineup via an API. With the new licenses in hand, the infrastructure provider is of the rare breed that can now legally offer access to capital markets and crypto assets all in one go.
“As a software company with a banking license, we can be very flexible: Some clients use our technology to enable scalable and affordable investment brokerage and custody. Others use our technology and regulatory licenses at the same time,” commented Kassing. “Upvest provides a broad spectrum of technological and regulatory building blocks that fit nicely into the existing infrastructure for small and very large fintechs alike.”
Upvest is backed by Earlybird, HV Capital, Notion Capital, ABN AMRO Ventures, Speedinvest, and Partech as well as the fintech founders Maximilian Tayenthal (N26) and Felix Haas (IDnow).
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