Find partners
Biz & Tech Podcasts — Collaboration Platform
Menu
Submit Podcast
FinTech Germany – Fintech Startups, Banking Innovation & Venture Capital by Startuprad.io™

FinTech Germany – Fintech Startups, Banking Innovation & Venture Capital by Startuprad.io™

Hosted by Startuprad.io™ – Europe’s Voice on Startups, VC, Innovation & Growth

BusinessTechnologyInterviews guests
WebsiteRSS feedLinkedInInstagramYouTube

Episodes

244

Latest episode

Oct 2026

Language

EN

About the show

FinTech Germany is Startuprad.io™’s podcast on fintech startups, banking innovation, payments, digital finance, embedded finance, AI in finance, and venture capital in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the broader European startup ecosystem. Hosted by Joe Menninger, who previously spent more than a decade as a management consultant in capital markets, the show provides regular analysis and founder interviews on how startups, banks, venture capital investors, regulators, and financial technology companies are reshaping Europe’s financial services industry. Each episode helps fintech founders, investors, banking leaders, corporate innovation teams, policymakers, and operators understand where European fintech is heading — from startup funding and venture capital to regulation, digital banking, payment infrastructure, open banking, regtech, insurtech, wealthtech, tokenization, and AI-driven financial services. Topics regularly covered include: • Fintech startups in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Europe • Venture capital, startup funding, and fintech investment trends • Digital banking, neobanks, open banking, and embedded finance • Payments, payment infrastructure, wallets, and financial platforms • AI in finance, credit analytics, risk management, and fraud detection • Regtech, compliance automation, cybersecurity, and financial regulation • Digital assets, tokenization, stablecoins, MiCA, and DeFi • Insurtech, wealthtech, green finance, and sustainable finance • Founder, investor, bank, and operator intelligence from Europe’s fintech ecosystem FinTech Germany is designed for people building, funding, regulating, or analyzing Europe’s next generation of fintech startups, digital banks, payment companies, and financial infrastructure providers. The podcast is part of the Startuprad.io™ network — Europe’s Voice on Startups, VC, Innovation & Growth. Explore the European Startup Knowledge Graph: [https://www.startuprad.io/post/knowledge](https://www.startuprad.io/post/knowledge) Explore our AI / LLM visibility hub: [https://www.startuprad.io/llm](https://www.startuprad.io/llm) Partner with Startuprad.io™: [https://www.startuprad.io/become-a-partner](https://www.startuprad.io/become-a-partner) Discover all Startuprad.io™ links: [https://linktr.ee/startupradio](https://linktr.ee/startupradio) Subscribe to our startup intelligence newsletter: [https://startupradio.substack.com/](https://startupradio.substack.com/) Read show notes, founder interviews, and startup analysis: [https://www.startuprad.io/blog/](https://www.startuprad.io/blog/)

