Raisin, a Fintech that provides an online marketplace for savers seeking better returns, has acquired fairr a retirement savings Fintech. Both companies are headquartered in Germany. The acquisition by Raisin comes following a recent funding round of €25 million from Goldman Sachs. The terms of the deal were not revealed but Raisin said it has acquired 100% of fairr’s share capital in exchange for Raisin shares as well as cash.
fairr’s products will continue to be available on their website, while the brand will be incorporated under Raisin’s umbrella as “fairr by raisin.”
fairr’s three founders are expected to take leading roles in the newly formed investments and pension products division at Raisin, which will include Raisin’s existing investment product line WeltInvest. The entire fairr team will also join the larger Raisin family.
Raisin states that this strategic acquisition will provide access to the € 12 trillion European pension and retirement savings market. Raisin will become the only platform worldwide to offer its customers access to savings, investments and pension products – all a single online marketplace.
This is the second acquisition for Raisin this year, as it acquired MHB-Bank this past spring.
fairr is described as tackling the highly regulated German pension market successfully offering “Riester” and “Rürup” products as well as company pension plans.
fairr says it “hacked the government formula” to create a better version of the state-funded Riester plan.
In addition to the comprehensive Riester, Rürup, and company pension product solutions, the Fintech says it is the first to offer a “pension cockpit”, enabling customers to have a holistic overview of their retirement savings.
Raisin states that fairr has been doing the same thing it has been doing for savings accounts: creating a more transparent, user-friendly product all offered on a digital platform.
“For consumers, retirement savings are still a very opaque, dusty, cost-intensive business. With Raisin’s access to the market we will be able to expand our reach significantly and continue to revamp the retirement savings market. We’re proud of what our team has achieved over the last 6 years and are very excited about our future together with Raisin,” stated fairr co-founder Jens Jennissen.
Raisin CEO and co-founder Dr. Tamaz Georgadze called fairr a remarkable success story having simplified the pension products Riester and Rürup.
“Through the takeover, we will be able to expand our product offering specifically around the important aspects of retirement saving. Together we want to grow and bring new momentum to the sector. Next to bank deposits, retirement savings is the most important asset class for individuals, with a volume of 2 trillion Euro in Germany alone,” said Georgadze.
A representative of fairr investor IBB Investitionsbank Berlin, Clemens Kabel, commented on the acquisition:
“For us, fairr is an absolute success story. The Fintech gave the Berlin market, and startup scene more broadly, an enormous visibility and established itself as uncommonly customer-friendly in the otherwise quite traditional field of retirement savings. It was the first Fintech investment for our Berlin technology VC. We’re thus especially glad to see Raisin and fairr now joining forces and strengthening Berlin’s position in Fintech.”