Deutsche Börse Fintech Hub Closure: Quietly Closed Down

View from the Balcony of Fintech Hub taken during snow in February 2019 by yours truly (by Jörn Menninger)

In 2016, Deutsche Börse launched its Fintech Hub with great fanfare and national media coverage (FAZ, Business Insider, ...). Positioned as part of the Hessian Fintech Initiative, the hub was designed to bring a "bit of founder’s spirit to Frankfurt," according to that year’s annual report. At the time, "fintech" appeared 10 times in that document. Fast-forward to 2024, and the word appears exactly zero times.

While Frankfurt was dreaming big, aiming to become a fintech capital, Deutsche Börse was acting like a first mover. It offered free office space, access to internal experts, and networking opportunities through events. The hub was featured among Germany’s Top 20 digital labs and even became a regular stop on international accelerator and investor tours of Europe.

Then, without announcement, it vanished (not even a footnote in the anual report).

Deutsche Börse Fintech Hub Closure: From Hero to Zero

The closure of the Deutsche Börse Fintech Hub went completely unannounced. No press release, no blog post, no farewell event. The fintech hub, once a symbol of corporate innovation and ecosystem engagement, was shut down quietly at the end of November 2022.

In a statement provided to us by Deutsche Börse, they said:

"... Inzwischen hat sich das Ökosystem zur Startup-Förderung und -Entwicklung erheblich weiterentwickelt, sodass ein FinTech Hub nicht mehr notwendig war. Daher wurde der FinTech Hub Ende November 2022 geschlossen. ..."

The statement highlights a shift in strategy: less focus on physical spaces, more on idea implementation and capital market reforms. Still, the silence around the closure is striking for a company of Deutsche Börse's stature.

The Disappearing Act

We spoke with several entrepreneurs from the Frankfurt startup scene for this story. None of them realized the hub had closed. It simply faded out of relevance. According to local insiders, the physical location has since been taken over—in part or in full—by Cashlink, a fintech we’ve interviewed multiple times, and an early resident of the hub (part of the 1st batch at FintechHub).

One ecosystem insider told us that even shortly after the first cohort—which included Dwins (Finanzguru), Cashlink, Fintura, and SaveDroid—"the Fintech Hub had already almost disappeared from view."

Deutsche Börse Fintech Hub Frankfurt (my mirror image in the front door) Jörn Menninger 2019

A Shrinking Innovation Landscape

Frankfurt is officially designated as the national Fintech Hub of Germany under the federal government's Digital Hub Initiative (DE:Hub), reinforcing its importance in shaping the future of financial technology in the country. Yet, despite this federal endorsement, the city has seen a troubling pattern of closures and pivots in recent years.

Frankfurt has also seen the disappearance or pivot of other fintech hotspots:

• Gründermaschine has shut down entirely.

• Fintech Headquarter, once an active community hub, has pivoted to digital assets and now exists as a LinkedIn group.

These moves suggest a broader retreat from the city's original ambitions to be a leading fintech capital. What began as a bold bet in 2016 now seems like a short-lived experiment.

Strategic Shift or Innovation Fatigue?

Deutsche Börse now emphasizes corporate partnerships like its 2023 collaboration with Google Cloud. While these moves may align with broader digital transformation goals, they leave a vacuum in grassroots startup engagement.

The company asserts it remains committed to startups, pointing to partnerships with Futury and the Startup-Verband. However, these efforts are far more abstract than offering office space and hands-on support to early-stage founders.

Inside Look at one of the offices in the fintech hub 2019 - By Jörn Menninger

The Local Impact

The fintech hub's closure is a symbolic loss for Frankfurt's startup community. Without visible, founder-facing initiatives, the city risks losing its competitive edge to other ecosystems that are still actively courting fintech entrepreneurs.

The question now is: who will fill the gap?

Deutsche Börse may have moved on from physical hubs, but for many founders, spaces like these are more than square footage—they're signals that someone is willing to bet on early-stage ideas. The silent shutdown speaks volumes.

Adding to the irony, Deutsche Börse was among the signatories of the open letter titled "Europe needs to keep its best Tech IPOs at Home" (September 2024). We applaude the semtiment. Yet, by quietly stepping back from hands-on startup engagement, they seem to suggest that someone else should build and prepare those startups before they are IPO-ready.

Link to the letter (PDF)