Meeting Three Korean Developers in Berlin ①
Cover photo source = fotolia.com
Hear about Berlin life from fintech developers at Element, Delivery Hero, and Taxfix
When looking into the Berlin startup ecosystem, an interesting detail catches the eye: there is almost always a Korean employee in every reasonably well-known startup.
In traditional German small and medium enterprises (SMEs) or large corporations, opportunities are usually given to those who have studied in German-speaking countries, possess professional skills in the relevant field, or speak German perfectly. However, because German has a very high language barrier and the business culture is quite different from Korea, it is not easy for a typical Korean to get a job at a traditional German company in a general position. But startups are different. Berlin has a very global atmosphere, and since the demand for developers is high but the supply is low, developers from all over the world gather in Berlin. Additionally, the city encourages startups, so there are no major obstacles to obtaining a visa.
By following startups of interest on LinkedIn, the largest professional social network, you can see their employees at a glance. And if you wish, networking with them is also possible. You can contact people in similar fields to gather information, and if you are lucky, you might even get a quick Zoom meeting opportunity.
What is particularly interesting about LinkedIn is that you can gauge the growth rate and direction of startups in real time through their job openings. By looking at how many people they are hiring and in which areas, you can understand their investment status and business direction to some extent. You can also see how Koreans are active in the European startup scene.
I also got to know Korean developers working in fintech-related fields in Berlin through LinkedIn. At first, we learned about each other by reading individual posts, and eventually discovered common denominators as professionals. As soon as Berlin’s lockdown ended, I met and interviewed them in an outdoor Biergarten. The protagonists are Gwangtaek An, a Senior Data Engineer at European insurtech leader Element Insurance AG; Junseok Oh, a Payment Engineer at Delivery Hero SE (which acquired Korea’s Baedal Minjok); and Sujin Lee, a Junior Developer at tax filing mobile app Taxfix GmbH.
Sujin Lee (Taxfix developer), Gwangtaek An (Element senior data engineer), and Junseok Oh (Delivery Hero engineer) working as developers in Berlin startups (from left). Photo source = Eunseo Yi
- You are working in fintech, one of the most promising areas in the Berlin startup scene. Please introduce yourselves and explain what you do at your companies.
Junseok Oh, Payment Engineer at Delivery Hero SE, which acquired Korea’s Baedal Minjok
Junseok Oh (Oh): I work as a developer in the payment department of Delivery Hero in Berlin. Although the company is not a fintech company but rather a food delivery app provider, I work in the payment processing sector within the fintech department. Delivery Hero is a company originating from Rocket Internet, a well-known startup incubator and venture capital firm. Rocket Internet has spawned many famous startups, such as Zalando (Europe’s largest online fashion retailer) and HelloFresh (a meal kit company that expanded all the way to the US), and is famous for growing startups not only in Germany but worldwide. Rocket Internet has tremendous know-how in incubating and scaling startups. That is why I understand they still interact frequently with Delivery Hero. Although Delivery Hero has grown too large to be called a startup, it still operates like one in some ways. For instance, project progression is extremely fast, and business expansion is very aggressive.
The fintech department was expanding its payment domain around the end of 2019 when I joined. It was a new organization created a year and a half before my arrival, and I recall there were about 20 team members back then. Now, it has grown into a large organization with over 100 people, including developers, product managers, and project managers. My role here is to process payment transactions. Delivery Hero has brands all over the world, and we process transactions not only for Europe but also for Asia and other regions using the solution developed at the Berlin headquarters. That is why we have so many employees. Of course, the headquarters does not process all global payments, but the plan is to gradually replace more regional payment systems with the headquarters’ solution. The growth of the fintech department shows how crucial this work is and is directly linked to Delivery Hero’s growth, making it a great place to understand the company’s overall situation.
Within the payment processing sector of the fintech department, there are various fields such as coupons, wallets, and e-money, and I am responsible for the PSP (Payment Service Provider) area. When providing payment agency services, I work on module tasks to build processes that enable payments through telecommunications.
Delivery Hero processes global transactions spanning Europe and Asia with a solution developed at its Berlin headquarters. Photo = deliveryhero.com
Gwangtaek An, Senior Data Engineer at Element Insurance AG, a leader in European insurtech
Gwangtaek An (An): I work as a data engineer at Element, an insurtech company where insurance and technology converge. Although Element is a startup, it has directly obtained an insurance company license from BaFin (the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority in Germany) and operates as an insurer. We design insurance products ourselves and offer white-labeling services, which involve developing and providing customized insurance products for other enterprises. We operate in both B2B and B2C, but so far, we have focused primarily on B2B.
