Fintech startup Penta launches Compass to digitise company formation in Germany

Penta hopes to disrupt the banking industry, especially for startups and small businesses, by providing tools for quick digital banking. 

At a glance

Startup: Penta

Founders: Lav Odorovic, Luka Ivicevic, Sir Gabriel Holbach, Aleksandar Orlic, Igor Kuschnir, and Jessica Holzbach

Year it was founded: 2016

Where it is based: Berlin

The problem it solves: Helps companies set up digital bank accounts

Funding: 2.2 million euros

Sector: Fintech 

Penta was founded in May 2016 by Lav Odorovic, Luka Ivicevic, Sir Gabriel Holbach, Aleksandar Orlic, Igor Kuschnir, and Jessica Holzbach. Penta’s unique selling point is that it provides a free bank account as well as a faster service to small businesses that lack the people to run admin tasks, like accounting or expense management, of their businesses efficiently.

This week, Penta launched “Compass”, a platform that helps businesses who are incorporating to deposit their share capital and open a bank account in under 24 hours in Germany, shortening the overall incorporation process by several weeks.

“We started Penta because business banking can be really difficult, expensive and time consuming. Our founding team at Penta wanted to make business banking as easy as the products that we use every day, like Slack or Trello. So we set out to build a digital business bank account that helps us focus more on our business and less on our banking,” shares Luka, Co-founder of Penta.

Lav Odorovic, CEO and Co-founder of Penta, adds: “Our goal is to help business owners spend less time banking and more time focusing on their business. Businesses all across Germany have been trusting us to help them do exactly that.”

“In an increasingly globalised world Germany is competing with other EU countries to attract business. Considering so many startups and businesses are coming to Germany post-Brexit and because of the technology revolution, something should be done so that Germany can facilitate an easier way to start a business. Facilitating bank account opening for businesses in foundation is our first step out of many to help German businesses start a business online in minutes.”With Penta, customers can open a business bank account online in just a few minutes. Penta can also help to open a business bank account for founders who are incorporating in less than 48 hours. Once customers open an account, they will get a German IBAN and a MasterCard, for offline and online payments.

“As founders will know, incorporating a business in Germany can be difficult and it can take 6-8 weeks because of the bureaucratic process of opening a bank account and registering with corresponding local and federal government bodies, like the Handelsregister. Penta is now helping facilitate this process by enabling founders to deposit their share capital and open a bank account in under 24 hours—online. All that is required is 15 minutes of the founders’ time,” Luka adds.

Penta is free to open and free to use. The first 10 transactions are free and every transaction after the 10th costs €0.10. In February, Penta raised 2.2 million euros in seed funding, led by Inception Capital.

“In the coming weeks, we're introducing multiple MasterCards for businesses with larger teams where you can set limits and permissions. We're also introducing international payments and other business banking products. We plan to introduce additional products in the coming weeks like low-cost international payments, multiple cards with limits and permissions as well as accounting. We plan to charge under our ‘Pay as you Grow’ model where you pay for the services you need as you're growing,” Luka says.

Website: https://www.getpenta.com