Fintech Germany Award Jury Podcast

**About the Fintech Germany Award **

The Jury also decides on special awards.The Jury members evaluate and compare start-ups from the fintech and insurtech sectors within their individual company phases according to a variety of different criteria. Based on a scoring process, the Jury determines the most promising young companies in the individual categories and decides on the winners at Jury meetings. The same process applies to the special awards.

**About Maria Pennanen **

Maria is ranked #1 top fintech influencer in the DACH region and also among the top 50 most influential women in startups in Europe. She is a business angel investor and CEO of Mindclip Behaviour Oy, a SaaS-based team development tool. She is also co-founder of Accelerator Frankfurt, Germany's leading go-to-market program for B2B startups. Maria has over 20 years of in-depth experience in B2B sales and marketing within Europe and Asia where she developed a passion for learning and profitable growth. She is a qualified executive coach educated in INSEAD. She is involved in numerous German, Finnish and Israeli start-ups and invests in SAAS and Fintech startups.

[https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariapennanen/?originalSubdomain=de]

Accelerator Frankfurt

Frankfurt is an important hub in Germany, one of Europe's strongest economies. As a major financial center, Frankfurt is only increasing in importance in the post-Brexit era. Frankfurt has over 250.000 corporates and thousands of hidden champions. Not only is Frankfurt a hotspot for banks, investors and international corporations, it also has a thriving startup scene and many talents with great ideas who want to start their own companies. Opportunities abound both on the customer and the investor side, while B2B clients, banks and financial institutions are ready to run proofs of concept.

This is where we come into play: our unique go-to-market program accelerates B2B software startups in the fields of Fintech, Regtech, Cybersecurity, Insuretech, Proptech and Blockchain. The startups receive mentorship from experienced entrepreneurs and investors, consulting and professional services, in addition to a co-working space. The goal of the program is to help startups win customers and raise funding. The 3-month program ends with a demo-day, where the startups pitch to corporates to secure proofs of concept and investors to raise follow-up funding.

We provide investment opportunities for investors looking for stable innovation businesses and connect them with the most promising startups. For corporations, we offer services that bring the innovative approaches of the startup world to companies who want to become innovation leaders in their industries.

We’ve come a long way since that first meeting in Shanghai. Whether you are a startup, an investor or a company: our team would love to hear from you. You never know what a first meeting will lead to

https://www.acceleratorfrankfurt.com/about-us/

**About the Fintech Germany Award **

The Jury also decides on special awards.The Jury members evaluate and compare start-ups from the fintech and insurtech sectors within their individual company phases according to a variety of different criteria. Based on a scoring process, the Jury determines the most promising young companies in the individual categories and decides on the winners at Jury meetings. The same process applies to the special awards.

**About Sebastian Schaefer **

Sebastian is a behavioral economist and entrepreneur with a passion for building innovation communities and startup ecosystems. Prior to TechQuartier, he was the head of Goethe University’s Entrepreneurship Center Unibator and co-founded the startup-investor network Pitch Club.

As a lecturer and guest speaker at Goethe University, Goethe Business School, Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, and the University of Zurich, he maintains close contact with the academic world. In addition, he is associated with the Center for Leadership and Behavior in Organizations and the Frankfurt Laboratory for Experimental Business Research at Goethe University.

He is also involved as a business angel, advisor, and mentor and appears as a speaker and juror on the stages of startup events around the globe.

[https://www.linkedin.com/in/sebastian-schaefer-8268b07/]

TechQuartier

TechQuartier is a leading innovation hub and startup ecosystem based in Frankfurt, Germany. It provides a collaborative environment for entrepreneurs, startups, and corporates to connect, innovate, and grow. TechQuartier offers a range of services, including co-working spaces, mentorship programs, networking events, and access to a broad network of industry experts and investors. The organization focuses on fostering innovation in the fintech sector and beyond, supporting the development of new technologies and business models. Through its various programs and initiatives, TechQuartier aims to drive digital transformation and economic growth in the region.

https://techquartier.com/

**About the Fintech Germany Award **

The Jury also decides on special awards.The Jury members evaluate and compare start-ups from the fintech and insurtech sectors within their individual company phases according to a variety of different criteria. Based on a scoring process, the Jury determines the most promising young companies in the individual categories and decides on the winners at Jury meetings. The same process applies to the special awards.

