The N26 history
2013
N26 was founded in 2013 by Valentin Stalf and Maximilian Tayenthal—reimagining the retail banking experience for today’s mobile lifestyle.
2015
Since the initial product launch in 2015, over 3.5 million customers across 26 markets have signed up for N26.
2018
The firm has raised a total of USD 215 million from some of the world’s most well-known investors, including Allianz X, Tencent Holdings Limited, Li Ka-Shing’s Horizons Ventures, Valar Ventures, members of the Zalando Management Team, and Earlybird Venture Capital. N26 employs more than 1300 people and has offices in Berlin, New York and São Paulo, as well as TechHubs in Barcelona and Vienna.
2019
After announcing its $300 million Series D funding led by Insight Venture Partners, N26 received a further $170 million extension in July 2019. The round includes participation from GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, and existing investors. N26 now ranks amongst the top ten most valuable FinTech companies worldwide.
N26 also launches in the US and confirms plans to enter the Brazilian market later in the year.
Our Management Team
Valentin Stalf: Founder and CEO
Valentin Stalf is co-founder and CEO of N26. In 2013 he founded N26 with his longtime friend Maximilian Tayenthal. Back then already, both shared a vision of building a bank that the world loves to use.
Since the initial product launch in 2015, N26 has grown to include more than 4.5 million customers across 25 markets — including the US in 2019. The firm has raised more than USD 500 million from some of the world’s most well-known investors, including Insight Venture Partners, GIC - Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, Tencent, Allianz X, Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures, Li Ka-Shing’s Horizons Ventures, Earlybird Venture Capital, Battery Ventures, in addition to members of the Zalando management board, and Redalpine Ventures. N26 has more than 1000 employees based in Berlin, New York and Barcelona, who are concentrated on reinventing the banking experience for the digital generation. With its full banking license, state-of-the-art technology and no branch network, N26 is redesigning banking for the 21st century.
Before N26, Valentin was an Entrepreneur in Residence for Rocket Internet, an incubator and investor in online startups. There he helped to develop several companies in the mobile payments industry, including payleven and Paymill GmbH. Moreover, he worked in strategy consulting and investment banking.
Valentin has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and management and a master’s degree in accounting and finance from the University of St. Gallen. He is currently a member of the advisory board at the Vienna University of Economics and Business.
Maximilian Tayenthal: Founder and CFO
Maximilian Tayenthal is co-founder and CFO of N26. Together with his business partner and friend Valentin Stalf, he built one of the first and now fastest-growing mobile banks in Europe. Their vision was to create a retail bank that's flexible, transparent and speaks to today's digital lifestyles.
Previously, Max worked in a variety of consulting and financial roles at leading professional services firms, including CMS and Booz & Company. Max holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics and business administration from the University of Vienna. He also has a master’s degree in economics from the Community of European Management Schools, as well as a law degree form the University of Vienna. Max is a CFA charterholder.
While Max is based in Berlin, he always makes time for his passion outside of personal finance: skiing in the mountains of Austria and Switzerland.
Markus Gunter: CEO N26 Bank
Markus studied Business Administration after finishing a banking apprenticeship. He pioneered the first internet platform of the German bank HYPO-BANK AG. As managing director of Activest and Pioneer Investments, he built the company up to be one of the top five asset management companies in Germany. While working as CEO of stock exchange listed DAB Bank AG, Markus realized that mobile banking is a superior solution to financial services, he then joined N26 Bank as its CEO.
Georgina Smallwood: Chief Product Officer
Georgie Smallwood is the Director of Global Product at N26. In her role, Georgie leads the global product strategy and the team responsible for its delivery.
With over 12 years experience in global digital and software companies such as Xero, News Ltd and Scout24, her leadership, strategic thinking and operational effectiveness has benefited from her breadth of experience. Leading large teams in multiple locations, Georgie leans into the challenges of scaling global businesses and believes that growth and change are always successful when done with high levels of communication (verbal and non verbal) and respect throughout an organisation.
Eleonore (Noor) van Boven: Chief People Officer
Noor has over 15 years of experience in international Human Resources, specifically building, scaling and transforming organizations. Before joining N26, Noor was the VP People at SoundCloud; led the Recruiting, Talent and Organizational Development initiatives at TomTom and worked as a HR Business Partner for several international tech companies, including Dell. Noor is a Dutch native with a passion for travel. Work has given her the opportunity to live in New York, India and now Berlin.
