Index Ventures is investing in this Berlin-based Saas startup

Data is the new currency, even in the financial sector. The program from tactile fintech aims to help banks and insurance companies better evaluate their customers.

Fintech Tactile is raising $4.7 million in an initial funding round, equivalent to approximately €4 million. The lead investor is London-based Venture Capital Index, which has already poured money into start-ups such as Persono and Revolut. Also participating in the round are Y Combinator, the popular accelerator program from Silicon Valley, London-based VC Firstminute Capital and several business sponsors such as the founders of Github and Uipath.

The company, which was founded in September 2020, intends to use financial injections to increase its workforce of the current 15 employees – and in particular to expand its team of software developers. Because they take care of the tangible product: a platform on which banks and insurance companies can activate their algorithms, such as credit check algorithms, and manage them in production. Tactile works with machine learning, i.e. self-learning IT systems. “Until now, many are looking at machine learning as research and development projects in their companies. We want this technology to actually be implemented,” co-founder Mike Taro Wemayer said in an interview with Gründerszene.

Tactile charges a monthly fee for its product. However, the CEO does not want to say how high it will go. The rates depend on how many algorithms banks and insurance companies want to use for themselves. According to Wehmeyer, clients of the startup include Branch, a new bank from the USA. According to the founder, the focus of customers in Europe is initially in the DACH region.

Harvard graduates return to Berlin

The startup was founded in 2020 by Wehmeyer and Maximilian Eber. The two met while studying at the elite Harvard University. Before touch, they worked for a company where they had already developed their own algorithms for machine learning systems.

The founding duo expanded their idea of ​​Y Combinator touches. The founders were not allowed to travel to the United States at the start of the program last summer due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, that didn’t hurt the startup’s business, Wehmeyer says. “Participation in Y Combinator has greatly helped us expand our client base in the USA.”

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