Here are their detailed responses. Some survey replies have been lightly edited for length and clarity. Companies are listed in alphabetical order.
Algoreg
Founded: Early 2017, in Luxembourg
Founders/leaders: Held “senior level positions (C-level) at PayPal, Ebay, Rakuten, Calypso, IBM”
Person who answered questionnaire: Mathis Ries, head of marketing
The “aha, Eureka!” moment that led to the company being started: “What if we could help remove the burden of compliance with video on-boarding and new technologies?"
Funding/backers: $1m series A funding in early 2018
Accelerator or incubator: Lux Future Lab (BGL BNP Paribas) since inception, and Lhoft member since 2018
Total number of employees: 17
Regulatory solution(s): “go!vid: Provide your customers with a fully digital customer verification using our video-bot; go!scan: Screen your customers against Sanctions, PEP and Private lists with an efficient case management system to reduce operational challenges; and go!score: Risk score your customers and fight money laundering/terrorism financing by using proprietary algorithms reflecting your business' risk based approach.”
Key partnerships: Dow Jones
Number of customers/users: “15 paying customers in the payment industry, crypto-currency platforms, banks... Ingenico and BGL BNP Paribas”
Industry awards or honours: Finalist in the Luxembourg Fintech awards in June 2018
Quote from a third party: “Algoreg is a real customer-centric company dedicated to flexibility and efficiency concepts. Without hesitation, I recommend Algoreg as a top class specialised regtech partner for payment service providers.” Geoffrey Lepage, head of compliance, Ingenico
What would you like to report about your company one year from now? “Algoreg became the leader in regtech solutions with its unique video onboarding solution serving clients around the world.”
Alto Advisory
Founded: 2009 in Itzig, Luxembourg
Founder/leader: Yoann Jagoury
Person who answered questionnaire: Yoann Jagoury, CEO
The “aha, Eureka!” moment that led to the company being started: “In 2009, before the Fintech term was coined, we recognised the widening gap between consumer technology (Google, smartphones…) and fund industry systems, we knew we could help transform some parts of it!”
Funding/backers: Self-funded
Accelerator or incubator: “We have been members of the Lhoft since Lhoft has existed”
Total number of employees: 5
Regulatory solution(s): “We have 2 ranges of solutions: a suite of solutions for depositary banks to help fully answer to depositary duties under Ucits V and AIFMD with machine learning embedded; and a platform for automated understanding of information from fund documentation (prospectus, KID, annual reports...) using natural language processing and machine learning”
Number of customers/users: “In Luxembourg and in Europe, we oversee over 7,000 sub-funds in 11 countries”
What would you like to report about your company one year from now? “We are currently working with partners on innovative machine learning and natural language processing to automatically understand information found in fund industry documents. This will help our partners to react more quickly to client needs, be more efficient and extract new insights.”
Amfine Services & Software
Founded: 2006, in Paris
In Luxembourg since: 12 December 2012
Founders/leaders: Michael Priem and Jean-Christophe Mougnaud
Person who answered questionnaire: Charles Seigle-Goujon, sales director
The “aha, Eureka!” moment that led to the company being started: “The starting point coincides with the entry into force of the Ucits regulation for European asset managers.”
Funding/backers: “The company is majority-owned by a private equity firm specialised in financial services and fintech companies across Europe: BlackFin Capital Partners”
Total number of employees: 35
Regulatory solution(s): “We cover a wide range of regulations to be addressed by asset managers and asset servicers (Ucits, Priips, fund prospectus, Solvency II, AIFMD, annual reports) and also by insurers (Priips and IDD). The strength of our solution lies in its end-to-end integration completely data-driven and automated.”
Key partnerships: “Optimind, a leading actuarial and risk management consultancy firm providing Amfine with extensive compliance oversight; Raise Partner for Amfine embedded, integrated calculation engine; and Fundsquare, using Amfine AIFMD online form and helping Amfine with the distribution of regulatory documents and data to fund platforms and regulatory portals.”
Number of customers/users: “More than 200 clients in France, Luxembourg, Switzerland and in the UK. We service the top European asset managers: Amundi, the largest French life insurance company CNP Assurances, the largest third-party manco in Luxembourg… Many other companies have trusted us for years: Edmond de Rothschild, UBS, UBP, Caceis, Groupama, Sogecap, Apicil, Maif…”
Quote from a third party: “Our latest interview in La Tribune is here” [in French]
What would you like to report about your company one year from now? “Our continuous and steady growth is the result of many years of accumulated expertise and our agility allows us to always adapt to new challenges. Example: Priips, stress tests.”
