Many people do not pay enough attention to their private retirement provision. The startup Xaver wants to change that and is gaining prominent supporters.
World Cup goalscorer and ambitious startup investor: Mario Götze picture alliance / sampics / Stefan Matzke | Stefan Matzke / sampics
Footballers earn a lot of money – but the end of their careers often comes quicker than many people think. The question then arises for the former athletes as to what will happen to them financially. You don’t have to google long to find former Bundesliga stars who went bankrupt after their careers. Retirement provision: none.
The example of Mario Götze shows that things can be different. The 2014 World Cup winning goalscorer is already building up a second pillar as an investor during his playing days. He has now expanded his portfolio to include another commitment – appropriately on the subject of retirement planning.
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Götze is one of the investors in a pre-seed investor round worth over five million euros that the Cologne-based fintech Xaver completed. In addition to Götze, the startup, which until recently operated under the name Numos, secured support from well-known players from the financial and start-up scene. These include, among others, the former Commerzbank CEO Martin Blessing, Thomas Münkel from the Allianz Group and UNIQA, Wefox founder Julian Teicke, Felix Ohswald from GoStudent and various funds.
Industry expertise available
Founder Max Bachem hopes to keep up with the times with the focus on retirement provision. Because statutory pensions appear increasingly uncertain, private provision is becoming the focus. But according to Xaver, almost 40 percent of Europeans still have no money saved for life after retirement. In Germany, the number of life insurance policies has recently even decreased.
“We are committed to ensuring that retirement provision is accessible, transparent and cost-effective,” says Bachem as his goal. He is an expert: Most recently he headed the Berlin neo-insurer Coya, which was taken over by its French competitor Luko in 2022. Co-founder Ole Breumann also has an insurance background as the former insurance product manager at real estate financier Hypoport.
When it comes to retirement planning, Xaver wants to approach it in two ways. On the one hand, the Cologne-based company has an eye on sales, i.e. banks, insurance companies and insurance brokers. They are to be provided with a technology platform that uses artificial intelligence to streamline the advisory and sales process of retirement provision products and thus make it more attractive for customers. An AI called Xaver.nova developed specifically for financial sales is used. It is intended to streamline processes, take on administrative tasks, make recommendations and pay attention to compliance so that intermediaries can concentrate on advising their customers.
New impetus for European pensions?
Xaver is also working on its own retirement provision product, which will be made available to intermediaries as a white label solution. This is a so-called “PEPP”, short for Pan-European Personal Pension Product. Corresponding European pensions have been available since March 2022 and are open to every European. By allowing private pension products to be offered across Europe, the European Union hopes to see greater competition between pension providers and ultimately more cost-effective and attractive products for customers.
The interest of providers in the European pension is (so far) still very manageable. In Germany, only the fintech Vantik showed interest in introducing PEPP products – however, the Berlin-based company filed for bankruptcy at the end of 2022. Insurers and banks are content with a seat in the stands for now and wait. Whether Xaver can revive interest in the European pension remains to be seen.
This is not the first investment for the footballer Götze. Through his company Companion-M, founded in 2018, the kicker, who currently earns his money at Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt, has invested in a variety of companies from different industries. If you would like to get an overview of the investment activities of the Frankfurt midfield engine, Gründerszene identified the most important German investments last year.
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