About Us

What drives us

We believe that financial services should be accessible to everyone, safe, easy to use and perfectly integrated into our daily lives, so that we never have to worry about them. Therefore, we work on simplifying financial services in everyday life so that you can spend your time on what really matters to you and your customers.

who we are
viafintech in numbers

k

Points of Sale

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Merchants

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Billion € volume

Countries live

Employees

Nationalities
 
 
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2011

The company is founded in August 2011 by Achim Bönsch, Sebastian Seifert and Florian Swoboda.

 

2012

The company’s first product “Barzahlen” is under development. The year 2012 was used for successful cash register integration at dm, real,- and mobilcom-debitel and the first online merchants are also on board. The ALSTIN group is investing in the successful development of the company.

 

2013

On Wednesday, 13th March 2013 the network goes live in Germany. In addition to first mover dm drogerie markt (1,390 POS), real,- supermarkets and mobilcom-debitel shops join the retail-network in the course of the year. On top of online-shops and the gaming industry, the first customer from the energy supply sector joins forces: Stadtwerke Düsseldorf

 

2014

viafintech’s prominent German product Barzahlen is honoured as the best payment service 2014 and awarded with the IT Innovation Award. Our online shop network grows to several thousand: Over 7000 online-shops, travel and gaming providers use our service.

 

2015

viafintech expands its services to other industries and sectors and is now actively involved in dunning, insurance and telecommunication. Additionally a solution for banking deposits and withdrawals is introduced. By the end of 2015 the retail-partner network in Germany is joined by about 3000 REWE stores.

 

2016

The GRENKE BANK AG invests in viafintech. In 2016 the focus is on going live with the banking solution for withdrawals and deposits from and to private bank accounts. Challenger bank N26 as well as the German DKB start offering the new service right away.

 

2017

Additional banks use our independent infrastructure for expanding their own branch network, for example Sparda Banken and the first Sparkasse.

 

2018

Rossmann, Germany’s second-largest drugstore chain, joins our retail-partner network. Furthermore, Barzahlen launches in Austria with dm and N26 as first partners – a cornerstone for the company’s internationalization process

 

2019

viafintech significantly extends its POS network in Europe: In Austria the REWE International AG goes live with the trade partners BILLA, BIPA, MERKUR and Penny. At the beginning of February the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) implement our service in all their ticket machines. Finally in May the first non-German-speaking country joins the network: In Italy we onboard PAM Panorama as a retailer and the two banks N26 and Hype as merchants. Later in the year also PAM Local stores offer viafintech services. Furthermore, two banks join in 2019: Targobank and bunq. In 2019 we launch our international brand viacash that will replace the german brand Barzahlen in the long-term.

 

2020

With PENNY Market Italia joining, the network in Italy is now counting almost 600 POS. Moreover the City of Cologne is continuing its pilot project with us, so that since July it is possible to pay parking tickets in the retail trade. In addition, Greece is part of the network since November with 110 Bazaar shops, which means that the European brand is continuing to grow. Since the beginning of December we are presenting ourselves under the new company name viafintech GmbH. In Germany and Austria, the product name is also changing from Barzahlen to Barzahlen/viacash, the first step towards soon appearing with a uniform European brand.

 

2021

In January, viafintech continues its European expansion: In Spain, the Bon Preu Group and CSQ Non Stop Shops, two retailers with almost 3000 partner branches, go live.

 
 
Management

Achim Bönsch

Managing Director & Founder
Achim Bönsch is responsible for the international expansion, our retail partnerships as well as the HR department.

Sebastian Seifert

Managing Director & Founder
Sebastian Seifert is in charge of the divisions Sales, PR/Marketing and business development. Furthermore, he is taking care of investor relations.

Andreas Veller

Managing Director
Andreas Veller is accountable for the finance, operations, product and legal department as well as for the IT. He is the former founder of Shopwings and worked as a consultant in the banking sphere. At McKinsey he managed the IT restructuration of a retail bank and a post merger integration in the banking sector.

Junichi Takemura

Managing Director
Junichi Takemura assumes responsibility as a connector between viafintech and the Glory Group. Previously he worked for Glory Ltd., the leading company for cash management solutions, for over 17 years, particularly in the field of long-term strategic projects. With his knowledge he will support viafintech to grow and expand to new markets.
 
 
 
Team

Behind great leaders is a great team

 
Internationalisation
 
 

Lena Holderegger

General Manager Switzerland
Lena takes care of further expanding our network in Switzerland and works mainly from Zurich. She has many years of experience as an in-house consultant and in the area of strategic digitalization at Credit Suisse. Lena has a master’s degree in economics and business administration from the University of Zurich.
 

Flavio De Laurentis

VP Southern Europe & General Manager Italy
Flavio takes care of the Southern Europe Market and is responsible for the development of the network of merchants and retailers in Italy. He holds an MBA from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Business School. Before joining viafintech, he worked for McKinsey and Company in Milan in Banking and High Tech Industry.
 

Antonios Peppas

General Manager Greece
Antonios will bring the viafintech network to Greece. He graduated from the University of Bonn and holds a master’s Degree from WHU Business School. Before working at viafintech, Antonios worked as a Management Consultant at KPMG for the Healthcare sector.
 

Fady Bouatmé

VP Northern Europe & General Manager France
Fady is responsible for the market in Northern Europe and will help expanding viafintech to France. He has a master’s degree in management from NEOMA business school and previously worked as an advisory manager at the EY financial service office in Paris.
 

Pedro Borges

VP Iberia & Latin America
Pedro leads the viafintech business in Iberia and Latin America. Before joining the team, he worked in Finance at Procter & Gamble for 6 years, bringing combined knowledge of the finance and the retail sectors together with a sharp focus on consumer needs. He holds an Economics Degree from the University of Porto and a Master in Finance & Strategy from WHU.
 