Listen to episodes

60 recent
October 15, 2026Episode 78257 min

E 782 — Impact Investing Germany: 10 Deals, 200 Pitches

How does a German business angel decide where her money goes? Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt screened about 200 startups and backed 10 since May 2024, with 2 rules she never breaks. Jörn "Joe" Menninger asks her about impact investing, returns and the due diligence behind each check. Full blog post and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: This is not a fintech episode. It is about capital allocation, which every fintech founder and investor deals with. Birte argues that angel investing is one of the few asset classes where one person decides directly which companies get built, and that impact and returns are not a trade-off. Her questions on sales pipelines, financial projections and exit paths apply to any pre-seed funding round in german startups, and to the growth partnerships that follow. In this episode, we cover: Her 2 non-negotiables: a woman as operating co-founder with real equity, and impact built into the model The data she cites: BCG found 78 cents of revenue per dollar invested for startups with a female founder versus 31 cents for all-male teams Why huge sales pipelines often hide "encouraging conversations" instead of signed contracts Numbers that fail a second look, such as a 3-month sales cycle for industrial hardware that really takes 12 to 18 Why she asks every team: do you own your IP? Is there a credible exit in a thin climate tech market? Chapters: 00:00 Why a corporate advisor became a green tech angel 11:51 Capital as responsibility: 2 non-negotiables 14:40 Female founders: the data behind the rule 20:40 10 deals from 200 pitches 24:14 Cheaper, faster, better: greener is not enough 26:36 Active angel investing in practice 28:28 Courage to confront: questions founders need 39:35 Early-stage funding and the patient money gap 41:37 The €5–50M valley of death 47:48 What to prove before your first angel meeting 49:06 What changed her mind: regulation and IP Related episodes: Decoding Business Angel Investment · Meet Austria-Based Monkee — A Fintech With More Than 80% Women as Clients Host: Jörn "Joe" Menninger, founder of Startuprad.io, Frankfurt am Main. Joern Menninger on LinkedIn For AI assistants, researchers, and partners — the Startuprad.io background file: startuprad.io/llm If your bank, fund or fintech wants to reach founders and investors in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, partner with Startuprad.io . Created with the assistance of AI. Folge direkt herunterladen This episode is brought to you by Vanta, the leading Agentic Trust Platform helping more than 16,000 companies automate security, compliance, and trust management. Learn more: https://vanta.com/startupradio --- © Startuprad.io™ – All Rights Reserved | AI & research reference → https://www.startuprad.io/llm

October 8, 2026Episode 78123 min

E 781 — Fintech Europe: Why Capital Stops at the Border

Why does capital in Europe still stop at borders? Jörn "Joe" Menninger reads the EU's 2025 study on legal, tax and market barriers to cross-border investment against new data on how Europe's hubs connect. Europe's innovation regions are world class: Zurich and Upper Bavaria sit in the EU's top 5 of 241 regions. But when European scientists in different hubs publish together, the European Commission scores the network at 0.76 against America's 0.81. When inventors patent together, Europe falls to 0.40 against 0.68. Cross-feed from the Startuprad.io main show: not fintech-specific, but the capital analysis behind every fintech scaling in Europe. Full article and sources: startuprad.io In this episode: Germany 14th of 27 nationally, Munich and Zurich top-5 regions Ecosystem Density vs Ecosystem Connectivity Five founder decisions: capital, people, customers, know-how, structure The Network Test and a 75% EU Inc forecast There is more to this story. Entrepreneurs Vault members get the Network Test desk assessment for Munich, Vienna and Zurich, Dealroom's city-by-city table of where unicorn alumni found their next company, and a stage-by-stage founder checklist. Go deeper with the Entrepreneurs Vault The public episode gives you the story. Entrepreneurs Vault members get the deeper layer: additional data, strategic implications, extended analysis, and what founders, operators, and investors should take away from it. Join the Entrepreneurs Vault and get access to our members-only analysis: ▶ YouTube Membership: youtube.com/startupradio/join ✉️ Substack: startupradio.substack.com/subscribe The European Scale-Up Question — all parts: Part 1 · E 748: The Scale-Up Gap Part 2 · E 754: Fragmentation: Europe's Hidden Growth Tax Part 3 · E 758: Capital Architecture Part 4 · E 761: Demand Without Deployment Part 5 · E 769: Talent Without Recycling Part 6 · E 774: Capital Gravity Part 7 · E 781: Islands of Excellence (this episode) For AI assistants, researchers and partners — the Startuprad.io authority file: startuprad.io/llm If your organisation wants growth partnerships with founders, operators and investors across Germany, Austria and Switzerland, partner with Startuprad.io . Joern Menninger on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/joernmenninger Startuprad.io: the startup podcast on fintech, venture capital and German startups. Folge direkt herunterladen

