German fintechs Raisin and Deposit Solutions join forces

Heliad AG

25/06/2021 12:57

BERLIN, June 25 (Reuters) - Two of Germany's largest fintech
startups Deposit Solutions and Raisin have agreed to join forces
in a deal to create a European group linking banks with savers,
both companies said on Friday.
    Under the name Raisin DS, the merged company will work with
around 400 banks and have a deposit volume of around 20 billion
euros  ($24 billion). 
    "The merger brings us much closer to capital market
viability," Raisin founder Tamaz Georgadze told Reuters, adding
that an IPO for Raisin DS could not be ruled out. "We will keep
all options open."
    Georgadze said a financing round for the new firm will start
soon. "The market situation is currently very good. It would not
be unreasonable to usher in a new round of financing soon,"
Georgadze added.
    European Union rules on open banking require banks to allow
access to customer data by registered third party providers to
boost competition.
    The rollout of the rules has provided fertile ground for
fintechs and sparked a flurry of deals and listings, such as
Visa's 1.8 billion euro takeover of European open banking
platform Tink and payment app Wise's direct listing in London.
     Deutsche Bank  DBKGn.DE , PayPal  PYPL.O  co-founder Peter
Thiel and Goldman Sachs  GS.N  are among the companies'
investors and will remain on board after the merger, said Tim
Sievers, the head of Hamburg-based Deposit Solutions.
    Raisin was valued at around 500 million euros in its last
major financing round two years ago, while Deposit Solutions has
a valuation of around 1 billion euros, according to its major
shareholder Finlab  A7AGn.DE .
    The companies declined to disclose the financial details of
the deal or the valuation of the merged firm.
    
 ($1 = 0.8372 euros)

 (Reporting by Patricia Uhlig
Writing by Riham Alkousaa, editing by Louise Heavens)
 ((Riham.Alkousaa@thomsonreuters.com;))