Apentis
Founded: 2010, in Luxembourg
Founders/leaders: Audric Debaisieux and Thibault Mahiat
Person who answered questionnaire: Audric Debaisieux
The “aha, Eureka!” moment that led to the company being started: “Portfolio management systems are not new. But we wanted to create one focused on risk management and compliance with regulations, using modern web technologies.”
Funding/backers: “No external funding. Hard work and reinvestment of profit of services from the start.”
Total number of employees: 6
Regulatory solution(s): Ucits, AIFMD, Mifid, Priips and GDPR
Key partnership: Rcube PSF
Number of customers/users: Customers include Essling Capital, Octogone, Aviva Investors and BlueOrchard
Industry award or honour: “Semifinalist in the 2018 fintech awards organised by Lhoft and KPMG”
What would you like to report about your company one year from now? “That we have doubled the number of customers, kept all existing [clients] with high satisfaction levels, and that all our employees are happy and proud to work for Apentis.”
Blanco
Founded: 2015, in Amsterdam
In Luxembourg since: Q1 2018
Founders/leaders: Dennis Overbeeke, CTO); Bernadette Wijnings, CFO; Joost Walgemoed, CEO; Rob Verheul, COO; and Koen Vanderhoydonk, CEO Belux
Person who answered questionnaire: Koen Vanderhoydonk
The “aha, Eureka!” moment that led to the company being started: “Today’s challenges for asset managers are decreasing margins, increasing legislation & regulations and maintaining focus on customers and investing. Blanco's Wealth Manager Out-Of-The-Box is a collection of technology and knowledge building blocks that offer a solution to these challenges.”
Funding/backers: “Blanco is approximately 60% owned by founders and staff and approximately 40% by informal investors (mostly technology entrepreneurs) and 2 venture capital parties: Volta Ventures and KBC Start It Fund.”
Total number of employees: 40
Regulatory solution(s): Digital Client Intake, Know Your Customer Tool (Financial Investment Planning), Automated Client File, Securities Administration
Number of customers/users: “Currently we have 30 IFA clients using our platform”
Industry awards or honours: Bernadette Wijnings was given the Women in Fintech Award in Luxembourg in 2017; winner of NRC Live Fintech Impact Award in 2018.
Quote from a third party: “We are a passionate investment firm that aims to reduce the risks involved for our clients. Therefore it’s very important that we understand the financial situation of our customers. Blanco’s KYC tools help us to do this in a very effective and efficient way.” Patrick Bontje, Topcapital
What would you like to report about your company one year from now? “Having several clients in Luxembourg”
CDDS Luxembourg
Founded: 2009, in Luxembourg
Founders/leaders: Philippe Lassine, CEO; Philippe Jeanbaptiste, executive director
Person who answered questionnaire: Acia Baghdadi, sales and marketing director
The “aha, Eureka!” moment that led to the company being started: “A problem that is still recurrent today is that most actors of the financial sector as well as the software vendors focus on the name screening. In our eyes, this is only a part of AML monitoring but the very first step is an efficient risk classification included in a complete AML compliance process. This is what we achieved with the development of AMLspotter which is a full AML compliance toolbox for any area of the financial sector. The regulators around the world are confirming our view as the regulation is more and more about a ‘risk-based’ monitoring, which is impossible without a consistent risk classification of the customers.”
Total number of employees: 12
Regulatory solution(s): “CDDS offers a wide range of anti-money laundering solutions to its clients helping them to be compliant with regards to their AML/counter-terrorism financing obligations”
Key partnerships: “LexisNexis BIS, Idemia (Groupe Safran), Ingenia Consultants Singapore, CSA Pro Cyprus, various software publishers”
Number of customers/users: “More than 500”
What would you like to report about your company one year from now? “That CDDS is one of the leaders in AML/KYC solutions in Europe with a worldwide presence through its resellers and agents.”
