Munich Startup: What does Savrr do? What problem do you solve?
Nico Gemkow, co-founder of Savrr: Savrr is the new approach to sustainable growth in e-commerce. With our “Save Now, Buy Later” (SNBL) payment solution, we address both economic and social issues. Economically, merchants benefit from increased sales, long-term customer loyalty and increased share of wallet, and find in Savrr a remedy for purchase abandonment and low customer lifetime value. On the other side of our B2B2C business model are consumers who are rewarded for saving on a product or brand. The social problem we want to counter is the growing indebtedness of society through the use of, at first glance, attractive, “Buy Now, Pay Later” (BNPL) services.
Munich Startup: But that’s nothing out of the box!
Nico Gemkow, co-founder of Savrr: Sure, the concept of saving is not new, of course. And the idea of “Save Now, Buy Later” has also been floating around in the fintech bubble for some time. What is new, however, is the ease of integrating a customizable SNBL solution into online stores. Other competitors, of which there are not very many, especially in the German market, are currently pursuing more of a marketplace approach with the help of savings apps.
Savrr wants to positively influence financial behavior
Munich Startup: What’s your founding story?
Nico Gemkow, co-founder of Savrr: The fundamental question we asked ourselves as part of an innovation project together with Volksbank Mittweida and the venture builder Mantro was: “How can we have a sustainable positive influence on the financial behavior of Germans in times of increasing debt and short-term loans?” One of our main concerns here, however, was not to inhibit the business of (online) retailers, but ideally even to support it positively. With Savrr, we have succeeded in doing just that – a win-win situation.
Munich Startup: What have been your biggest challenges so far?
Nico Gemkow, co-founder of Savrr: Without a doubt, one of our biggest challenges was the development of our MVP (Minimum Viable Product). On the one hand, we were under a certain amount of time pressure, as our MVP was far from 100 percent complete when we won Zalando as our first major test partner. On the other hand, the demands on ourselves understandably also increased, as our product now had to meet the requirements of Europe’s largest online fashion retailer.
Munich Startup: Where would you like to be in one year, where in five years?
Nico Gemkow, co-founder of Savrr: “In one year, we would like to have successfully established our SNBL payment solution on the German market. In this timeframe, we would like to see the first positive effects on consumers’ financial behavior and to have increased our business customer base to a low double-digit figure. We have ambitious goals for the next five years. We plan to offer our services not only in Germany, but throughout Europe or even globally. The long-term goal is to be recognized as the leading provider in SNBL solutions.
Startup location Munich: Interested and open community
Munich Startup: How have you experienced Munich as a startup location so far?
Nico Gemkow, co-founder of Savrr: Munich has proven to be an extremely positive location for us so far. There is a great variety of relevant events here, such as Royal Jungle or Bits & Pretzels, which offer us valuable networking opportunities. The interest and openness of Munich’s startup community have helped us a lot. By the way, for all of you who are at this year’s Bits: Feel free to stop by our booth and say hi – we’d love that!
Munich Startup: Outsource or do it yourself?
Nico Gemkow, co-founder of Savrr: Do it yourself. We have decided for this, together with Volksbank Mittweida, to manage all aspects of our business ourselves. In addition, Mantro as an incubator also provides us with the necessary resources and support to be able to implement everything in-house and thus remain maximally flexible.