N26 is Germany's most valuable fintech

Despite the trouble with Bafin, neobank N26 has raised 700 million euros from investors. The fintech wants to use this to enter the crypto and securities trading market.

N26 has only just paid its million-euro fine to Bafin. The stress with the supervisory authority scared off investors, but they now seem to have regained confidence in the neobank: N26 raised 700 million euros according to information from Der Spiegel. Spiegel in its current financing round. At the same time, investors valued Neobank at eight billion euros, making it the most valuable fintech in Germany. Founders Valentin Stalf and Maximilian Tayenthal are said to have even aimed for 9.3 billion euros.

The money is to be used to further improve compliance measures. This is the fintech's response to criticism from Bafin, which accused N26 of being too lax in combating and monitoring suspected fraud and money laundering. The supervisory authority still has a special representative at Neobank. The Berliners are also using the fresh capital to enter the cryptocurrency and securities trading market. N26 is thus developing into a competitor for start-ups such as Trade Republic and Scalable Capital.

According to Finance Forward investors are said to have shown great interest in the new financing round. According to the Spiegel they criticized the overly harsh action taken against N26 by Bafin. According to them, it should have given the fintech more time to integrate the control mechanisms to better combat money laundering.