Juliana Nguyen: Chief Marketing Officer
Juliana has over 20 years of Marketing, Communications and General Management experience across a wide and diverse range of industries in Asia Pacific and Europe including Tech, Travel, e-Commerce, Sport and Advertising. She has worked for leading and disruptor brands such as Airbnb, Nike and TBWA\. Before joining N26 she was the Group Chief Marketing Officer for Lazada, South East Asia's no. 1 e-Commerce platform. As Chief Marketing Officer at N26, Juliana is responsible for building and growing the brand globally, creating connections with customers and positioning N26 as "the bank that the world loves to use". She is a proud Australian who has spent almost half her career living and working overseas in Singapore, Hong Kong and Vietnam in local, regional and global roles.
Gino Cordt: Chief Data Officer
Gino joined N26 in June 2015 after working on pricing for online and offline retailers, where he discovered his interest in data. Before that he gathered experience in the areas of private equity and capital markets and realized that strategy consulting was not for him. Having always had a passion for anything technical, Gino now works on enabling everyone at N26 to make decisions based on data and adding as much (not so secret) data sauce to our products as possible. He holds a degree in Accounting & Finance (M.A. HSG) from the University of St. Gallen.
Nicolas Kopp: U.S. CEO
Nicolas Kopp is the US CEO of N26, based in New York. His vision is to bring N26’s mobile-first banking app to the millions of US consumers who are frustrated with traditional bank offerings. Nic joined N26 in 2015 as one of its first employees, heading up the Business Development and Operations team, which he built from the ground up. He was instrumental in establishing the firm’s key partnerships, including TransferWise, and led the development of N26’s premium account offerings. Nic’s experience spans from early stage fundraising to leading N26’s first international expansion into multiple European countries.
Prior to N26, Nic spent five years at Morgan Stanley in London and Hong Kong. He holds a bachelor’s degree from University of St. Gallen in Switzerland and a master’s degree from the London School of Economics.
Robert Kilian: General Counsel and Chief Representative
Robert joined N26 in 2015. He previously worked as a lawyer, focusing on the areas M&A, corporate and finance law. He studied in Germany, Switzerland and the U.S. Robert holds a PhD in law and is visiting lecturer at Humboldt-University in Berlin.
William Kunter: Director of Finance
William joined N26 in September 2016 after working several years in investment banking for Goldman Sachs in London. William focused mostly on Capital Markets and Merger & Acquisition operations for European financial institutions. Over the years he developed a keen interest in FinTech, which eventually led him to N26. William is a French native and former wrestling champion. He holds a master’s degree in Management from HEC Paris and a master’s degree in Quantitative Economics and Finance from ENSAE ParisTech.
Martin Schilling: Chief Operating Officer
Martin was a strategy consultant for over 13 years. Before joining N26, he was the Managing Director of the implementation consultancy Orphoz, a subsidiary of McKinsey & Company. Prior to this, he worked at McKinsey & Company, advising top management clients in Europe and Middle East in the areas of digital transformation, operations and strategy. Martin studied Economics, Psychology and Decision Science in Berlin, London and Buenos Aires. He is convinced that N26 is re-defining banking experience for the benefit of customers.
Yoav Flam: Interim Chief Technology Officer
Yoav Flam joined N26 in 2018 and currently serves as Interim Chief Technology Officer. Prior to his announcement as CTO, he was Director of Software Engineering at N26 leading a team of more than 150 engineers. Previously to joining N26, Yoav worked for Here Technologies on routing algorithms, online services and in-car navigation systems. Yoav has more than 15 years experience leading tech teams in different startups and established tech companies. While leading the tech team at N26, Yoav also teaches as visiting lecturer at Leuphana University of Lüneburg.
Alexander Weber: Director International Expansion
Alex joined N26 in 2014 and is the longest serving team member after the founders. Initially, he led the efforts in obtaining the European banking license for N26. In his current role as Director of International Expansion, Alex is responsible for N26’ expansion into new markets. He led the efforts to make N26 available in multiple markets across Europe, most recently adding the UK. Alex has a degree in international business administration at the Vienna University of Economics and Business and the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.
