United Fintech Continues Acquisition Spree

United Fintech has increased its stake in platform TTMzero to assume a majority holding in the Berlin-based Regtech firm of 51%. In just over two years since forming, United Fintech has acquired, or taken a substantial stake in, Cobalt FX, Athena Systems, FairXchange and NetDania.

Simultaneously and in a separate transaction, the two German owners of TTMzero, Simon Ullrich and Soenke Blunck, have used part of their share sale proceeds to invest in United Fintech on a group level. According to United Fintech CEO Christian Frahm, the fintech platform’s projected growth in the coming years poses a rare opportunity for fintech founders wanting to join a bigger journey.

“For the past few years, the trend has been that financial institutions are looking to reduce the number of third-party suppliers,” he observes. “Historically, this would mean more expansive contracts with legacy providers, however, this is where we differentiate with a rare combination of great technology from the best niche providers under one umbrella, and we now see this emerging as a winning combo. On a group level, our revenue has increased five-fold, both organically and via M&A, and predicting only further growth in the niche over the next few years, it was obvious for us to gain a majority stake in TTMzero.”

United Fintech initially invested in TTMzero in 2021, and the firm says in the interim its revenues have grown two-and-a-half times, and it has clients like Citi, Morgan Stanley and Commerzbank. “Our main motivation was that we wanted access to global markets and with United Fintech’s network, we believe we can grow into new jurisdictions,” says Ullrich. “On their platform, we’re in good company with other innovative founders and experience a lot of important synergies between their technology products and ours.

“As founders, we preserve the core culture of TTMzero which has always been a focus on product innovation and UX while United Fintech provides a scalable platform that allows us to service our customers as a global company,” he continues. “Thus it’s a best of both worlds scenario and in the current market, where it’s a matter of size for those who want to be part of the bid for the banks’ digital transformation, it makes great sense to be part of something bigger to realise our full potential.”

Frahm adds, “The financial sector is realising that getting off legacy infrastructure and embracing newer and more open architecture is critical for survival in a world where their customers’ behaviour and needs are changing drastically. The best products come from niche product companies – not from large legacy providers. That’s why our value proposition is attracting massive interest from financial services firms around the world, all of whom are in a digital race against time, and why these seem to rally around larger core providers over smaller stand-alone software firms like never before.”