BERLIN (Reuters) - Two of Germany's largest fintech startups Deposit Solutions and Raisin have agreed to join forces in a deal to create a European group linking banks with savers, both companies said on Friday.
Under the name Raisin DS, the merged company will work with around 400 banks and have a deposit volume of around 20 billion euros ($24 billion).
"The merger brings us much closer to capital market viability," Raisin founder Tamaz Georgadze told Reuters, adding that an IPO for Raisin DS could not be ruled out. "We will keep all options open."
Georgadze said a financing round for the new firm will start soon. "The market situation is currently very good. It would not be unreasonable to usher in a new round of financing soon," Georgadze added.
European Union rules on open banking require banks to allow access to customer data by registered third party providers to boost competition.
The rollout of the rules has provided fertile ground for fintechs and sparked a flurry of deals and listings, such as Visa (NYSE:V)'s 1.8 billion euro takeover of European open banking platform Tink and payment app Wise's direct listing in London.
Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn), PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) are among the companies' investors and will remain on board after the merger, said Tim Sievers, the head of Hamburg-based Deposit Solutions.
Raisin was valued at around 500 million euros in its last major financing round two years ago, while Deposit Solutions has a valuation of around 1 billion euros, according to its major shareholder Finlab.
The companies declined to disclose the financial details of the deal or the valuation of the merged firm.
($1 = 0.8372 euros)