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Hamburg-based consumer banking startup, Deposit Solutions, secured €6.5m in Series A financing led by German venture capital firm FinLab, along with Peter Thiel. The company allows European banks to offer their products on an open platform, enabling individuals to pick and choose products from a range of banks on the platform without having to go through the cumbersome process of opening accounts at different banks.
Mr Thiel appears to have changed his tune on Europe’s investment appeal. In September 2014 he told the Financial Times that Europe is a “slacker with low expectations”. He said the continent was held back by a poor work ethic and run by politicians who strangled technological progress with regulations that are a “cure worse than the disease”. However, in the past year, Valar Ventures, Mr Thiel’s venture capital firm, has invested in two fintech start-ups: Kreditech in Hamburg and Berlin-based Number26.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/a10794f2-b55b-11e5-8358-9a82b43f6b2f.html#axzz3wfLHgtPL
