This year’s Fintech Germany Awards were mainly dominated by blockchain and crypto start-ups. Here are the winners.
The Fintech Germany Awards (FTGA) are to aspiring German financial companies what the Oscars are to the drama guild. At this year’s Award ceremony Mainly blockchain and crypto start-ups scored points. A total of four of the eight winners came from the blockchain and co. Area. Prizes were given in five categories (Seed, Early, Late, Growth Stage and an award for the best foreign start-up) and three special categories. A renowned jury has been awarding the prizes since 2016. Michael Mellinghoff, Managing Director at TechFluence and co-chair of the FTGA jury, describes the selection process to BTC-ECHO:
The 24-person jury awards between 1 and 7 points per start-up or scale-up at the end of the application period. In the course of several jury meetings there is the possibility to validate these before the results are aggregated and put into the shortlist, which is then published … The jury members evaluate the overall performance of the participating start-ups or scale-ups without a specified catalog of criteria.
Michael Mellinghoff, co-chair of the FTGA jury to BTC-ECHO
The award in the “Seed Stage” category was decisive CashOnLedger for themselves. The Cologne start-up provides a blockchain-based infrastructure to offer data-driven business models for Industry 4.0. Founder and CBO (Chief Branding Officer) Maximilian Forster was delighted to have won the award. He writes on LinkedIn:
We are more than grateful and proud to have won the prestigious FinTech Germany Award. Our vision of creating the technological infrastructure between Industry 5.0 and banking became reality.
Maximilian Forster, founder and CBO at CashOnLedger on LinkedIn
Cashlink takes second prize in a row
Furthermore, the Frankfurt fintech made Cashlink the race in the “Early Stage” section. The company mainly focuses on the tokenization of securities. At the end of August, the company also hit the headlines when an application was submitted to BaFin to keep a provisional crypto securities register. They want to submit a full application by the end of the year. It is not the first time that Cashlink has won the prestigious award. Last year it received the award in the special category “Blockchain”. CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) Benedikt Scheungraber is delighted to have received the award several times over to BTC-ECHO:
We are very happy to have won the FinTech Germany Award for the second time and cannot thank anyone other than our great team. For us, the repeated award is a confirmation of our hard work and an encouragement of our vision for the future capital market.
Benedikt Scheungraber, CMO at Cashlink
Michael Mellinghoff also shares this assessment with BTC-ECHO:
The fact that several companies that make distributed ledger technology the core of their business model are winning first prizes in several categories at the Fintech Germany Award, in front of companies that do not use blockchain, is a clear indication of the future.
Michael Mellinghoff, co-chair of the FTGA jury
Crypto fintechs are taking off
Scheungraber also sees the fact that “a particularly large number of blockchain start-ups” scored points in their category this year as a positive development – also with regard to a DLT-based capital market.
Germany seems to see it the same way, because with the new Electronic Securities Act (eWpG) we are moving one step closer to the DLT-based capital market – so we could hardly be more motivated to help shape the future!
Benedikt Scheungraber, CMO at Cashlink towards BTC-ECHO
Crypto-Fintech Nuri secure the Fintech Germany Award in the “Late Stage” category. Users can invest in cryptocurrencies and savings plans via their own smartphone app. The business concept is well received by both customers and investors. After the rebranding in May of this year, the Berlin start-up currently has over 250,000 users, according to the company. In addition, Nuri made headlines at the end of June when it was able to raise 9 million euros in a financing round. CEO Kristina Walcker-Mayer comments:
Nuri’s vision is to make the topic of cryptocurrencies easily accessible to a broad masses. That is why we are particularly pleased about receiving the German Fintech Germany Award, because it proves that our distinctive customer focus and quality standards pay off.
Kristina Walcker-Mayer, CEO at Nuri towards BTC-ECHO
The Munich fintech completes the special categories Tangany the circle of blockchain-based winners. The Munich wallet service provider won the “Investment Technology” category. Like Cashlink, Tangany was thus able to win the prestigious award for the second time in a row. Last year it received the award in the “Seed Stage” category.