Finologee
Founded: 2017, in Luxembourg
Founders/leaders: Raoul Mulheims, CEO; Georges Berscheid, CTO; Jonathan Prince, CSO; Didier Spick, CFO
Person who answered questionnaire: Raoul Mulheims
The “aha, Eureka!” moment that led to the company being started: “The founders sold Digicash Payments--the company behind the Luxembourg retail banks’ mobile payment product--in August 2017. Less than one month later, they created Finologee that is developing, on one side, its own product range with mostly regtech products covering needs and pain points discovered over the years when running Digicash and, on the other side, acting as a service provider for Digicash and its sister company Mpulse (SMS routing & payments).”
Funding/backers: “Fully funded by its founders”
Accelerator or incubator: “No, but Lhoft member”
Total number of employees: 16
Regulatory solution(s): “Payments: PSD2 for banks, SEPA direct debit optimisation, telecom micropayments; KYC: Client onboarding, client lifecycle, signature & consent; Messaging: billing cycle optimisation, mobile marketing, SMS routing; Fintech Platform: Fintech product hosting, API marketplace, licence as a service”
Key partnerships: “Infrastructure: Clearstream for the Fintech Acceleration Platform & hosting, Fintechs: Figo, Budget Insight, Governance.com, KYCTech, Jemmic & others”
Number of customers/users: “Awaiting a ‘support PFS’ licence from the Ministry of Finance to scale activities. More than 5 major Luxembourg retail banks & 70,000 end-users on the Digicash platform; more than 100 [clients] with sister company Mpulse for telecom payments & SMS routing.”
Industry awards or honours: Apsi Flagship Award in 2018
Quote from a third party: “We believe that this kind of partnership is the way forward in shaping the future of the financial industry: it brings together the know-how and innovation capacity of an established market infrastructure with the innovative models and flexibility of strong fintech startups. This symbiosis can contribute immensely to developing new interaction, collaboration and monetisation models.” Marc Robert-Nicoud, CEO of Clearstream Holding
What would you like to report about your company one year from now? “Finologee is wildly scaling, fully leveraging its powerful partnerships and using the Luxembourg fintech ecosystem as a springboard.”
Fundsquare
Founded: June 2013, in Luxembourg
Founders/leaders: Olivier Portenseigne and Maxime Aerts
Person who answered questionnaire: Olivier Portenseigne, managing director & chief commercial officer
The “aha, Eureka!” moment that led to the company being started: “The need for the fund industry to have a market infrastructure mutualising redundant and commoditised activities”
Funding/backers: “100% owned by the Luxembourg Stock Exchange”
Total number of employees: 60
Regulatory solution(s): “Fundsquare provides a market infrastructure” to investment funds for filing regulatory documents, disseminating fund information and “facilitating transmission of transactions” automatically
Key partnerships: “SWIFT (for order routing), Altus (for order routing web access), Numen (transforming faxes into electronic trades), Silverfinch (for Solvency II), i-Hub as our partner to deliver KYC services”
Number of customers/users: 700
Quote from a third party: “We have a unique opportunity to continue shaping the future of the asset management industry using digital technology, and transform the fund distribution process. While investors will benefit from reduced transaction time, we will also profit from a sleeker, more streamlined system underpinned by technology and relevant for all fund types and geographies.” Fabrice Silberzan, chief operating officer, BNP Paribas Asset Management.
What would you like to report about your company one year from now? “Succeeded in delivering a comprehensive and complementary suite of products together with our partners shaping a brand new operating model for fund distribution”
Governance.com
Founded: October 2011, in Luxembourg
Founders/leaders: Bert Boerman, CEO and Rob Boerman, CTO
Person who answered questionnaire: Olus Kayacan, business development director
The “aha, Eureka!” moment that led to the company being started: “Bert, a banker with 15 years of experience, a.o., head of depositary at ABN Amro, was searching for a tool to simply handle fund data and structures. Not having been provided [on the market], he decided to build a tool by himself, together with his twin brother, Rob, who had the necessary technical experience.”
Funding/backers: “1. Bootstrapped, 2. Angel investor seed round, 3. InnovFin loan”
Accelerator or incubator: “2015 and 2016: Nyuko. We have also been part of the Lhoft since June 2016.”
Total number of employees: 20
Regulatory solution(s): “We connect and simplify the data and workflows of regulated companies”
Key partnerships: “KPMG, DTSquared (UK)”
Number of customers/users: “We have over 20 clients. Our relationships are exponentially growing.”