Filip Surowiak

General Manager UK
Filip is leading viafintech’s expansion into the UK market. He has a track record of setting strategy and bringing new financial products to the market. He managed and grew the online and retail business at Travelex and then International Currency Exchange. Filip is also co-founder of Crozdesk, a SaaS marketplace, and holds a business degree from Warwick Business School.
 

Anna Szczygielska

General Manager Poland
Anna’s main task is to introduce viafintech to the Polish market. She joined the company in 2019 after having spent 10+ years working for the top consulting companies, such as EY, Accenture and PwC. Anna managed multiple projects worldwide. She is an ACCA Member and holds a master’s degree in Economics.
 
Sales
 
 

Janusz Buttgereit

Director Insurances, Telco, Housing
Janusz is in charge of insurance, telecommunications and housing customers. The payment specialist has many years of work experience. Before joining viafintech he worked for Sofort AG, Paysafecard and Clickandbuy.
 

Madleen Naethler

Senior Key Account Manager E-Commerce and Payment Collection
As Senior Key Account Manager Madleen covers all ecommerce and debt collection accounts. She holds a degree in business economics and has several years of experience in consulting working for Creditsafe and tecis financial services.
 

Florian Oberle

Senior Director Sales & Business Development
Florian is responsible for our strategic projects, the banking division and the management of the German sales team. He gained experience in the financial services industry during his studies at the London School of Economics & Political Science. Florian formerly worked as a consultant in the banking division of Simon-Kucher & Partners.
 

Weina Wang

Senior Director Retail
Weina is responsible for the stationary partners of viafintech, in particular for the further development of the network in Europe. The versatile project manager previously worked in management consulting at Accenture and at Volkswagen in China for several years.
 

Frank Weinmann

SVP Utilities and Public Sector
The former chairman of the management board of Energie SaarLorLux AG heads the Utilities and Public Sector of viafintech and has statutory authority. Frank brings in several years of experience in business development, change management and consultancy in the energy sector.
 
Operations Managers
 
 

Michael Bernstein

Director Finance & Accounting
Michael is responsible for Finance and Accounting. He holds a Bachelors degree in Business administration from HWR Berlin. Prior to viafintech Michael worked for several finance departments such as financial accounting, accounts payable and treasury in different industries.
 

Ulrike Czekay

Director PR & Marketing
Ulrike deals with all corporate communication topics at viafintech. After her studies of media, music and cultural sciences at HU Berlin she gained longstanding experience as a PR consultant in a PR and Lobbying agency and worked for several Start-ups.
 

Mareike Gnadt

VP Human Resources
Mareike is responsible for HR and Recruiting and is primarily responsible for the strategic direction of the department. She not only has several years of experience in managing HR departments but also has experience in building HR departments in the Berlin start-up world.
 

Thomas Lewicki, LL.M.

Director Legal & Data Protection Officer
Thomas is leading the legal department at viafintech. After studying law (specialized in International Corporate Law), Thomas worked as a Legal Counsel at BIOTRONIK. He also gained experience at ISiCO data protection where he worked as a data protection officer for several fintech companies.
 

Philipp Wiegel

VP IT & Product
Philipp heads the product department of viafintech. Philipp’s background is in software development. He was a product manager in numerous companies and gained several years of experience as an entrepreneur.
 
 
 
Advisory Board

Dr. Uwe Franke

 
Dr. Uwe Franke was executive chairman of BP Deutschland AG and BP Europa SE from 1999 to 2012. He is president of the World Energy Council Germany since 2014. Dr. Franke has an extensive network in the energy sector and shall support Cash Payment Solutions GmbH at further development in this sector.

Michael Müller

 
Michael Müller is the founder of paysafecard, a safe prepayment method that made online cash payments possible for the first time. With Michael Müller as the CEO, the paysafecard grew to a globally leading financial service company. Paysafecard has been acquired in 2013 for 140 million euros by the Skrill Group.

Bernd M. Fieseler

 
Bernd M. Fieseler was managing director of the Deutsche Sparkassen- and Giroverband from 2001 to 2011. The former McKinsey consultant, bank manager and member of the board of directors of many payment companies shaped the payment and transactions sector in Germany and Europe for over a decade.
 
 
 
Investors

We are grateful for your trust!

 
 

GLORY Ltd.

GLORY LTD., headquartered in Himeji, Japan, is a pioneer in the development and manufacturing of cash handling machines and systems. GLORY provides a variety of products such as cash handling machines, cash management systems, vending machines, automatic service equipment, and cash management solutions that are built on its leading-edge recognition/identification and mechatronics technology. Committed to meet society’s wide-ranging needs, GLORY serves the financial, retail, vending machine, amusement and gaming industries in over 100 countries around the world. GLORY employs approximately 9,000 people worldwide. For more information about GLORY, please visit GLORY’s group website at corporate.glory-global.com
 

Grenke Bank AG

GRENKE BANK AG is a wholly owned subsidiary of GRENKELEASING AG since 2009 and a member of the GRENKE Group. The GRENKE Group is a broadly diversified provider of IT-based >services in Small-Ticket-IT-Leasing, Factoring and Banking for small and medium-sized companies. In addition, the GRENKE Bank offers its traditional online services also to private customers. The GRENKE Group is independent of vendors and banks and holds a leading market position in Europe in the field of small-ticket IT leasing for products such as PCs, notebooks, copiers, printers or software of relatively low asset value. The GRENKE Group operates in 30 countries and employs more than 1100 staff.