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Upvest
Martin Kassing's Upvest provides a full-stack Investment API for banks and fintechs to offer fractional stocks, ETFs, and crypto across Europe.
Upvest
Martin Kassing started Upvest in Berlin in 2017 after exiting a previous fintech venture to Klarna. Before founding, he worked in private equity and has over 15 years in capital markets. Tobias Auferoth, formerly of Goldman Sachs and UBS, joined as CFO, alongside CPO Dr. Til Rochow, who previously built Raisin's investment and pension products business. The firm provides a single Investment API covering stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, and cryptocurrencies. Its full-stack infrastructure includes brokerage connectivity to exchanges and market makers, proprietary trading for fractional shares starting at €1, and securities custody handling tax, corporate events, and reporting. Confirmed clients include European banking and fintech platforms seeking borderless execution; BlackRock partnered with Upvest to drive ETF access across Europe (per Upvest, 2025). The platform supports direct-to-consumer and embedded-investment models — from automated savings plans to roundup micro-investing — across the European Economic Area. Upvest has raised venture capital from Sapphire Ventures, HV Capital, and others; Sapphire Ventures described the firm's full-stack system as addressing the unique challenges of enterprise banks, fintechs, and D2C platforms (per Upvest, 2025). In April 2025, BlackRock announced its partnership with Upvest to make ETF investing cheaper and simpler for European investors (per Upvest, April 2025). No total assets under custody or deployment figure is publicly reported. Upvest's architecture combines a B2B-only API with a proprietary trading book and custody license — a structure that shifts the operational complexity of brokerage from its clients to itself, funding fractional execution internally rather than relying on partner balance sheets. This makes the firm a regulated infrastructure layer rather than a consumer-facing investment app.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
2017
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
Europe
Country
Germany
City
Berlin
Corporate office
Berlin, Germany
Principals
Martin Kassing
CEO and Co-Founder
Tobias Auferoth
Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer
Dr. Til Rochow
Chief Product Officer
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Upvest?
Strategic and product decisions are led by CEO and co-founder Martin Kassing, with CFO Tobias Auferoth and CPO Dr. Til Rochow shaping the firm's capital and product direction. Kassing has over 15 years in fintech and capital markets, including a prior exit to Klarna. Auferoth spent 14 years at Goldman Sachs and UBS before moving into fintech.
How does Upvest generate revenue?
Upvest likely earns through transaction-based fees, custody charges, and API access fees from its banking and fintech clients, though its website does not disclose a specific pricing model. As a licensed securities custodian and proprietary trader, it can capture spread on fractional trades executed on its own book.
Is Upvest a consumer-facing investment app?
No. Upvest is a B2B infrastructure provider. End users interact with its clients — banks, fintechs, and D2C platforms — which embed Upvest's Investment API to offer stocks, ETFs, fractional shares, and crypto. Upvest holds the required brokerage, proprietary trading, and custody licenses.
Which asset classes does Upvest support?
The Investment API supports stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, and cryptocurrencies. On the traditional side, it covers EEA-listed securities, routing orders to exchanges and market makers for best execution. Upvest also does proprietary trading to enable fractional share execution starting at €1.
What is Upvest's relationship with BlackRock?
In April 2025, BlackRock announced a partnership with Upvest to make ETF investing cheaper and simpler across Europe. The partnership focuses on ETFs as the default entry point for new European investors using Upvest's platform.
Where does Upvest hold regulatory licenses?
Upvest states it is licensed for financial brokerage, proprietary trading, and securities custody. The website indicates it connects to exchanges and market makers and operates across European borders, suggesting BaFin licensing in Germany with passporting across the EEA, though specific licenses are not enumerated on its public site.
Who invested in Upvest?
Publicly named investors include Sapphire Ventures, HV Capital, and BlackRock (via the April 2025 partnership). The About page quotes Sapphire Ventures and HV Capital as supporters, with HV noted as an early backer of Upvest's Investment API vision.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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