What’s is Kreditech’s mission statement?
Kreditech uses a unique, proprietary big data credit scoring technology based on 20,000 data points per application to provide financial services to the four billion individuals who do not have access to consumer finance. Our vision is to provide “better banking for everyone”.
Where are you headquartered?
Our headquarter is in Hamburg, Germany. The living quality is very high, it is easy to attract talent as Hamburg has high-profile universities and is multinational and the infrastructure is extremely good: Within 90 minutes you can travel to Berlin, London, Frankfurt – all the European hot spots for FinTech. As a disadvantage in general I would name the German bureaucracy – while in Berlin there is a special arrangement for immigrants, we have to fight for every single employee from abroad in order to get a bluecard / visa.
Who do you think will be the most influential figures (or companies) in FinTech, in 2015?
A lot of evolvements are happening in the industry at the moment. Most fast-growing innovators though are not European based. Lendingclub, Transferwise, Stripe and ANT Financial are pointing in the right direction.
What kind of year do you foresee for your company, and the industry as a whole?
2015 will be a big year for Kreditech. We are launching several exciting new products, including our innovative revolving credit line, and a fully integrated personal finance platform.
What are your key targets for 2015?
We are continuing on our mission to bring innovative banking products to the 4 billion underbanked consumers worldwide.
What will be the most important opportunities for FinTech in 2015?
At the moment, smaller players still have the chance to catch up. While a lot of established business are starting to gain momentum at the market, in the end of the year it will be clearer who’s the winner. Kreditech is in a strong position to play a leading role.
What are the key hurdles for growing your business this year?
We have to find the right talent to grow our business. With an easier process in obtaining blue card visa for our foreign employees we could accelerate our growth.
What are your thoughts on the current state of Fintech?
FinTech is still evolving – however, FinTech is more and more becoming a real challenger for established banks. This is a positive development for clients around the globe.