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Raisin has recorded the first profit in its 12-year history after the German retail deposit broker attracted €24bn in new cash from customers who were chasing rising interest rates.
The Berlin-based fintech group almost doubled its revenues last year to €158.5mn, resulting in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of €20mn, after a negative ebitda of €19mn a year earlier.
Raisin made an after-tax profit of €850,000 following a €33.8mn loss in 2022, according to the group’s audited 2023 results, which were seen by the Financial Times.
Chief financial officer Frank Freund told the Financial Times that the net profit might be a one-off as Raisin was planning to spend the cash it generated on marketing and client growth.
But he was adamant that Raisin was on track to remain profitable on an operative level. “It is part of our long-term plan to run [the company] with a positive ebitda,” Freund said, adding that the company was aiming to increase revenues by more than 35 per cent this year.
Raisin, which was founded in 2012 and last year appointed former UBS chair and Bundesbank president Axel Weber to its advisory board, operates online platforms in Germany, the UK, the US and other European countries where consumers can compare savings accounts and other financial products, and directly deposit their money with banks.
While the service is free for retail clients, Raisin earns commission from the banks who use it as a means of funding.
Over the course of last year assets under management surged 74 per cent to €57.4bn. While Raisin is historically strong in Germany, half of the new inflows came from clients outside its home market. The number of banks who are using Raisin for their funding rose by 72 to 257.
Over the coming years, it also wants to have a bigger presence in investment products as it hopes to woo clients to invest in exchange traded funds, which currently account for just a fraction of its total assets under management.
Backed by investors including Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Kinnevik and PayPal Ventures, Raisin in its last funding round in March 2023 raised €60mn after it merged with domestic rival Deposit Solutions two years earlier 2021.
Freund told the FT that a potential listing on the stock market was not on the cards in the foreseeable future. “There is no pressure whatsoever from our investors that we should move towards the capital markets,” he said, adding that Raisin in its current shape and form was not yet ready for a public listing.
