Today, Germany is the engine room of European fintech. We are seeing a shift from “neobanks” to “financial operating systems,” with Berlin serving as the headquarters for companies that are digitising the backbone of the European economy.
The startups on this list are managing billions of assets, solving complex B2B pain points, and ultimately making the German financial system more efficient. Here are the 10 FinTech startups in Germany you need to watch in 2026.
1. Trade Republic
To understand the shift in European investing culture, look to Trade Republic. Founded in 2015 by Christian Hecker, Thomas Pischke, and Marco Cancellieri, the company has evolved from a simple stockbroker into the primary wealth generator for a generation. With over €35 billion in assets under administration and 4 million customers across 17 markets, they have moved far beyond just trading. By obtaining a full banking license and passing ECB interest rates directly to consumers, alongside launching a spending card with “saveback” rewards, they are building a full-stack financial home for retail investors. They are currently profitable, which is a rarity in the neobroker space, and are widely expected to be the next major European IPO.
2. N26
N26 is the original digital incumbent that proved you could build a pan-European bank without a single branch. Founded by Valentin Stalf and Maximilian Tayenthal in 2013, the company has successfully pivoted from a strategy of “growth at all costs” to sustainable profitability. Now serving over 8 million customers with a valuation hovering around $9 billion, they have doubled down on being the primary bank account for Europeans rather than just a travel card. Their recent strategic expansion includes “N26 Crypto” and premium subscription tiers like N26 Metal, which monetise user engagement effectively, moving them from a secondary spending tool to a daily financial operating system.
3. Raisin
While other fintechs fight for your daily coffee spend, Raisin has quietly built an empire by optimising your savings. Founded by Dr Tamaz Georgadze, Dr Frank Freund, and Michael Stephan, Raisin operates as a pan-European interest marketplace, connecting savers with banks that offer higher interest rates across the continent. It’s essentially an arbitrage machine for cash. They currently manage over €57 billion in assets for more than 1 million customers. By acquiring their own bank (Raisin Bank) to handle the underlying infrastructure, they have built a regulatory fortress that allows them to seamlessly onboard partner banks, making them the silent winners of the high-interest-rate environment.
4. Solaris
You might not use Solaris directly, but you probably use a product built on top of it. Led by CEO Carsten Höltkemeyer, Solaris provides the critical infrastructure layer or the “Banking-as-a-Service” (BaaS) license and tech stack, which allows other companies, from Samsung to Vivid Money, to offer financial products. Despite facing regulatory headwinds, they remain the heavyweight in the embedded finance space. Their recent pivot towards “asset-light” banking and a renewed focus on compliance positions them as the serious, regulated partner for non-financial brands entering the market, moving away from risky consumer lending to pure infrastructure provision.
5. Mambu
Legacy banks run on code written in the 1970s, but Mambu offers a cloud-native exit strategy. Founded by Eugene Danilkis, they built the “core banking” engine that powers both agile fintechs like N26 and tier-one traditional banks like Raiffeisen. Their SaaS model enables financial institutions to launch new lending or deposit products in weeks, rather than years, a process that previously took decades. With annual recurring revenue exceeding €100 million, Mambu is one of Germany’s most successful enterprise software exporters, quietly powering the backend of the global fintech revolution from its Berlin headquarters.
6. Taxfix
Filing taxes in Germany is notoriously complex, but Taxfix has democratised the process by turning it into a simple chat-like experience. Founders Mathis Büchi and Lino Teuteberg realised that millions of euros in refunds were going unclaimed because people were scared of the paperwork. Their app asks simple questions and generates the official tax forms in the background, making tax returns accessible to everyone. Having achieved “unicorn” status with a $1 billion valuation, they recently acquired TaxScouts to expand into the UK and Spain, cementing their ambition to become the pan-European platform for financial compliance.
7. Scalable Capital
While Trade Republic targets the active trader, Scalable Capital has cornered the market for the passive investor. Founded by Erik Podzuweit and Florian Prucker, they started as a robo-advisor but have evolved into a full-service wealth management heavyweight. With over €20 billion in assets on their platform, they offer wealth management on autopilot. Their flat-rate subscription model (Prime Broker) has been a massive hit, encouraging users to set up monthly savings plans into ETFs. They are also aggressively expanding into B2B, powering white-label investment offerings for partners like ING and Barclays.
8. Billie
“Buy Now, Pay Later” isn’t just for sneakers; it’s for forklifts and office supplies. Billie is the leader in B2B BNPL, solving the working capital crunch for business transactions. Founders Dr Matthias Knecht and Dr Christian Grobe built a real-time scoring engine that allows B2B merchants to offer invoice financing instantly at checkout. Backed by Klarna (with whom they have a strategic partnership), they allow suppliers to get paid immediately while buyers get 30-day terms. It’s a massive efficiency unlock for the German Mittelstand, digitising the paper-heavy world of trade credit.
9. Upvest
If you want to offer stock trading in your app, you call Upvest. Founded by Martin Kassing, they provide the Investment-as-a-Service API, which handles the complex regulatory and technical aspects of fractional share trading and custody. They recently secured a strategic investment from BlackRock, validating their technology as the new standard for investment infrastructure. They power the trading features for major players like Revolut and N26, effectively becoming the plumbing for the retail investment boom across Europe.
10. Mondu
Similar to Billie, Mondu is attacking the B2B payments space, but with a specific focus on flexibility and omnichannel sales. Founders Malte Huffmann and Philipp Povel (who previously built Dafiti in Brazil) are bringing consumer e-commerce speed to B2B purchasing. They offer a suite of payment options, ranging from net terms to instalments, that work both online and offline. Having raised a €100 million debt facility in late 2025, they are well-equipped to finance a substantial volume of B2B transactions, helping merchants boost conversion rates and cash flow simultaneously without incurring credit risk.
The 2026 Outlook
Germany’s fintech sector has graduated. The era of copycat business models is over. The companies winning in 2025 are those that own the infrastructure, such as Solaris, Upvest, and Mambu, or those that have built unshakeable trust with retail customers, like Trade Republic and N26. With profitability now the primary metric, expect these ten players to start consolidating the market, buying up smaller competitors to build genuine pan-European financial giants.
