Startupnews of the week - week 42

Sage and ePages with partnership. Sven Schneider becomes COO at PAIR Finance. Factorial acquires Fuell. Jes Hennig becomes CCO at Forget Finance. Full success at Heilbronn Slush'D 2023.

More than 1,000 visitors at Heilbronn Slush'D 2023

The second edition of the Heilbronn Slush'D took place and with more than 1,000 attendees, including founders, investors and corporate decision-makers, it recorded a considerable increase compared to last year's premiere. The event, organized by Campus Founders, provided a platform for networking and collaboration between startups and investors. Topics such as cooperation between startups and SMEs and the use of artificial intelligence were the focus of the event. Ventus secured the top prize in the form of a 100,000-euro investment. The Heilbronn region is also positioning itself as an emerging AI hotspot. The festival also honored promising startups and promoted exchange between various stakeholders to strengthen the regional startup ecosystem. Campus Founders is already planning a continuation of the festival next year and is committed to promoting startups and innovation in Heilbronn as a Startup & Co-Innovation Hub.

Jes Hennig becomes Chief Commercial Officer at Forget Finance

Berlin - Fintech company Forget Finance has appointed Jes Hennig as its new Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) to support the company's growth. Jes Hennig brings extensive experience in the innovation and growth space of traditional banks and neobanks. He previously founded neobank Ruuky, which attracted 250,000 users during his tenure before being sold earlier this year after a failed funding round. Forget Finance sees Jes Hennig as a valuable addition and expects his arrival to help grow the company. Forget Finance was founded in Berlin in 2020 and has received investment from notable figures in the finance and tech industries. Its goal is to help people unlock their financial potential.

Factorial acquires Fuell

Factorial has successfully acquired Fuell, a Spanish expense management start-up funded by Y Combinator. This marks the first major acquisition and product expansion for Factorial, which previously specialized in HR. Fuell provides a specialized solution for budget management and back-office tasks such as VAT reimbursement and expense categorization. With this acquisition, Factorial expands its offering and aims to become an integrated HR and expense management platform in Europe.

Sven Schneider becomes Chief Operating Officer at PAIR Finance

PAIR Finance, a leading European fintech company for customer-centric digital collections, has appointed Sven Schneider as chief operating officer (COO). Schneider, former head of collections (Europe) at Riverty, brings 18 years of experience in management roles and will lead PAIR Finance's operations to help the company expand in Europe. Schneider emphasizes the importance of PAIR Finance's AI technology to the collections industry and its scalable platform. Stephan Stricker, CEO of PAIR Finance, says he is pleased with Schneider's expertise and expects him to play an important role in the company's continued growth.

Sage and ePages partner up

Sage and ePages announced a partnership in Frankfurt to launch an all-in-one e-commerce suite for startups and mid-sized companies in Germany. The suite will be available in Comfort and Professional versions, priced at 164 and 214 euros respectively, and is designed to help SMEs get started in online commerce. This is an extension of their existing partnership. Further details are available on Sage's website.