**About Christian Storck and Linklaters **

Dr. Christian Storck specializes in advising on derivatives, capital market products, and structured financing. His focus is on OTC derivatives (particularly equities, FX, interest rates, credit, and commodities), client clearing, and netting issues. He also advises on securities repurchase agreements and securities lending. His advisory spectrum also includes SPV structures, repackaging, and securitizations. Additionally, he provides counsel on the creation and updating of issuance programs, structured certificate and warrant programs, as well as on promissory note loans, registered bonds, and bearer bonds.

Dr. Christian Storck is the Head of Finance Germany and also the Global Co-Head of Innovation. In this role, he oversees his own internal innovation projects and, in particular, digitization projects for clients.

He serves as a legal expert for the German Derivatives Association (DDV) and is a member of the Investment Committee of the main incubator (the R&D unit of Commerzbank). He also speaks at events hosted by the German Equity Institute (DAI), the German Investor Relations Association, ISDA, Euromoney, Financial Times, the Blockchain Center of the Frankfurt School, and the Center for Legal Tech at Bucerius Law School.

He is recommended as a leading advisor in the area of structured finance and derivatives (JUVE Handbook 2020/2021, Chambers Europe 2020, IFLR 1000 2020) and is recognized as outstanding in the fintech sector by Chambers Europe 2020.

[https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-storck-a06a36139/]

Linklaters:

A comprehensive understanding of both the legal and business environment of our clients is key to top-notch legal advice for us. We provide interdisciplinary consultation with well-coordinated teams that are deeply familiar with the markets, the economic situation, and the regulatory conditions of our client's industry – within Germany, across borders, and internationally.

At Linklaters, over 5,000 employees in 30 offices worldwide embrace a culture of new ideas. Whether a lawyer, tax consultant, or notary: We provide practical and results-oriented advice. Most importantly, even when venturing into new territories, we always remain your reliable and entrepreneurial partner.

https://linklaters.de/de-de/ueber-uns/auf-einen-blick

**About the Fintech Germany Award **

The Jury also decides on special awards.The Jury members evaluate and compare start-ups from the fintech and insurtech sectors within their individual company phases according to a variety of different criteria. Based on a scoring process, the Jury determines the most promising young companies in the individual categories and decides on the winners at Jury meetings. The same process applies to the special awards.

**About Katharina Lueth **

Katharina Lüth is Chief Client Officer and Managing Director at raisin, overseeing the company's expansion across Europe and managing international savings platforms. She is also the Chairwoman of Raisin UK. With over 15 years of experience in the financial sector, including eight years at McKinsey & Company, Katharina has played a pivotal role in Raisin's success since joining in 2014. She holds an MBA from IESE Business School Barcelona and has studied International Business in Boston and Reutlingen.

[https://www.linkedin.com/in/katharina-lueth-15b12012/?originalSubdomain=de/]

Raisin:

Raisin was founded in 2012 with the aim of removing geographic barriers for savers seeking a better return on their money. Since then, we have provided the infrastructure to democratize the global deposit, investment, and pension markets – benefitting people and financial institutions alike.

The Raisin platform enables savers and financial institutions to connect to our award-winning marketplaces across Europe and the U.S. Financial institutions can also tap into our proprietary ecosystem to set up their own marketplaces, or transform their businesses thanks to Banking-as-a-Service solutions offered by Raisin Bank and Raisin Technology.

In 2021, Raisin merged with the leading B2B deposits platform Deposit Solutions, forming one of the biggest Open Banking fintechs to come out of Europe. Today, we cooperate with more than 400 banks from over 30 countries, connecting our partners with savers. Banks and other financial institutions connected to our platform leverage our international network and proven digital architecture to strengthen their funding capabilities or offer their customers a broader choice of competitive interest rates.

https://www.raisin.com/en/about-raisin/

JOBS / Hier Bewerben

**About the Fintech Germany Award **

The Jury also decides on special awards.The Jury members evaluate and compare start-ups from the fintech and insurtech sectors within their individual company phases according to a variety of different criteria. Based on a scoring process, the Jury determines the most promising young companies in the individual categories and decides on the winners at Jury meetings. The same process applies to the special awards.

