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Founded in Berlin in 2017 by Martin Kassing, Tobias Auferoth, and Dr. Til Rochow, Upvest provides a regulated investment API that enables neobanks, fintechs, and traditional banks to offer stocks, ETFs, fractional shares, and other digital assets to retail customers.
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Upvest was founded to provide the infrastructure layer that banks and fintechs need to offer stocks and shares trading, without having to build it themselves.
Its plug-and-play investment API now powers the retail investment services of some of Europe’s largest fintechs, including Revolut, Raisin and N26, as well as institutions such as Deutsche Kreditbank and Santander’s OpenBank.
The idea emerged in 2017, when Upvest’s founders spotted a major shift was underway: consumers were increasingly looking to invest in stocks and shares to build up wealth, and a wave of retail platforms were emerging to meet that demand.
At the time, however, launching investment products was far from straightforward. Many neobrokers and banks were unable to offer trading services because building the underlying infrastructure in-house was too expensive. Instead, startups relied on legacy providers whose financial plumbing was often costly, fragmented and slow.
This stood in contrast to a broader transformation in consumer behaviour. Buying stocks and shares — once a cumbersome process reserved for those with deep financial knowledge — was becoming mainstream.
Today, consumers of all ages use neobanks like N26 and Trade Republic, alongside traditional banking apps, to invest in stocks, ETFs and other digital assets to build their own retirement plans and safeguard their financial futures.
Upvest was founded to provide the infrastructure layer that banks and fintechs need to offer stocks and shares trading, without having to build it themselves.
Its plug-and-play investment API now powers the retail investment services of some of Europe’s largest fintechs, including Revolut, Raisin and N26, as well as institutions such as Deutsche Kreditbank and Santander’s OpenBank.
The idea emerged in 2017, when Upvest’s founders spotted a major shift was underway: consumers were increasingly looking to invest in stocks and shares to build up wealth, and a wave of retail platforms were emerging to meet that demand.
At the time, however, launching investment products was far from straightforward. Many neobrokers and banks were unable to offer trading services because building the underlying infrastructure in-house was too expensive. Instead, startups relied on legacy providers whose financial plumbing was often costly, fragmented and slow.
This stood in contrast to a broader transformation in consumer behaviour. Buying stocks and shares — once a cumbersome process reserved for those with deep financial knowledge — was becoming mainstream.
Today, consumers of all ages use neobanks like N26 and Trade Republic, alongside traditional banking apps, to invest in stocks, ETFs and other digital assets to build their own retirement plans and safeguard their financial futures.
Jan Miczaika, partner at HV, met Upvest early in its journey and was excited by its mission to democratise access to financial markets.
The company’s vision aligned with HV's long-term conviction around decentralized finance and the recalibration of banking infrastructure from centralized to open. Upvest embodied a structural shift in how European banking would operate in the future. HV went on to lead Upvest’s seed round in 2017.
The company’s growth wasn’t explosive at first, as is often the case for startups navigating heavy regulation, says Jan, but today, the company is experiencing “extremely strong traction.”
In March 2026, Upvest raised €125m, in a round led by Sapphire Ventures and Tencent. It plans to use part of the money to help financial institutions roll out pension products — such as Germany's state-subsidised retirement savings account (Altersvorsorgedepot) and the UK's Self-Invested Personal Pensions.
“Martin, the Founder of Upvest, once said something which really stuck with me: there are CEOs who focus on product, and there are CEOs who are like a foreign minister, who focus on deals and partnerships and investors. He decided for himself to be a people CEO, and has always had the ability to hire one step above what you would normally expect.”
Jan Miczaika
Partner, HV
Upvest has had several pivots in its nine year journey, and HV has funded each one. This was in part down to HV’s belief in Upvest’s CEO, Martin Kassing — a seasoned executive who was previously chief product officer at fintech company builder FinLeap — to lead the company in the right direction.
Martin’s focus on people and culture were among the qualities that stood out to Jan from the very beginning.
Upvest has made several high-profile hires over the last two years, including Rebekah Fox, a former director at Meta, as vice president of people; Jonathan Brander, former chief operating officer of FNZ Group, as COO; and Roberto Fajardo, former VP of engineering at Adyen as senior vice president of engineering.
“It’s something I’ve tried to share with other founders: Martin invests significant parts of his time in hiring very specific people, and also keeping the talent on board and engaged,” says Jan. “Upvest has always had a very special culture.”
Every year, the company hosts a festival called ‘UpFest’, where hundreds of employees from across its European offices come together for a week of workshops, learning and development and partying.
As the need to build private wealth grows across Europe, Upvest is positioning itself as the technological backbone enabling more equitable access to investing for a growing pool of customers.
Nearly ten years on, the company remains a market leader in one of the most underserved areas of fintech infrastructure.
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“People sometimes ask: why doesn't a bank build this themselves? We believe Upvest will, given the scale it has, given the amount of customers it serves and the countries it operates in, always have more features, higher reliability and lower prices than if any one bank tries to build this on their own.”
Jan Miczaika
Partner, HV