Founder & CEO at Project MietMagie (Rental Rewards Platform)

Founders Factory builds and funds startups together with exceptional entrepreneurs and the world’s leading companies. Created by IPO-exited founders, we offer founders capital, operational support from a team of hands-on experts, and unrivalled access to a coalition of industry-leading corporate partners. Since 2015, our 300+ portfolio companies have raised $900mm follow-on funding from a roster of notable investors.

Our Studio partners with entrepreneurs at day one, developing new ideas, technologies and business models into high growth companies. We’re now exploring concepts at the intersection of fintech and real estate in partnership with Vonovia, Europe’s leading residential real estate company.

We’re looking for an experienced operator with entrepreneurial ambitions to lead a new venture as Founder & CEO with our investment and the full backing of Founders Factory.

The Opportunity

Rent payment is every household’s largest expense in Germany, typically accounting for 25% to 40% or more of household monthly income and upwards of €200b in payments every year. Germany also makes up the biggest rental residential real estate market in Europe, with 53.5% of Germans renting, yet this is rarely leveraged - renters are rarely rewarded for timely payment, or accrue any rewards on this spend amount.

How might we empower renters to generate new value from their biggest monthly payments, and reward users without asking them to spend an extra cent?

Project MietMagie: A Platform for Rental Rewards

Our solution is MietMagie: A neo-bank for renters with a unique engagement mechanism that incentives usage and positive financial behaviours. Via the MietMagie platform, tenants pay rent up to two weeks in advance to earn entries into weekly prize draws, with prizes ranging from large (a house) to small (a week’s rent).

Through surveys, open banking access, rent payments, and cash flow/savings data, MietMagie builds a picture of the user over time from a lifestyle and finance perspective, using this data to curate relevant deals and offers. Tenants can also smooth their income by making use of Buy Now Pay Later on a range of purchases, with the option to bundle payments with their monthly rent payments.

The vision for MietMagie is to become a fully featured fintech provider focused on renters, offering everything from a payments card, to a bank account for salary payments, to financial products tailored to renters.

Our offer

• Co-found a company with Founders Factory’s team of IPO-exited founders and entrepreneurs to develop a new venture at the intersection of insurance and technology
• Access to an expert team through our Venture Studio and 6-month accelerator programme
• Unlock €760k combined cash and hands-on support from our experienced team
• A dedicated studio budget (including the founder stipend, specialist resource and infrastructure budget)
• Senior access to Vonovia, Europe’s leading residential real estate company
• A validated concept and intellectual property

What we’re looking for

• Experienced founder, builder or operator, capable of operating from zero to one
• Unique market insight, top 1% skills or other advantage that makes you a suitable and compelling founder in this space
• Proven ability to build a world-class team, attract customers and investors
• Evidence of thriving in ambiguous environments and a high aptitude for calculated risks
• A clear vision for the opportunity (including product direction) - with the drive and expertise to execute on it
• High IQ and EQ - strong opinions loosely held
• Experience using gamification to generate demand for a consumer-led product - with insights into what it takes to achieve virality
• Credible finance/fintech background (ideally payment space) with a fresh ‘outsider’ perspective of what could be done differently
• Deep understanding of the German market and fluency in German language

Note - We are open to applicants based across Germany (or willing to relocate). We are reviewing applications on an ongoing basis. If your background and application meets our criteria, we will be in touch to schedule a call.