Crastorehill Acquires Leading Open Banking Players Qwist and ndgit and Appoints New CEO
Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich and Warsaw 16.11.2023
Crastorehill, a company majority owned by Finch Capital, Europe‘s leading growth investor, has successfully acquired two prominent open banking players as part of their buy-and-build strategy. This move positions Crastorehill as the 100% shareholder of Qwist (formerly finleap connect) and ndgit, harnessing their complementary strengths to lead the way in the future of open banking.
Crastorehill’s strategy drives the rise of a second wave of value creation within the open banking market with the delivery and adoption of open banking enabled use cases. The surge will be accelerated by the PSD3 regulation, an advancement of PSD2, which improves consumer protection and therefore heightens ability to deliver innovative market offerings. This evolution and proliferation of open banking based products will deliver real consumer value and thereby create business value. Based on this outlook, Crastorehill has strategically acquired two prominent players in the open banking field, Qwist and ndgit, aiming to leverage their combined strengths and reinforce their position in this burgeoning market.
Crastorehill will be managed by its newly announced CEO, Matt Colebourne.
“Open standards, in almost any technological or regulated area, create the opportunity to solve previously insoluble problems, to do things faster, more easily and more cheaply. Much as the internet ushered in a previously inconceivable plethora of new ways to interact, transact and research, the rise of open banking will enable new ways to assess risk, verify identity, understand macro-economic behaviour and enable faster, easier interaction for consumers. I’m excited to join Crastorehill at a time when we have the opportunity to lead this transformation and grow.” – says Matt Colebourne.
Oliver Dlugosch, CEO of ndgit, welcomes the synergies that emerge from operating under one umbrella:
“The strength of having ndgit and Qwist within the same group and in one holding is a significant milestone. Together we are the foremost open banking player in the local market in terms of revenue and breadth of services. It enhances our market position and empowers us to offer a more comprehensive suite of services to our existing and potential customers.”
Nicola Breyer, CEO of Qwist views the joint value proposition the two companies will be able to offer as a significant step, marking the successful culmination of Qwist’s transformation over the past year:
“Our shift from finleap connect to Qwist as a high-quality open banking solutions provider has created a solid foundation for this promising partnership. Our wealth of experience as a regulated company with over 11 years of experience in the market will be of great value to the new collaboration, which will now enable us to offer the full value chain of services from API build and compliance to high end data analytics. I am very much looking forward to continuing our journey with competent and influential partners and team members by our side.”
Starting today, the operations under one roof are officially underway. In the coming months, Matt Colebourne, the newly appointed Managing Director of Crastorehill, will work closely with the leadership of both companies to explore potential areas of synergy. Together, they will strategize and implement initiatives aimed at enhancing their mutual growth.
According to Finch Capital, this acquisition is just the beginning of shaping the future of open banking:
“Challenging market conditions create opportunities, and we firmly believe that Open Banking, along with its potential to offer innovative solutions to the financial world, is here to stay. We are delighted with the acquisition of these two entities, each with its unique strengths, in a rapidly growing market. We remain committed to seeking further acquisitions in Crastorehill to enhance our product offerings and expand our presence in different regions.” – comments Friso Roscam Abbing, Principal at Finch Capital.
The teams of Crastorehill and Qwist have been supported by CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang Posniak i Bejm out of Poland and CMS CMS Hasche Sigle Partnerschaft out of Germany.
About Qwist
Qwist is a pioneer in the open banking and open finance sector, dedicated to enabling our customer base to drive business value based on data. As a market leader in the four key European markets of Germany, Austria, Spain and Portugal, we proudly serve top-tier banks, leading e-commerce players, innovative FinTechs, and other digital businesses and empower them to unlock the value of their data. Headquartered in Berlin, Qwist employs 80 + people in four countries.
More information: https://qwist.com/
About ndgit
ndgit’s leading open banking platform connects financial service providers with their digital partners to facilitate the new era of embedded finance.
Today, over 50 banks and companies worldwide rely on the API platform for financial services to digitize traditional systems and position themselves for the future of open banking. The Munich-based company was founded in 2016 and currently employs around 50 people.
More information: https://ndgit.com/
About Finch Capital
Finch Capital is a growth investor that partners with ambitious teams in Finance & Business technology. Founded in 2013, Finch manages over €450m in AUM and backs Technology companies in 7 primary sectors: Accounting & Tax, Legal, Regulatory & Compliance, HR& Payroll, Business Process, Payments, Insurance and Banking & Wealth. Finch has backed over 50 companies including AccountsIQ, Fourthline, Grab, Goodlord, In3, NomuPay, Twinco and Zopa.
More information: https://www.finchcapital.com/
About Crastorehill
Crastorehill is a Warsaw based financial technology provider that builds data analytics products for the financial sector and beyond. The company aims to acquire other Open Banking providers to help enhance its product suite, geographical coverage and big data and artificial intelligence capabilities.
More information: https://www.crastorehill.com/
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Caroline Wahl
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