Fintech Neufund is back

In the middle of the year, Neufund ceased operations after friction with BaFin. Founder Zoe Adamovicz now announces plans to resume offering in early 2021 with four million euros in investor funding.

Fintech Neufund had actually disappeared from the playing field. Now it announces it has raised four million euros. Investors are Udo Schloemer from Factory Berlin, Christoph Maire from Atlantic Labs, Freigeist Capital and Dario Suter from media company DCM.

Neufund was founded in 2016 by Zoe Adamovicz and wants to give small investors the chance to participate in the financing of start-ups via a blockchain platform - using so-called Equity Token Offerings (ETO). After teething problems, the first start-up, e-bike manufacturer Greyp, was funded just last year. But shortly afterwards, the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) intervened because no securities prospectus was published for the investment. However, this must be done for all securities offered that are less than 100,000 euros in order to provide potential investors with sufficient information. In June of this year, Adamovicz announced that Neufund would be discontinued and also blamed what she saw as BaFin's restrictive and anti-innovation stance. This account was opposed by some heads in the startup scene.

Now Neufund is back: the four million is in addition to the Series A financing round of 3.4 million. It will be invested in further development of Neufund's products, more user-friendliness of its offering, and it will apply for a license. In her announcement, Adamovicz says Neufund will be active again in early 2021, and plans to focus on more small-to-medium startups that address sustainability and problem-solving modern challenges.