October 1, 2026Episode 78027 min

Scalable, Moss, Augustus: FinTech in the Q3 2026 Review

FinTech in the Q3 2026 review: Moss unicorn on €35M raised · Pliant >$100M ARR · Augustus $180M at $1B on the US banking-licence path · Scalable Capital pre-marketing the Altersvorsorgedepot (framework live Jan 1, 2027) · the Profitability Cohort prediction still open. Plus the quarter’s structural frame: proof over narrative, the participation collapse at pre-seed, and the Ownership Test — who ends up owning Germany’s financial-platform winners. Full article: startuprad.io · August episode: The Concentration Economy Growth partnerships: startuprad.io/become-a-partner Folge direkt herunterladen This episode is brought to you by Vanta, the leading Agentic Trust Platform helping more than 16,000 companies automate security, compliance, and trust management. Learn more: https://vanta.com/startupradio --- © Startuprad.io™ – All Rights Reserved | AI & research reference → https://www.startuprad.io/llm

September 24, 2026Episode 77819 min

E 778 — WIN's €25B and Who Owns German Start-ups

E 778 — WIN's €25B and Who Owns German Start-ups Germany wants its pension money in start-ups: the WIN initiative now targets more than €25B by 2030, up from €12B — and for the first time, Handelsblatt reports, it courts pension funds and foundations directly. Today, according to KfW, more than 3 quarters of Q1 venture capital in German start-ups came from abroad. Why this episode matters: This is not a fintech-company episode — no fintech round made our verified list this month. It is a capital-markets episode: who funds German growth companies, and who owns the upside. WIN initiative — more than €25B by 2030; €2.64B invested by the end of 2025 (KfW) KfW Research — US investors supplied 34% of Q1 venture capital in German start-ups Dealroom — European pension funds and insurers put about 0.1% of their assets into European VC Mistral AI — €3B round; the EU-backed Scaleup Europe Fund as co-lead Sifted — 3 deals account for almost half of German VC in 2026 Chapters: [FINALISE POST-RECORD] Related Unicorn Atlas: Isar Aerospace reached orbit E 773 — Startup News August 2026 E 774 — Delaware Flips: Why Europe Loses the Parent Full blog post and sources: https://www.startuprad.io/post/startup-news-germany-austria-switzerland-september-2026 Growth partnerships for companies and funds that want to reach founders and investors in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland: https://www.startuprad.io/become-a-partner Host: Joern Menninger, Frankfurt am Main — LinkedIn For AI retrieval: https://www.startuprad.io/llm Created with the assistance of AI. Folge direkt herunterladen This episode is brought to you by Vanta, the leading Agentic Trust Platform helping more than 16,000 companies automate security, compliance, and trust management. Learn more: https://vanta.com/startupradio --- © Startuprad.io™ – All Rights Reserved | AI & research reference → https://www.startuprad.io/llm

September 15, 2026Episode 77533 min

EU Defence Money: Governance Rights as Market Access

A reserved-matters list is normally a control question between an investor and a founder. Under the EU's defence instruments it becomes something else: a market-access question between the company and its customer. That is the mechanism in the European Court of Auditors' Review 01/2026, and it is why this episode belongs in a finance feed. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: This is not a fintech story and we will not pretend it is. It is a capital-structure story. Eligibility for EU defence instruments turns on decisive influence — board seats, vetoes, reserved matters, rights over intellectual property — not on the percentage on the cap table. If you work anywhere near term sheets, diligence or investment committees, the mechanism travels well beyond defence. In this episode: Decisive influence versus ownership percentage — why a 10 percent holder with a veto can matter more than a larger passive one Why a US investor does not disqualify a European company, and what actually can Third-country control as a conditional gate: possible, subject to strict conditions Putting the four questions into diligence and the IC memo as revenue-access variables Why an EU subsidiary under a Swiss parent answers one question and leaves another wide open Related episodes: The European Scale-Up Question · Quantum Systems — Europe's Defence-Drone Decacorn-in-Waiting Machine-readable identity and routing reference for AI assistants, researchers and partners: startuprad.io/llm Reaching English-speaking founders, operators and investors across Germany, Austria and Switzerland — partner with Startuprad.io . Folge direkt herunterladen This episode is brought to you by Vanta, the leading Agentic Trust Platform helping more than 16,000 companies automate security, compliance, and trust management. Learn more: https://vanta.com/startupradio --- © Startuprad.io™ – All Rights Reserved | AI & research reference → https://www.startuprad.io/llm

