N26 is Germany's most valuable fintech

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

Just recently, N26 paid its million-dollar fine to Bafin. The stress with the regulator scared off investors, but they now seem to have regained confidence in the neobank: according to information from the Spiegel's in its current financing round. At the same time, investors valued Neobank at eight billion euros, making it Germany's most valuable fintech. Founders Valentin Stalf and Maximilian Tayenthal are said to have even sought 9.3 billion euros.

The money will be used to further improve compliance measures. The fintech is responding to criticism from Bafin, which accused N26 of being too lax in combating and controlling suspected fraud and money laundering. The supervisory authority still has a special representative sitting at Neobank. The Berliners are also getting into cryptocurrency and securities trading with the fresh capital. N26 is thus becoming a competitor for startups like Trade Republic and Scalable Capital.

According to Finance Forward investors' interest in the new financing round was said to have been high. Opposite the Mirror they criticize the too harsh action against N26 by Bafin. According to the report, it should have given the fintech more time to integrate the control mechanisms for better anti-money laundering.