Industry awards or honours: “Global RegTech 100, Luxembourg Fintech of the Year 2016, FinTech50 Hot Ten list, Fintech 50 2018, Accenture Innovation Awards Finance Top 25
What would you like to report about your company one year from now? “We want to be a global regtech in order to help our clients worldwide.”
Inreg
Founded: 6 December 2016, in Luxembourg
Founders/leaders: Bob Kneip and Jean Louis Catrysse
Person who answered questionnaire: Jean Louis Catrysse
The “aha, Eureka!” moment that led to the company being started: “Client demands for an expert-focused support solution to regulatory change in the asset management and life insurance sectors.”
Funding/backers: Kneip Management SA and Jean Louis Catrysse
Accelerator or incubator: Kneip Communications Accelerator
Total number of employees: 3
Regulatory solution(s): Regulatory monitoring, expert services and training
Number of customers/users: More than 10, including Kneip, Acolin and Rathbones
What would you like to report about your company one year from now? “Inreg is successfully delivering world-class guidance to the asset management and insurance sectors via our digital community.”
KYC3
Founded: June 2014, in Luxembourg
Founders/leaders: Jed Grant
Person who answered questionnaire: Chris Marcilla, deputy director
The “aha, Eureka!” moment that led to the company being started: “Doing KYC manually and seeing how much information is missed or skipped because the process wasn't automated and seeing how machine learning could automate the process when an early prototype showed very promising results.”
Funding/backers: Self-funded
Accelerator or incubator: Lux Future Lab, Fintech Fusion in Geneva, currently operating in the Lhoft
Total number of employees: 7
Regulatory solution(s): “With its newest service, KYC3 provides the KYC3box, an automated onboarding and KYC support solution helping companies to comply with AML & KYC obligations plus GDPR”
Number of customers/users: “30 customers worldwide”
Industry awards or honours: BNP Paribas Fintech Boost; Apsi Startup of the Year 2016
Quote from a third party: Featured in the French financial paper Les Echos (article in French)
What would you like to report about your company one year from now? “In one year we will build significant growth in marketshare with our new services which can be used by obliged entities or companies in crypto space.”
Nadi Solutions
Founded: 2013, in Luxembourg
Founder/leader: Bertil Rouveure (former co-owner of Multifonds)
Person who answered questionnaire: Cécilia Vernhes, manager, client implentation
The “aha, Eureka!” moment that led to the company being started: “When several former colleagues who had focused their career in fund financial and legal reporting met together, they immediately agreed that an application to simplify the complex and lengthy processes of production and review was needed in the industry, and they started brainstorming about the tool they would really like to have. A few months later, Nadi took shape and rapidly began to challenge the existing providers in the sector. We always think of Nadi as the application we would have dreamt of having when we were producing reports ourselves or overseeing operational teams. This is what makes it such a perfect fit for our users.”
Funding/backers: Self-funded
Accelerator or incubator: “From 2014 until 2017 Nadi Solutions was part of the PwC Accelerator in Cloche d’Or.”
Total number of employees: 16
Regulatory solution(s): “The frequency and quantity of documents and reports to be produced, requires the actors of the fund industry to collect, organise, treat and encode an impressive amount of data. The calculations performed with this data add further levels of complexity. If you add the final challenge of designing an appealing and clear document to read and ensuring its consistency. it becomes an onerous and potentially very costly process for all parties. Nadi, our innovative application, puts control in the hands of the users. Flexible and customisable, all without the need for IT intervention, the system can produce reports quickly and consistently, allowing the users to concentrate on value-added tasks instead of the mechanics of manipulating data and documents.”
Key partnerships: “Nadi Solutions has been a partner with the University of Luxembourg for several years, and we work on collaborative research projects in the IT field.”
Number of customers/users: “Our solution currently serves 500 funds in Luxembourg, Belgium and Liechtenstein.”
What would you like to report about your company one year from now? “Nadi Solutions is ideally placed in the Luxembourg ecosystem. By definition, our product Nadi is part of the regtech universe. Increasing levels of regulation, combined with a greater focus on data and reporting standards, are the perfect conditions for Nadi to flourish. In one year from now we envision having acquired a major actor as one of our clients which will propel the company to the main stage.”
