In 2015, Solaris was founded with a bold vision: to revolutionize banking. From a pioneering Fintech startup, we have grown into Europe’s leading Banking-as-a-Service platform, empowering businesses to offer financial services seamlessly. Our journey has been one of innovation, resilience, and adaptability, enabling us to navigate the challenging market dynamics over the past two years. We have stabilized our business, addressed the shortcomings of our hyper-growth phase, and strengthened our core operations.
Today, Solaris stands at a pivotal moment—a moment that calls for a new chapter of transformation. This transformation is not just about refining our products or strategies; it’s about reshaping how we operate, collaborate, and build the future together. We are poised to be more disruptive than ever, leveraging our solid foundation and substance.
Like a house that has withstood the test of time, Solaris does not need to be rebuilt from the ground up. Instead, we are embarking on a significant evolution. Our goal is clear: to make Solaris a stronger, more resilient, and profitably growing organization that continues to lead the market with exceptional, innovative financial solutions.
As part of this transformation, key decisions have been taken. Last week, we announced that Solaris would be discontinuing major parts of its EMI operations, which regrettably will bring redundancies across the EMI team.
This was the final outcome following a difficult period for the EMI business, where challenging market conditions have impacted on its ability to sign new businesses and grow revenues as expected.
Furthermore, as we embark on this key chapter in our history, we are also making necessary adjustments to the Solaris SE business. We have opted to implement a more suitable target operating model which will help align our operating structure with strategic priorities. In turn, this will increase our agility and integration across functions.
As part of this reorganization, we will be cutting back on corresponding roles and it is with heartfelt regret that we are making redundancies across the Solaris SE team. While this is a difficult outcome, I firmly believe it is necessary to ensure future success and to build the financial stability of Solaris as we tread the path to profitability.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to share my big thanks to our Chief Commercial Officer, Joerg Diewald who will be leaving Solaris at the end of September. Joerg has decided to step down from his role after completing a very successful six years growing the commercial function of the business. This has culminated in the recent successful ADAC credit card portfolio migration and setting the foundation for our further growth.
I’d also like to share a quick insight into our 2023 annual financial results. Solaris incurred losses of EUR 178 m and achieved a net revenue of EUR 137 m. A major contributing factor to these losses was the write-off of the EMI business. The write-off contributed to the overall loss with EUR123 m.
As we navigate this transformation, our focus remains steadfast on creating value for our partners and end customers, advancing our platform, and positioning regulatory compliance as a unique selling proposition. We are not just adapting to change; we are shaping it to deliver a bright future for Solaris, with a commitment to becoming Europe's leading platform for Embedded Finance.