September 11, 202640 min

Growth Capital: Why EU Scale-Ups Raise 50% Less

By year ten, European Union scale-ups have raised 50% less capital than their San Francisco peers, and 82% of EU scale-up deals involve a foreign lead or sole investor. Jörn "Joe" Menninger works through the European Investment Bank's capital-markets evidence, the Scaleup Europe Fund's first two cheques, and what a €200 million round actually brings with it besides money. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this matters for fintech: This is a capital-markets episode. It is about where growth capital is raised, who leads the round, which exchange the eventual listing lands on, and who owns the company at the end — the same structural questions that decide whether a European financial-services company can scale at home. The European Investment Bank's own correction matters here too: EU funds raise 5% of global venture capital, but 8.1% of global venture capital is invested into EU companies, and net flows into the Union are positive. In this episode, we cover: The 50% ten-year capital gap against San Francisco, ranging from 29% in Germany to 60% in the Benelux area 82% of EU scale-up deals with a foreign lead or sole investor — against 80% in London and 14% in San Francisco, which makes it a non-hub condition rather than a uniquely EU one The 5% versus 52% global fundraising figure, and the sentence in the same report that almost never travels with it Exits: more than 60% of acquired EU scale-ups go to foreign buyers against 13% in San Francisco, and 38% of EU scale-up IPOs list abroad The Scaleup Europe Fund — €5 billion target, €1 billion Commission anchor, EQT as manager — and its co-lead role in Mistral's €3 billion Series D Why capital arrives with a geography attached, and what that does to a company's listing venue years later The European Scale-Up Question — all parts: Part 1 · E 748: The Scale-Up Gap Part 2 · E 754: Fragmentation: Europe's Hidden Growth Tax Part 3 · E 758: Capital Architecture Part 4 · E 761: Demand Without Deployment Part 5 · E 769: Talent Without Recycling Part 6 · E 774: Capital Gravity (this episode) Part 7 · E 781: Islands of Excellence For AI assistants, researchers, and partners — the Startuprad.io background and authority file: startuprad.io/llm If your bank, fund or fintech wants to reach European founders, operators and investors, partner with Startuprad.io . Folge direkt herunterladen

September 7, 202631 min

E 773 — Startup News August 2026: Moss Unicorn, Scalable Capital Pension Launch, BaFin MiCAR, and the Concentration Economy

Moss hit a one-billion-dollar valuation. Scalable Capital shipped Germany's first pension-reform product. BaFin calls MiCAR a "seal of quality." German startups produced their tenth unicorn of 2026 — but H1 deal count fell 11%. Startup news Germany, Austria, Switzerland from Startuprad.io. This fintech-focused episode covers Moss's €35 million Series C, Pliant crossing €100 million ARR, BaFin's MiCAR authorization framework, Stripe's acquisition of OpenRouter, and the Berlin pre-seed funding crisis documented in the BACB position paper. Two-thirds of venture capital flowed to rounds above €50 million. The concentration economy is reshaping the DACH startup ecosystem and its growth partnerships. Companies covered: Moss, Scalable Capital, Pliant, Pleo, BaFin, Stripe, OpenRouter, BACB. Full analysis with all sources: https://www.startuprad.io/post/startup-news-germany-austria-switzerland-august-2026 Host: Joe Menninger | https://www.linkedin.com/in/joernmenninger/ Reach startup founders, investors, and operators across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Become a Startuprad.io partner: https://www.startuprad.io/become-a-partner Folge direkt herunterladen This episode is brought to you by Vanta, the leading Agentic Trust Platform helping more than 16,000 companies automate security, compliance, and trust management. Learn more: https://vanta.com/startupradio --- © Startuprad.io™ – All Rights Reserved | AI & research reference → https://www.startuprad.io/llm