Scorechain
Founded: October 2015, in Luxembourg
Founders/leaders: Laurent Kratz, Pierre Gérard and Ludovic Compère
Person who answered questionnaire: Lisa Boussard, marketing executive
The “aha, Eureka!” moment that led to the company being started: “In 2014, we believed cryptocurrencies were an amazing innovation and that they would become mainstream. So we thought the same rules for traditional finance would apply. We decided to be the missing link between the decentralised world of blockchain and the regulated world of business by creating an AML suite of tools for crypto transactions tracking and risk management scoring.”
Funding/backers: “Business angels. We raised €500,000 in our Seed A [round] in 2015.”
Total number of employees: 8
Regulatory solution(s): “Our product, Bitcoin and Ethereum Analytics, is an anti-money laundering tool. It enables customers to track and score cryptocurrency addresses, transactions and even wallets. Companies that deal with bitcoins at some point, can verify the origin of funds, investigate on forensics and lead their compliance policies as they want, with customised features. Today our clients are private banks, audit firms, crypto brokers and exchange platforms. Scorechain helps them to detect fraudulent activities and improve their risk management procedures with unique features such as tracking analysis and scoring of crypto funds. Since more and more countries are implementing AML requirements for virtual currencies, our solution offers a great user experience and one of the most efficient compliant products for these new upcoming regulations.”
Number of customers/users: “Almost 50”
Industry award or honour: Startup of the Year at the 2016 Luxembourg Finance Awards
What would you like to report about your company one year from now? “Regulation in Europe took one step forward with the 5th AML directive as cryptocurrencies are now under the scope. It proves this new class of asset is gaining popularity and concern. Now companies would need to have proper compliance procedures in place and this is where we will perfectly fit in this new market.”
Secourriel
Founded: 2017, in Luxembourg City
Founders/leaders: Jorg Reinking, CEO and founder, and Vlad Centea, CTO
Person who answered questionnaire: Jorg Reinking
The “aha, Eureka!” moment that led to the company being started: “I was working for a global bank as a project manager on Mifid II. We required a secure electronic communication flow embedded into the e-banking, as email was not secure. To have there the same flexibility as email plus control functions for the complex information flows the cost was prohibitive and so the initiative was buried, meaning the bank continues to submit confidential documents on paper. This was the moment [when I thought] that there must be a need in the industry [if I] could come up with a trusted, highly secure shared service with a back bone of open email and known file-sharing”.
Funding/backers: “We are 100% self-funded”
Total number of employees: 4
Regulatory solution(s): “GDPR, which stipulates encryption for confidential electronic messages and data exchange. This is further detailed in the not so common known NIS regulation which tightens the rules on certain sensitive processes and industries. The past financial regulation, such as MiFiD II, PSD2, AnaCredit, shows a clear pattern to inform clients immediately and with more transparency. This fuels the need for more electronic communication which must be highly secured. Other sectors as insurance, health and accounting are impacted by similar regulation.”
Number of customers/users: “More than 10 B2B clients with hundreds of users”
What would you like to report about your company one year from now? “We acquired the first bank/insurance company to use our service. Established a Luxembourg-wide de facto standard for secure digital collaboration.”
SnapSwap International
Founded: September 2015, in Luxembourg
Founders/leaders: Denis Kiselev, co-founder and CEO, and Natalia Pavlova, co-founder and CTO
Person who answered questionnaire: Adeline Poun, marketing & PR manager
The “aha, Eureka!” moment that led to the company being started: “What we are building is based on our own experience and knowledge of financial services. As customers ourselves, we think opening a bank account is nowadays really painful, and that processes are very boring and lengthy. The onboarding process is time-consuming, resulting in bad customer experience. Going to an office, waiting in line, filling out and signing tons of paperwork… what we want is a fast and reliable process that we can complete on our phone or tablet. We wanted to develop a solution that would improve this process and this is how we came up with the idea of a remote automated onboarding solution for banks, the investment industry and other businesses.”
Accelerator or incubator: “We are hosted by the startup incubator of BGL BNP Paribas in Luxembourg, Lux Future Lab. Last year, we were accelerated by the first edition of Techstars in France, Techstars Paris. At the beginning of the year, we were part of the acceleration programme ING Fintech Village organised by ING in Brussels. We have also partnered with Mastercard under their Start Path initiative.”
