PayPal founder Peter Thiel has joined a EUR6.5 million funding round in Hamburg-based startup Deposit Solutions, which is building a B2B-based open architecture platform for retail deposits across Europe.
Deposit Solutions' aim is to transform the EUR 9 trillion European market of retail savings deposits by offering a platform over which European banks can list and sell their savings products. Consumers can use all savings offers with just their one account at their Client Bank and do not need to open numerous new accounts at other banks.
Deposit Solutions believes the approach creates a win:win situation for banks which join the platform. "Retail banks can offer their clients best-in-class interest rates without losing the client relationship to another bank and at the same time can manage excess liquidity," says the firm. "Savers just need one master account with their local bank and can build a portfolio of savings products in the same simple way they would buy shares or mutual funds. Banks looking for retail deposit funding can gather cross-border retail deposits onto their home balance sheet and gain instant access to a large universe of clients without expensive marketing or the need to operate a proprietary retail infrastructure."
The company says it has already mediated deposits in excess of EUR1 billion in different B2B applications over the platform. Acknowledging the difficulty in getting banks to sign up to a product that promotes rival offerings, the firm has also launched its own retail brand Zinspilot in 2014, which markets savings offers listed on the platform directly to German savers.
Thiel's EUR1 million personal investment is an add-on to a September growth financing round led by German fintech fund FinLab.
Says Thiel: "Deposit Solutions is revolutionising the value chain in the retail deposit business by creating significant advantages for savers and banks. It offers a clear, distinct competitive alternative secured by a proprietary technology with the potential to become the new back-end for the European retail deposit market."
The company says the cash will be used to support the European-wide rollout of Deposit Solution and the Zinspilot brand.