neosfer GmbH
neosfer GmbH, an early-stage investor and innovation unit of the Commerzbank Group, investigates future technologies relevant to the economy and society, promotes and develops sustainable, digital solutions and brings them profitably to Commerzbank and its customers.
Across the following three areas, neosfer supports the bank and its customers in the sustainable and digital transformation:
- Invest:
neosfer deliberately invests in digital and sustainable startups that have the power to reshape financial services. Currently, neosfer has 23 active investments and with Grover also one “unicorn” (a company with a market valuation of more than 1 billion US dollars) in its portfolio. In addition to financial investments, neosfer supports founders with its network. The solutions of the portfolio companies are then used directly in the Commerzbank Group or by its customers in the corporate/business clients segment or other financial services providers.
- Build:
Driven by current trends and state-of-the-art technologies, neosfer develops its own prototypes for sustainable and digital solutions for Commerzbank, its customers and other financial services providers. These prototypes can be the starting point for neosfer’s own venture building projects, which show the economic viability of the original prototypes in conjunction with a functioning business model behind them.
- Connect:
neosfer acts as an important hub in connecting startups, investors and innovators. Through various community formats, it regularly brings the network together and promotes knowledge exchange. Its own formats include, for example, the monthly event series “Between the Towers”, the “Talk Between the Towers” podcast and the IMPACT FESTIVAL. This way, neosfer actively contributes to the networking of important players in the entire Rhine-Main region and beyond.
As neosfer GmbH, Commerzbank AG’s innovation unit and early-stage investor will now focus even more on the digital and sustainable transformation of Commerzbank and the economy. With a new brand concept, the company underlines the change, combines competencies in the areas of digitalization and sustainability and keeps entry into new business areas open. The name “neosfer” is international and highlights the development from a pure incubator to a diversified business model. Derived from new, transfer and sphere, it describes the exploration of new areas and the transfer of digital and sustainable know-how into the bank and thus into the economy. In this way, the Commerzbank subsidiary is sharpening its business model and actively reacting to the progressive changes on the market and in society.
The demand from customers in the B2B and B2C sector is no longer only growing for digital solutions, but above all for sustainable solutions. In response, transformation must be driven in both directions. Kai Werner, managing director of neosfer, explained: “Digitalization and sustainability are undoubtedly the decisive drivers of our time. We at neosfer are convinced that the two trends cannot be viewed separately, but are closely linked and must therefore go hand in hand.” To this end, neosfer examines future technologies that are relevant to the economy and society, invests in innovative ideas and develops sustainable and digital solutions.
Through investments in technology-driven and sustainable start-ups, neosfer brings innovations to Commerzbank and its customers. The portfolio already includes several companies with a sustainability focus. Successful start-up examples include Dabbel, Squake, Global Changer and Grover. The latter recently achieved unicorn status, meaning its market valuation is more than $1 billion. In addition, neosfer develops its own prototypes and venture building projects and is always in contact with network partners. “We believe in the added value through collaboration – be it with start-ups, network partners or customers – in order to identify the best possible solutions and approach them together,” says Matthias Lais, founder of the main incubator and also managing director of neosfer. “Technology is not an end in itself for us, but always a tool to generate real customer benefits.” With the first edition of the Impact Festival last year, the company set an important milestone and brought start-ups from the ESG sector together with established companies Investors brought together to accelerate sustainable transformation. It would like to build on its success this year as neosfer GmbH: The Impact Festival 2022 will take place on October 5th and 6th, 2022 in Offenbach am Main.
As one of the first innovation units and early-stage investors on the market, the main incubator has been part of the Commerzbank Group since 2013. Since its founding, the company has successfully brought many innovations to the bank and thus actively contributed to the development and expansion of the bank’s digital transformation. With the rebranding and the conscious expansion to sustainability, neosfer is scaling its model in line with the strategy of Commerzbank AG.
neosfer GmbH is a wholly owned subsidiary of Commerzbank AG based in Frankfurt am Main.
Web:
https://neosfer.de/
https://impact-solutions.io/
Source: Commerzbank
comdirect Startup Garage
Innovations are becoming increasingly important in banking and brokerage, also in order to differentiate yourself on the market – standing still is not an option. Working with start-ups enriches knowledge.
The comdirect Startup Garage is the corporate accelerator program from comdirect – a brand of Commerzbank AG. The program is usually designed to last three months. The Startup Garage was founded in 2015 and was the first accelerator program by a German bank.
The start-up garage was launched so that comdirect can network more closely with the fintech scene and research the trends of tomorrow together with the fintechs.
Ideally, new ideas will be created together that will help quickly bring products to market that can sustainably change banking and brokerage. The goal is to radically align ourselves with the needs of our customers.
Source: comdirect
Web:
https://comdirect-garage.de/
Commerzbank’s idea management already had excellent successes in 2011:
Ideenmanagement der Commerzbank auch 2011 mit ausgezeichneten Erfolgen