**About Stephen Voss **

Since Jan 2017 Stephen is founder, investor and CEO of the newly listed NEODIGITAL AG, a full digital venture to explore the possibilities of a fully process orientated digital insurance service.

Until End of 2016 he was Profit Center Manager of Broker Personal Lines & Small Business for Zurich Group Germnay managing 300Mio+ in annual revenue. He also Held the position as CEO and speaker of the board for Baden Badener Versicherungs AG selling general insurance products to over 12.000 brokers in Germany.

For AIG Stephen was in charge of the Executive Office Germany with oversight over all projects and developments in the company. At Hartford Life Group, Stephen was instrumental in launching a new operation in Germany, overseeing all aspects of marketing, business development, and distribution channel relationship management. At Halifax Bank of Scotland - where he was responsible for Germany and Austria - he played a central role in developing and executing a marketing and distribution strategy while leading the investment marketing & development department. Prior to these positions, he was based in Luxembourg for Deutsche Bank’s fund operation DWS, leading the company’s marketing efforts for the Benelux region, specialised in serving HNWI as well as highly demanding institutional clients. Stephen started his career at Allianz and has worked 2 years for Fleming Asset Management.

Stephen is of dual nationality British & German

[https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-voss-712b107/]

Neodigital:

Neodigital was founded in 2017 by Stephen Voss and Dirk Wittling with the goal of making Neodigital the leading insurance factory. Thanks to a strong team with many years of experience in the insurance business, Neodigital has developed into a digital insurer in a very short time, based on extensive automation of simplified and accelerated processes. The efficient design of these processes keeps our costs low and allows for fair prices and transparent operations for our customers and intermediaries. This way, customers and sales partners can not only make many changes themselves in myNeo, but the resulting documents are also available within seconds. From the very beginning, it was important to us to offer our customers maximum flexibility. Thanks to the daily termination rights, they do not have to commit for a longer period but can adjust their insurance to changing needs at any time. Meanwhile, Neodigital has also convinced many independent sales partners and customers.

https://neodigital.de/ueber-uns/

JOBS / Hier Bewerben

Podcast recommendations from Alexandra:

**About the Fintech Germany Award **

The Jury also decides on special awards.The Jury members evaluate and compare start-ups from the fintech and insurtech sectors within their individual company phases according to a variety of different criteria. Based on a scoring process, the Jury determines the most promising young companies in the individual categories and decides on the winners at Jury meetings. The same process applies to the special awards.

**About Alexandra Weck **

With a robust experience of over 14 years, Alexandra is noted for her adeptness in merging fintech solutions with traditional banking, delivering innovative customer-centric outcomes. As an ambassador for Fintech Ladies and a moderator and podcast series host for the Fintech Germany Award, she actively promotes women in fintech and leads critical discussions in the industry.

Her prior roles at FFB - FIL Fondsbank GmbH, UBS, and Baader Bank AG, coupled with her freelance work in influencer marketing and social media consulting, showcase her versatility. Her academic background includes a Bachelor of Arts in Bank- und Finanzdienstleistungen from Duale Hochschule Baden-Württemberg, with further education in Blockchain Technology from UC Berkeley.

[https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandra-weck/]

AMINA Bank:

Digital assets have come of age and banking services need to rise to the challenge. Trading investing and storing crypto currencies and other digital assets should not be a ‘bolt-on' to traditional banking, but an integrated service that links to every other aspect of a client’s banking services.

AMINA Bank was established to provide precisely this solution to professional investors, companies, family offices and institutions.

Since 2019, AMINA has lead with a new vision for banking that breaks down the barriers between traditional financial services and support for digital assets. Their award-winning solutions products deliver a seamless service across all major asset classes, including traditional assets, crypto currencies and blockchain networks.

https://www.aminagroup.com

**About the Fintech Germany Award **

The Jury also decides on special awards.The Jury members evaluate and compare start-ups from the fintech and insurtech sectors within their individual company phases according to a variety of different criteria. Based on a scoring process, the Jury determines the most promising young companies in the individual categories and decides on the winners at Jury meetings. The same process applies to the special awards.