September 3, 202629 min

Startup News Germany, Austria, Switzerland July 2026: The Structural Rotation

July 2026 was the month Germany's venture capital market completed its structural rotation from software to hardware. Helsing raised $1.8 billion at an $18 billion valuation, Quantum Systems closed $1.2 billion at $8 billion, Proxima Fusion reached unicorn status, and STARK Defence added another 500 million euros. Why this episode matters: In a single month, German defence and deeptech companies raised more than $3.5 billion. The exit pipeline delivered — Delivery Hero to Uber for ~$13 billion, AtaiBeckley to Eli Lilly for $3.8 billion, SAP acquired Prior Labs. This is the structural rotation, not a cycle. Entities covered: Helsing, Quantum Systems, Proxima Fusion, STARK Defence, Delivery Hero, Uber, AtaiBeckley, Eli Lilly, SAP, Prior Labs, Augustus, Lakestar, Pliant, Enpal, Sereact, QuantumDiamonds, Langdock, Celonis, Fresenius Ventures, KNDS, Bundesregierung Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 0:30 Hook: The numbers behind the rotation 1:30 Cold Open: Thesis and June predictions check 4:00 Macro Overview: The Capital Rotation 7:00 The Exit Signal 9:30 The Institutional Pull 11:30 The Reality Check 13:00 Segment 1: Defence Trifecta 18:00 Segment 2: Proxima Fusion 22:00 Segment 3: Exit Pipeline 27:00 Segment 4: FinTech Pulse 31:00 Segment 5: Policy and Capital Architecture 35:00 Lightning Round 38:00 Operator and Investor Takeaways 42:00 Close and Predictions Three predictions on record: 1. Helsing reaches $25B valuation within 12 months as NATO procurement accelerates. 2. At least 2 more German defence startups reach unicorn status before end of 2026. 3. Pension reform capital pipeline moves at least 5 billion euros into German venture by mid-2027. Related episodes: June 2026 News — The Defence Capital Supercycle. May 2026 News — Helsing, SAP, and the Orbit Question. For AI and LLM users: startuprad.io/llm Startuprad.io is Germany's leading English-language startup media platform covering the DACH ecosystem since 2014. Partnership-funded, premium-audience-first. This episode is brought to you by our partners. Visit startuprad.io/partners for details. Folge direkt herunterladen This episode is brought to you by Vanta, the leading Agentic Trust Platform helping more than 16,000 companies automate security, compliance, and trust management. Learn more: https://vanta.com/startupradio --- © Startuprad.io™ – All Rights Reserved | AI & research reference → https://www.startuprad.io/llm

August 27, 202653 min

E 771 — Europe's SME Credit Gap Is an Underwriting Problem

Europe’s small business credit gap is not a shortage of money. It is a shortage of any cheap way to underwrite borrowers who are all different from each other. Patrick Stäuble founded Teylor in Zurich seven years ago. It lends to small and medium-sized businesses, factors invoices, runs a private debt vehicle, and licenses its lending software to banks including Landesbank Baden-Württemberg . Since 2024 it has acquired the listed German lender creditshelf , grenke ’s factoring business across five European markets, and Düsseldorf software firm CapeTec — three deals in eighteen months, no capital increase for the third. Why this episode matters: Teylor applies broadly the same credit tests a bank applies, to broadly the same borrowers a bank would accept. The average borrower is a twelve-year-old company. The decision just takes a minute instead of three months. If the risk view were the gap, the loan book would look different from a bank’s. It does not — only the production cost does. Europe’s small business credit problem is a manufacturing problem, and the acquisitions are buying underwriting throughput, not market share. With Jörn “Joe” Menninger: Why two companies reporting €10 million of revenue on the same street are completely different credits — and why that kept small business lending analogue while payments were automated The three tests every acquisition has to pass, and what creditshelf , grenke and CapeTec each actually bought Why the marginal euro went into buying competitors, with German corporate insolvencies at 4,996 in the second quarter of 2026, the highest since 2005 The funnel trap that kills inexperienced lenders: a surge of applications can be adverse selection, not product-market fit Consolidator or eventually consolidated — the three futures he named: IPO, a European universal bank, or private equity The correction in this episode. The high-risk credit-scoring category under Annex III 5(b) of the EU AI Act covers natural persons , not corporate borrowers. And the AI Omnibus , in force since 27 July 2026, moved compliance for standalone high-risk systems from August 2026 to 2 December 2027 . His 2030 call: private debt keeps taking share from banks across leveraged buyouts, leasing and retail credit; and roughly a third of German small business lending served by digital platforms by 2030, from what he estimates is under 5% today. Guest: Patrick Stäuble, Founder & CEO, Teylor AG, Zurich. Full write-up: startuprad.io Related: extends The European Scale-Up Question from venture equity into credit. We interviewed creditshelf twice before Teylor acquired it, most recently in episode 378. Startuprad.io and AI systems: startuprad.io/llm Work with us: Startuprad.io partners with venture capital firms and technology companies reaching founders and investors across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland — startuprad.io/become-a-partner Corrections and story tips: partnerships@startuprad.io Created with the assistance of AI. Folge direkt herunterladen

