A Growth Engine for Europe

Founded in December 2014, FinTech firm Scalable Capital gives tailored advice to high-income private individuals who, until now, have not had any viable alternative for investing assets on their own initiative. “In areas where traditional banks have rigid, inflexible processes, we look more to technology and automation,” explains CEO Erik Podzuweit. “But we don’t just sell products, like banks do – we offer our clients a genuine end-to-end service for their pensions.” To kick-start its client-facing business, the start-up took part in the Google Launchpad program in Munich. “Back then, we weren’t sure how we should go about targeting our services, and who we should communicate them to,” says Podzuweit. “Launchpad gave us some extremely valuable input. And by implementing what we learned, we were able to generate several thousand prospects before we even launched on the market.” The young company, which now employs around 50 staff in London and Munich, also makes full use of Google in its day-to-day business. “We use most of the Google Apps, including Cloud and Gmail, and none of us have a local email client installed,” continues Podzuweit. For Scalable Capital, revenue increases, cost reductions and continued growth are the main benefits of collaborating with Google. “Although we have only been active in the client-facing business since January 2016, we are already known by senior management at all the major banks, and they approach us directly,” says Podzuweit.