Finanzen.net: One year on

One year on from its carve-out from media giant Axel Springer, Finanzen.net has graduated from being a dependent corporate subsidiary to an independent and integrated growth-oriented platform. 

Finanzen.net’s first twelve months of Inflexion-backed independence illustrate what can be achieved when a clear vision is paired with swift execution and hands-on operational support. The business is now a standalone entity, with a fresh team in place to support ambitious plans – with gains already seen in customer attraction.

The partnership started last year after Inflexion identified the opportunity through its investment-thesis-led approach, which is underpinned by a sector and country matrix that drives deep thematic work. “Within Financial Services, we identified direct-to-consumer trading platforms as an attractive subsector, supported by structural growth as retail investors look to increase participation in equity markets which remains significantly below the US, or shift away from traditional banks and legacy challengers towards lower-cost, digital-first brokers,” explains Andrea Bertolini, Partner and Head of Financial Services at Inflexion.

Germany stood out in particular: despite a large savings market, equity ownership remains relatively untapped, with just 14% of households owning shares, compared with around 40% in the UK and 60% in the US. Finanzen.net stood out for its scale, reach and complexity that lent itself well to Inflexion’s carve-out experience and value creation capabilities.

Parent Axel Springer brought it to market in H1 2024, although Inflexion passed on what it deemed a very competitive process. Just months later, the opportunity was re-engaged bilaterally following the arrival of Inflexion’s Martin Preuss in Frankfurt. His local relationships, including with the vendor’s owners through his time at KKR, enabled direct dialogue with stakeholders and an attractive offer, including an expedited timescale and leadership solutions from day one. This led to Axel Springer and Inflexion agreeing a valuation and allowed the transaction to be executed within six weeks. This speed was made possible by Inflexion’s experience in carve outs – Finanzen.net marked Inflexion’s sixth in four years.

Before and after

At the time of the carve-out, Finanzen.net comprised three divisions: the high-growth, low-cost digital broker ZERO; the capital markets information portal finanzen.net; and TraderFox, a trading software platform for more sophisticated retail investors. While each business had strong fundamentals, they had been developed within a conglomerate structure, with limited integration between them and no single long-term vision for how the assets could reinforce one another.

The process was strongly supported by Inflexion’s Value Acceleration team and enabled Finanzen.net to implement the agreed value creation plan (VCP) quickly to combine the reach of Germany’s largest financial information portal with an independent, scalable brokerage platform, and placing the broker at the core of future growth.

“The three units were never fully integrated owing to complexities of different shareholder groups. Bringing the portal and broker together creates a single user journey, lowers customer acquisition costs and unlocks significant growth potential” Andrea says.

This is because people usually start with financial information before moving into investing – moving from news to action. Finanzen.net’s large audience could be converted into broker customers, driving growth at far lower to no acquisition cost than standalone neo-brokers. A single login across portal and broker, shared user-journey tracking, and tighter integration of news and trading functionality are all designed to reduce friction and improve conversion.

This thinking formed the vision, and Inflexion set to work to structure and fill a team structure to drive the ambitious carve-out and VCP. Inflexion’s Talent team supported the build, and the wider firm worked with the founders to fill the c-suite and board (see box).

Inflexion’s experience in managing carve-outs and extricating systems to build fresh made for a swift transition. Mike Arshinskiy, Director, Product & Technology within Inflexion’s Value Acceleration team, was instrumental in laying the foundations for data and AI-driven decision-making, with the implementation of a central data warehouse and enhanced user analytics. This has required unified technology leadership, a shared technology stack and a more integrated organisation. Go-live for the core integration took place in January, with an initial ambition to double conversion.

Proof points

These efforts are bearing fruit, with around 6 million unique monthly portal visitors and over 27,000 new broker clients won from the portal in 2025. Customer lifetime value is expected to rise as more products are introduced, and the quality of earnings is shifting as the broker accounts for a growing share of group EBITDA.

“It was clear there was great potential in this business. Performance thus far has exceeded our original investment plan, and we are positive as about the future as we continue with the integration,” enthuses Martin. 

One year on, Finanzen.net is an independent business with a coherent strategy, the organisational structure and talent to execute it, and a clear journey to value creation. 

Says Andrea: “The first year brought significant change – culturally, technologically and through the carve-out itself. We’ve delivered strongly, allowing the founders to fulfil their wishes to step back from day-to-day roles while remaining actively involved at board level. We’ve created a strong foundation for the years ahead.”

One year on, Finanzen.net is an independent business with a coherent strategy, the organisational structure and talent to execute it, and a clear journey to value creation.

Says Andrea: “The first year brought significant change – culturally, technologically and through the carve-out itself. We’ve delivered strongly, allowing the founders to fulfil their wishes to step back from day-to-day roles while remaining actively involved at board level. We’ve created a strong foundation for the years ahead.”