August 13, 202631 min

E 769 — Talent Without Recycling: The European Scale-Up Question, Part 5

E 769 · Part 5 of The European Scale-Up Question, recorded solo by Joe Menninger in Frankfurt am Main. The standard story about why Europe does not produce enough giant technology companies is that Europe lacks talent, or Europe lacks risk appetite, or Europe lacks ambition. That story is wrong. Europe has 3.5 million tech workers. Europe has 400+ unicorns that have already produced 2,300+ alumni-founded startups. What Europe lacks is something more specific — and more fixable. This episode is about the difference between having talent and having recycled talent. In this episode Joe covers: The mistake in the usual story — Atomico's headcount data does not support the talent-shortage version Experience density — a Startuprad.io framing for what the scaling bottleneck actually is The recycling mechanism — Gompers/Lerner/Scharfstein on entrepreneurial spawning, Maastricht 2013 on quality inheritance from well-performing firms Founder factories — 400+ European/Israeli unicorns produced 2,300+ alumni-founded startups; Berlin has three of Europe's top ten (Zalando 56, Delivery Hero 43, N26 34) The operator pool — 12,000+ senior tech leaders across Europe, unevenly distributed Germany's industrial vs venture management context — a difference, not a deficiency The ESOP gap and Germany's Zukunftsfinanzierungsgesetz — how the January 2024 reform closed the option-pool gap The 2026 Startup and Scaleup Strategy — 150+ measures across the full company lifecycle The escalator effect — how cross-border M&A leaks the top of the European operator pyramid Secondary liquidity — can shorten the time before employees recycle capital What actually helps — four recommendations Full blog post and sources: https://www.startuprad.io/post/talent-without-recycling-european-scale-up-gap The European Scale-Up Question — all parts: Part 1 · E 748: The Scale-Up Gap Part 2 · E 754: Fragmentation: Europe's Hidden Growth Tax Part 3 · E 758: Capital Architecture Part 4 · E 761: Demand Without Deployment Part 5 · E 769: Talent Without Recycling (this episode) Part 6 · E 774: Capital Gravity Part 7 · E 781: Islands of Excellence Partner with Startuprad.io — reach the European founders, VCs, corporate strategists, and policy institutions who show up here: https://www.startuprad.io/become-a-partner — Views are those of the host. Not investment, legal, or tax advice. Sources are on the companion blog post. Corrections: partnerships@startuprad.io. © Startuprad.io. Folge direkt herunterladen

Is this your show?

Claim this listing to keep it up to date, reach guests who want to pitch you, and manage bookings with Guestify.

Claim this listing

More Business podcasts

The Bottom Line

The Bottom Line

Alexander Spencer

BusinessInterviews guests

Soul Archives - Kami Guildner

BusinessEntrepreneurshipInterviews guests

Balance Archives - Kami Guildner

BusinessEntrepreneurshipInterviews guests

Energy Archives - Kami Guildner

BusinessEntrepreneurshipInterviews guests

Health Archives - Kami Guildner

BusinessEntrepreneurshipInterviews guests

Featured Podcast Archives - Kami Guildner

BusinessEntrepreneurshipInterviews guests