Business extraordinaire Michael Gastauer has made a name for himself over the years as the creator of numerous successful fintech companies. Deciding his career path by the age of twelve following a conversation with his father, becoming a billionaire was always in Gastauer’s future. Today we look at his journey to success and a timeline of his latest company, Black Banx.
Gastauer was born in Germany, but by age 24, he had already established his first business, a Swiss asset management organisation. The company amassed over CHF 1 billion in assets under management (AUM) in fewer than three years before being sold to a Swiss investment firm for CHF 16 million. Michael Gastauer was one of the first people in Europe to build an online payment system to provide eCommerce businesses with global card acceptance and payment processing solutions. Before being sold in 2008, the company under Gastauer’s leadership had achieved sustained growth and profitability, achieving a valuation of 480 million euros.
After selling his second business, Michael Gastauer established the Gastauer Family Office (GFO). This single-family office currently has €10 billion worth of assets under management. A venture capital division that invests in financial technology businesses is part of the Gastauer Family Office. Michael Gastauer is the organisation’s founder and chairman. The Gastauer Foundation is a charitable organisation that promotes financial inclusion to address the issue of 2.2 billion people who do not have access to financial services.
Black Banx
Having access to various financial services is one of the most important enablers for our modern global society. Black Banx is a dynamic force for innovation in the financial technology sector as the neobank is dedicated to allowing the free and instant flow of money around the world at a price that is fair. Gastauer has provided a financial services platform that contributes to the expansion of global markets by facilitating the connection of individuals and companies located all over the world via the use of smartphones and the internet.
Through its business and personal accounts, Black Banx enables customers to use carefully selected, best-in-class global banking networks to conduct unlimited transactions. This allows them to transmit and accept local and international payments almost instantaneously, as well as hold and manage funds in multiple FIAT and crypto currencies.
Black Banx was founded in 2014 to provide an entirely digital global banking platform, and it is now one of the largest digital banking fintech companies in the world, with approximately 20 million customers.
Black Banx Group, headquartered in London, operates through well-established businesses with a global network encompassing 180 countries and territories, including both established and emerging markets. Its international network encompasses approximately 90 percent of the world’s GDP, trade, and capital flows.
Key timeline
12/2022: 20m+ customers, $1.1bn revenue, 3,020 employees.
06/2022: 15m+ customers, $420m revenue, 2,100 employees.
2021: Launch in Japan, reaching increasing customer base to 12m customers 2020: Office launched in China, increasing customer base to 10.5m customers.
2019: Expansion with offices in UAE and South Africa, increasing customer base to 8m customers.
2018: Offered private and business accounts in 28 FIAT currencies to 5m customers. Launched a fully fledged crypto currency trading with BTC and ETH as crypto currency. Office opened in Canada.
2017: Expansion with offices in Singapore, Brazil, India and Russia, increasing customer base to 3 million.
2016: Expansion with offices in USA, UK and Hong Kong, offering products in 18 currencies, offering crypto currency as a deposit method, increasing customer base to 1m customers.
2015: Founder Michael Gastauer and his team launched Black Banx offering private and business accounts for 180 countries, with 200,000 customers.
Gastauer’s company, Black Banx is having a dramatic effect on the very nature of banking and has quickly established itself as a key force for innovation and solutions for evolving customer banking demands and tastes. This is due to the fact that Black Banx is able to provide customers with a banking experience that is tailored specifically to their preferences.