**About Henning Zander **

[https://www.linkedin.com/in/henning-zander-9a9177164/]

Aareal Bank:

Aareal Bank is a leading provider of financing solutions and services, with a focus on the property industry. Whether it is office buildings, hotels, shopping centres or logistics and residential properties, whether in North America, Asia/Pacific or Europe: their customised and flexible solutions support their customers in financing their international property investments. Their state of the art banking and software solutions and innovative digital services help their customers to manage their properties in Europe in an efficient and service-oriented manner.This also means them linking the property industry to neighbouring sectors. The basic factors driving their success are global expertise and many years of close cooperation with the sector, local experts and their customers. They look beyond the traditional banking business and that is why they can reliably appraise key trends, chances and risks at an early stage and implement their insights especially rapidly.

https://www.aareal-bank.com

**About the Fintech Germany Award **

The Jury also decides on special awards.The Jury members evaluate and compare start-ups from the fintech and insurtech sectors within their individual company phases according to a variety of different criteria. Based on a scoring process, the Jury determines the most promising young companies in the individual categories and decides on the winners at Jury meetings. The same process applies to the special awards.

**About Marco Di Sazio **

Marco has led numerous innovation initiatives, navigating them from mere ideas to the validation stage of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) by harnessing emerging technologies such as Low Code, Blockchain, Open Banking, and Artificial Intelligence. Additionally, he meticulously guides the roll-out of innovative subjects like digital signatures, data analytics, Sales 4.0, and Robotic Process Automation (RPA).

A cornerstone of his role is fostering collaborations, championing co-creation processes, and conducting agile workshops. Moreover, Marco is deeply engaged with startups and FinTechs, having organized and been a jury member for the Fintech Germany Awards since 2020.

[https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcodisazio/]

Bankhaus Metzler:

Metzler's distinctive independence has been the bedrock of the company since its origins as a cloth merchant in 1674: we are independent in all respects and work exclusively in the interests of our clients. To create and maintain value for you, we are constantly driving forward the development of meaningful, future-oriented services. At the same time, our principles and corporate values do not change. They form the heart of our business and the basis of our integrity. Our sustained success proves that our distinctive independence pays off.

https://www.metzler.com/en/metzler/bank

**About the Fintech Germany Award **

The Jury also decides on special awards.The Jury members evaluate and compare start-ups from the fintech and insurtech sectors within their individual company phases according to a variety of different criteria. Based on a scoring process, the Jury determines the most promising young companies in the individual categories and decides on the winners at Jury meetings. The same process applies to the special awards.

**About Stefan Kempf **

This has always fascinated Stefan.

⚖️ During his time in investment banking, he realized that in today's banking system, it's easier for corporations to borrow 100 million euros than it is for start-ups to borrow 10,000 euros.

[https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefankempf]

aifinyo:

aifinyo is the reliable smart billing partner for entrepreneurs and freelancers to automate billing, financing, and payment processing of invoices.

To achieve this, we operate a unique platform for invoice and liquidity management, including straightforward financing solutions. This is how we specifically assist companies in all phases to continue growing and create their own success stories.

https://www.aifinyo.de

**About the Fintech Germany Award **

The Jury also decides on special awards.The Jury members evaluate and compare start-ups from the fintech and insurtech sectors within their individual company phases according to a variety of different criteria. Based on a scoring process, the Jury determines the most promising young companies in the individual categories and decides on the winners at Jury meetings. The same process applies to the special awards.

**About Hubertus Väth and Frankfurt Main Finance **

Since 2008 he has been traveling around the world on behalf of Frankfurt Main Finance to promote the Frankfurt financial center and build networks between international financial centers. He is co-founder of the World Alliance of International Financial Centers and a sought-after speaker and moderator for conferences and events around the world. His expertise in the areas of capital markets, financial services, FinTech and Brexit make him a sought-after commentator and interview partner for leading global publications.

Frankfurt Main Finance:

Frankfurt Main Finance was founded in 2008 as the voice of the financial centre Frankfurt in Germany and the Eurozone. Frankfurt Main Finance has more than 75 members, including the state of Hesse, the cities of Frankfurt and neighbouring Eschborn and Offenbach, numerous well known financial market players and their service providers, as well as private and public universities and research institutions.

With their membership, they all express their close ties to the financial centre as well as their will to position Frankfurt as a first-rate national and international financial centre. Frankfurt Main Finance pools the strengths of the players in the financial centre, markets the location and creates top-class dialogue platforms.

https://frankfurt-main-finance.com/en/