In profile: Philipp Buschmann, co-founder and CEO of AAZZUR
Embedded Finance has quickly been realized as an integral catalyst for the digitization process for non-fintech companies. But as innovation in the space soars higher than ever before, many are beginning to question where the ceiling for embedded finance begins.
Contrary to the narrative that embedded finance has peaked, our latest In Profile feature meets Philip Bushman by the built-in finance integrator AAZZUR.
Launched in 2017, the UK-headquartered company seeks to level the playing field for businesses and startups launching or integrating fintech into their digital propositions, reducing entry costs and accelerating the path to revenue for non-fintechs as a result.
AAZZUR enables businesses to build banking, wealth management and lending capabilities into their solutions by offering their customers a wider range of contextualized financial services.
As the company’s co-founder and CEO, Buschmann is a serial entrepreneur with extensive experience from working in challenger banking, financial services, IT and the energy sectors.
Having started as a developer in financial services, Buschmann has first-hand experience of the banking revolution from both a technological and financial perspective. His interest in behavioral economics helped inspire AAZZUR’s revolutionary work on customer centricity in banking.
Here, Buschmann discusses the company’s beginnings, his position as CEO and co-founder, and the broader role of AAZZUR in realizing a future full of embedded financial services:
Philipp, tell us more about your company and its purpose
In essence, we want to level the playing field for companies and startups that want to launch or integrate fintech into their digital proposals. To do this, you need to radically reduce the cost of entry and accelerate the route to revenue for fintechs and non-fintechs.
So that’s what we’ve done.
We are a built-in financial aggregator. This means that we have partnered with some of the leading financial services providers in the world and integrated them into our ecosystem.
Now, with AAZZUR, any business can embed banking, wealth management, lending, sustainability investing and more, so they can offer their customers contextualized financial services, at the exact point where they need them.
Any recent company achievements you’d like to highlight?
2022 has already been a great year for us. We have delivered products, grown the company and found our market. On a personal level, I spent an incredible few days at Money20/20 in Amsterdam and was honored to be invited to speak.
AAZZUR has also been getting a lot of recognition in the industry lately, which has been great. We were listed as one of The chargeits early-stage startups to watch and be included in Fintech Innovatorits list of “rising stars”.
That’s not why we do what we do, but it’s always nice for your hard work to be recognized.
What are the next important discussions for your industry as a whole?
I think embedded finance needs to establish familiar use cases beyond just buy now, pay later (BNPL) and embedded payments. The possibilities for embedded finance are practically endless, but not enough people know or understand this.
On top of this, it remains to be seen which industries will become true embedded finance champions beyond e-commerce and its use of BNPL and payments.
I think travel can be a strong opportunity, just as there is so much potential for related products to be sold. But sports are also an option. Success beckons regardless of the industry that takes the leap.
How did you personally get into fintech?
I have always believed that the job chooses the person more than anything else. I think I am the proof of that. I was always obsessed with tech and entrepreneurship, and I worked as a programmer and as a strategic consultant around finance and eventually also founded a company in fintech.
Almost without realizing it, I realized that I had picked up a lot of the right skills to start a fintech company. Then I got an idea for AAZZUR. So we went for it.
How have your previous roles influenced your career?
I think I’ve taken something from every manager I’ve had. My first boss taught me how to behave and work in an office; the next taught me about customer service; the next taught me about partnership and collaboration; and the last one taught me about strategy.
In addition to those guys, I always try to draw inspiration from the great founders. It’s only when you actually start your own business that you realize how difficult it is to actually bring your business from your idea to growth.
What frustrates you about the industry?
I think the sector moves too fast for its own good sometimes. This comes down to two things. One, the sector is full of brilliant people and companies, and there are so many ideas buzzing around that we don’t have time to implement them quickly enough.
Second, the attention of the sector or the media or investors too quickly moves on to the next thing. Today I was talking to a venture capitalist (VC) and they said “embedded finance is so yesterday” and it’s not even two years old. We all have such short attention spans sometimes that we don’t take the time to fully realize our ideas.
This is a shame because there are many good ideas. But expectations often do not match reality.
What’s the best mistake you’ve ever made?
I’m not sure about specific mistakes, but the best ones are the ones that teach you something about yourself. You will learn what you like and what you don’t like, how you like to work, who you want to work with and what you want your business and life to look like.
Every time I make a mistake, I make a mental note to take something concrete from it and use it in the future.
What does the future hold for AAZZUR?
We recently announced a partnership with Rail no, Treezor and Solaris and there is more to come. All of these will help us deliver for our customers and their customers
We’re also working on launching a built-in finance commission model, and I’m particularly excited about a project we’re working on around the true cost of our purchases – but I’m not going to say anything more about that yet. But watch out for this space.
