Berlin fintech Acatus raises €5.5 million to build Europe's largest debt capital market

Acatus, the first digital debt capital markets platform, has raised a 5.5 million Series A round, led by DIP Capital and coparion, with support from existing investors Partech, Berliner Effektengesellschaft, and Berliner Volksbank Ventures. The Berlin-based fintech offers a B2B platform where an organisation can sell debts in the form of bonds to investors. Assets, such as loans are insurance, are converted into individual securities and placed directly on the international capital market, rather than going the traditional portfolio securitization route. “With our flexible debt capital markets platform, we have created a tool to make loans available to the debt capital market. According to the ECB, there are €12 trillion in loans available in Europe, which shows the extraordinary market potential here. At the same time, we are making the European financial market more flexible and transparent,” says CEO Dr. Marie Louise Seelig. Back in 2016, Seelig (along with co-founder and COO Dr. Daniel Wigbers) set about creating a neutral, bank-independent platform that could facilitate trade while avoiding conflicts of interest — and she made a professional sacrifice to do so. "To maintain the necessary independence and avoid potential conflicts of interest on the originator side, I gave up my leadership position as the founder of CrossLend and decided to establish Acatus with a strong network of experts as a bank-independent digital debt capital markets platform. Against this background, I am particularly pleased that we have brought on board two strong and experienced VCs that will enable us to continue our journey and offer both investors and originators the best service when it comes to capital market access and investments,” she explained. The VCs are pleased, as well. coparion investor Christian Schulte commented on the opportunity ahead: "We invest in a small but very experienced and powerful team. The two founders are experienced serial fintech entrepreneurs and former managing directors of large international commercial banks. Using their experience and their network, they can make a significant contribution to the digitization of the business. It is this perfect mix of expertise and drive, coupled with Acatus' bank neutrality, that convinced us that this team could create the leading digital European debt capital markets platform. Acatus stands for an innovative idea that can revive the European financial market. The economic potential is enormous.”