Total number of employees: 16
Regulatory solution(s): “We allow banks and other financial services to open new accounts and onboard new customers online, through a fully automated process, in minutes rather than days. Our solution addresses a set of European regulations, for example, cross-border acceptance of e-identification or remote know-your-customer process (Consumer Financial Service Action Plan). With KYC and PEP checks, it is also compliant with the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive. With this directive, the requirements for the verifications and background checks are enhanced.”
Key partnerships: Mastercard, Thomson Reuters, ING, Telindus
Number of customers/users: “We are providing solutions for financial institutions addressing over 100 million customers in Europe and worldwide”
Industry awards or honours: “We won the ninth edition of the biggest international fintech competition for startups, BBVA Open Talent Identity in Washington DC last year. We were one of the winners of BNP Paribas International Hackathon 2017.”
Quote from a third party: “ SnapSwap is one of the most promising fintech startups in the world of identity,” Marisol Menéndez, head of open innovation and open talent, BBVA.
What would you like to report about your company one year from now? “We would like to showcase new solutions that we are developing now, that will revolutionise the access to financial services--both for individuals and for businesses.”
Truth Technologies
Founded: November 1996, in Richmond, Virginia (about 175km south of Washington DC)
In Luxembourg since: 2006
Founders/leaders: Egide Thein (a native of Luxembourg)
Person who answered questionnaire: Egide Thein, chairman & CEO
The “aha, Eureka!” moment that led to the company being started: “Bank Leu in Luxembourg being indicted by the US for money laundering in 1993. After BCCI in 1991. A bit much for Luxembourg companies.”
Funding/backers: Privately held
Total number of employees: Declined to state
Regulatory solution(s): “KYC, AML, CTF, FCPA (anti-bribery), financial crimes investigations, crowd control. Usually delivered as online solutions based on annual contracts.”
Key partnerships: “Oracle, Thomson Reuters, Informatica, other data providers.”
Number of customers/users: “Large, medium and small banks, large international corporations, casinos, governments, central banks, law firms etc. About 5,000 to 6,000 users worldwide in all time zones.”
What would you like to report about your company one year from now? “A complete overhaul of present technologies, and an innovation reducing our clients' total cost of ownership of our compliance solutions by more than half.”
U IT
Founded: 2009, in Luxembourg
Founder/leader: Alexandre Thilmany
Person who answered questionnaire: Alexandre Thilmany, managing director
The “aha, Eureka!” moment that led to the company being started: Thilmany was a legal reporting consultant before starting U IT. “We were a regtech before the regtech term became popular.”
Funding/backers: Self-funded
Total number of employees: 4
Regulatory solution(s): “Main one: tech specialist of one of the 2 secure channels available in Luxembourg: Sofie. We install and configure complex automated batch installations of Sofie and we developed some extra tools to complete its supervision. We also produced some tools to generate certain reports; these tools have had good success and the BCL [Luxembourg’s central bank] even congratulated us for their quality.”
Number of customers/users: “More than 370 customers, among them, 45 banks in Luxembourg.”
What would you like to report about your company one year from now? Declined to state.
Ume
Founded: February 2017, in Luxembourg
Founder/leader: Laurent Denayer, CEO
Person who answered questionnaire: Laurent Denayer
The “aha, Eureka!” moment that led to the company being started: “Fund management companies are spending lot of time and resources to chase due diligence information on their fund distributors that can be standardised and mutualised. Ume provides a win-win solution for everybody and enables clients to save up to 90% on the current process.”
Funding/backers: “Privately financed”
Accelerator or incubator: “The Lhoft since July 2017”; Fit 4 Start, Autumn 2017 group.
Total number of employees: “5-10”
Regulatory solution(s): “We are mutualising the efforts of management companies on the due diligence of their fund distributors. There is increasing regulatory pressure coming from Mifid on this topic.”
Industry awards or honours: Finance Startup of the Year at the 2017 Luxembourg Finance Awards; winner of the Temenos Innovation Jam Luxembourg, May 2018; selected for Fintech Europe 2018, May 2018.
What would you like to report about your company one year from now? “We are pledging a percentage of our revenues to a social development programme. We hope that in one year’s time, we will be able to contribute more to the world.”