Top 3 FinTech companies to watch out for in Austria

By Megha Bhattacharya

The Austrian FinTech industry has seen an increase in the number of domestic FinTech startups in the past few years with robust growth in sectors including payments, investments, insurance and accounting.

According to a study by the Austrian Central Bank, there are currently about 112 FinTech companies in Austria. The industry generates an annual turnover of €130 million and employs around 1000 staff members. Though the companies are active in various FinTech sub-sectors, payment continues to be the largest sector in the Austrian FinTech ecosystem.

Check out these 3 important FinTech companies in Austria –

1. Kompany

Austria-based kompany is a RegTech platform for Global Business Verification and Business KYC for AML compliance. Its API platform and web-based KYC workspace provide financial institutions, payment providers, insurers, and other regulated corporations the automation platform and tools required for Business KYC (KYB) and audit-proof business verification for anti-money-laundering compliance.

kompany recently announced the launch of a new anti-money laundering compliance solution in a bid to ease ultimate beneficial ownership (UBO) discovery for regulated entities across the world. The FinTech developed its latest product to simplify the search and discovery process of shareholders through its application of their category-leading artificial intelligence engine.

Established in 2012, kompany aims to combine AI, RPA and blockchain technology in order to deliver next-generation Business KYC solutions, thereby simplifying and audit-proofing business verification and client onboarding for financial institutions, insurance companies, corporations, and FinTechs. kompany has been a part of the Elevator Lab program- a program that assists scale-ups to collaborate with bank experts across the RBI Group.

2. BitPanda

Established in 2014, Bitpanda is a platform for trading digital assets and precious metals. Through its desktop site and mobile apps, users have access to 44 investment assets backed by state-of-the-art technology quickly, easily and securely. It is a Vienna-based crypto startup that provides a brokerage platform for users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies and digital assets including bitcoin, ether, as well as digitized gold, in Europe.

The FinTech, Bitpanda recently announced a partnership with Raiffeisen Bank International  (RBI) in a bid to implement its blockchain-interoperability project Pantos on the RBI Coin. RBI Coin is a next-generation digital cash solution for inter-bank and inter-company payments to streamline cash and liquidity management and introduce new banking products to corporate and institutional customers.

Bitpanda was granted a PSD2 payment service provider license by the Austrian financial market authority (FMA) in April. It raised EUR 43.6 million in an initial exchange offering (IEO) in August to fund its expansion plans beyond Europe.

3. Cashpresso

Cashpresso provides an online platform for consumer loans. It offers loans for personal credit lines and point of sale financing. Point-of-sale financing allows users to pay-in-instalments for respective products at the time of purchase. Users need to provide personal details for registration and availing of credit lines. Users also need to log in to existing bank account via online banking access during registration for checking credit scores. It also offers an app for iOS and Android devices.

Cashpresso, a product of FinTech Credi2 from Vienna, provides unsecured personal loans of up to EUR 1,500. The loan application is completely online with the know-your-customer (KYC) process done through a video call. The company claims to takes only 10 minutes from application to disbursement. The loan, if repaid in the first 30 days, is interest-free.

In 2018, the startup raised €3.1 million in Series A funding, in 2019 it gained an investment in the millions from Volkswagen Bank, and in 2020 aims to launch its own credit card.

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