For example, we create customized insurance products for Volkswagen. When Volkswagen sells a car, they can sell the insurance product in a one-stop shop, which is highly convenient for customers. We partner and do business with companies in various fields that require insurance, not just automotive companies. We plan various expansions and changes in our business model in the future. As a startup, we face many variables and are sensitive to investment, but we are sailing smoothly after recently securing 16 million euros—totaling about 66 million euros in funding since our founding four years ago. We expect our business scale to grow further.
I work as a data engineer. Collecting diverse data necessary for management is crucial for the company. I build data pipelines, analyze data, and build modules for data analysis. Ultimately, my job is to support the company in making data-driven business decisions. This affects forecasting the company’s future and shaping sales and marketing strategies based on data. When we provide metrics, the product, marketing, and sales teams adjust their strategies. We also report regularly to BaFin and handle legal regulatory compliance, supporting the generation of related reports.
In the early stages, as a startup, there wasn’t much data, so analysis itself was not very meaningful. Nowadays, however, as data has accumulated and we exchange diverse data with partner companies, there is a lot of work to do. While we haven’t reached the level of personalization seen at Google or Netflix, we have reached a level where we can cluster customer groups to some extent. We have also reached a level where we can design products that aid marketing and sales.
Element, an insurer and insurtech startup. Photo = element.in
Sujin Lee, Junior Developer at Taxfix GmbH, a tax filing mobile app
Sujin Lee (Lee): I work at a company called Taxfix, which develops a tax return application. It was founded in 2016, and I started working there in early 2020. Just three years ago, the total number of employees was about 30, but it has grown rapidly to around 280 now. We hired more than 100 people last year alone. Currently, we have received Series C funding and expanded our service areas to France and Italy. I understand we are also preparing to enter other markets. With the recent recruitment of new C-level executives and team restructuring, we are entering a stabilization phase. An interesting point is that our two founders are Swiss but have lived in Korea for a long time. I met them when I participated in startup-related meetups in Korea. The two founders previously started smallPDF and then founded Taxfix in 2016.
Taxfix began as a chatbot-style prototype with a ‘Question-and-Answer’ concept. Through questions and answers, users can enter tax forms and check their estimated tax refund amount. Currently, centered on the tax engine, we are focusing on creating an automated system where tax accountants can write tax logic and deploy it as an app without help from engineers. In addition, we have created an internal language called TaxML, enabling tax accountants to implement tax calculations and logic according to the tax laws of each country and state without programming knowledge.
I belong to the Tax Expert Platform team, developing Workbench, a platform for tax experts. Ultimately, the goal is to have the logic written by tax experts automatically reflected and deployed to the final app without the help of engineers. Therefore, tax experts and engineers collaborate closely.
While the German market is doing quite well, there are always challenges when entering new markets. As we also ponder partnerships with insurance, banks, etc., I look forward to seeing where and how the company’s business will grow in the future.
Taxfix, a startup developing a tax return app. Photo = taxfix.de
- Although insurance, payment, and tax return are different fields, they share the commonality that each industry is undergoing rapid changes due to technology. How do you view these changes?
An: In the US, there is an insurtech startup called Lemonade. It provides a service to easily sign up for insurance and claim insurance money online. At first, leading insurance companies were skeptical about Lemonade making a profit. Today, however, most insurance companies view Lemonade as a role model and pay close attention to using AI and digitalization in non-face-to-face insurance enrollment and claims. Signing up for insurance has become really easy. You sign up via mobile, compare 2 or 3 products as if shopping, pay with PayPal, and you’re done. Germany, in particular, is a major insurance nation, so this will have a massive impact across the industry. Conversely, this means the growth potential for insurtech companies like us is very high.
Lee: Since COVID-19, our company’s performance has actually increased. In a way, we benefited. For customers, they experience a much more satisfying service than paying a high fee to a tax accountant, so it will continue to grow. Still, challenges always exist. Because people’s characteristics vary so much by country, the customization must be delicate as the technology becomes more sophisticated. For example, German people arrange and analyze their documents thoroughly even when delegating to a tax accountant. Thus, they fit well with our app, where users input data step-by-step. On the other hand, Italian people prefer to throw the entire folder to a tax accountant and let them handle it. They find it tedious to download the app and enter data themselves. France has a government program like Korea’s HomeTax, so the need for a separate app is lower. As such, the target customer group varies by country. The role of local managers is crucial in this regard.
Oh: In Korea, I used a service called ‘Wolgeopnal’ (Payday). Everything was handled simply by uploading a salary stub, but tax filing programs in Germany like Steuergo still feel inconvenient because there is so much to upload. Since Korea is technologically fast in many ways, there are many inconveniences living in Germany. I work with the mindset of spreading advanced Korean technology to Germany.
※ Continued in [European Startup Chronicles] Meeting Three Korean Developers in Berlin ②.
Eunseo Yi eunseo.yi@123factory.de
This article was edited and adapted from the “European Startup Chronicles” series in BizHankook.