Vivid grabs license

The Berlin-based fintech has won over the Dutch supervisory authority. Now it wants to become a super app.

The banking and investment start-up Vivid has secured an investment license. The Berlin-based company has won over the Dutch Financial Markets Authority (AFM) and is now allowed to offer investment services independently. According to Vivid, this is a major step towards building a so-called "super app".

The license is the first that Vivid has been able to secure since its launch in June 2020. The license now allows the start-up to store, receive and forward financial instruments from customers. According to the start-up, it is also possible to provide general investment recommendations.

"With the investment license, we can now independently develop the best investment products for our customers and bring them to market. We are proud to take this first big step in our young company history together with one of the most renowned financial regulators in Europe," says Esmond Berkhout CCRO and Executive Director of Vivid Money B.V.

Vivid was founded by Artem Iamanov and Alexander Emeshev and employs more than 350 people. In addition to Germany, Vivid is also active in France, Spain and Italy and has since raised more than 200 million euros. The fintech offers a banking app that allows users to have the functions of a current account and invest in shares and cryptocurrencies at the same time. This puts Vivid in competition not only with other neobanks such as N26 and Revolut, but also with online brokers such as Trade Republic. According to its own information, the start-up has over 500,000 users across Europe.