abcfinlab

What abcfinlab does

abcfinlab GmbH is a Cologne-based innovation lab and digital business-model incubator operating within the Werhahn-Gruppe and the abcfinance group. Founded in 2019 (per company filings), the company develops digital financial products for the B2B leasing market, with its core offering being Lease Seven — a fully cloud-native, domain-driven microservice web application built with Next.js and TypeScript that enables sales partners (Vertriebspartner) to conclude legally valid digital leasing contracts on-site or remotely, compressing contract turnaround from days or weeks to minutes. The platform is operated using Infrastructure-as-Code, CI/CD pipelines, high automated test coverage, and a user-centered Build-Measure-Learn product development cycle; it has processed over 500 million EUR in leasing volume since its 2019 go-live.

The company is monetizing predominantly through transaction fees on leasing volume, acting as the digital front-end within the broader abcfinance leasing infrastructure. Beyond Lease Seven, abcfinlab has expanded its portfolio with two early-stage products: JobDealz (launched as an MVP in 2024), an employee benefit platform that enables staff at participating employers to lease technology products via the German government's Mitarbeiter-PC-Programm (MPP), and Leasing Card (launched in validation stage in 2024), a card-based instant digital leasing product analogous to a credit card. Distribution is carried out through three distinct channels — a sales-partner reseller network for Lease Seven, employer-as-reseller for JobDealz, and direct digital self-service onboarding for Leasing Card — with named partners including Coolblue (product supply) and hepster (insurance). Geographic reach is concentrated in Germany, with stated ambition for expansion into the Netherlands and Austria.

abcfinlab is a privately held, wholly-owned subsidiary of the long-established German family-owned conglomerate Werhahn-Gruppe (Wilh. Werhahn KG), operating with 11–50 employees headquartered at Kaiser-Wilhelm-Ring 2–4, Cologne. Management consists of three Geschäftsführer: Dr. Hubertus Mersmann, Ralf Marschke, and Markus Wernicke (Sprecher). No external venture capital, funding rounds, revenue figures, or third-party financial backers are disclosed in available material; the company operates as a captive innovation engine rather than an independent venture-backed startup.

Name

abcfinlab

Legal name

abcfinlab GmbH

Website

https://abcfinlab.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

abcfinlab is the innovation arm of Werhahn-Gruppe and the abcfinance group, developing digital B2B leasing products — Lease Seven (digital leasing contract platform), JobDealz (employee tech-leasing benefit), and Leasing Card (instant digital leasing card) — serving sales partners, employers, and SMBs across Germany, Netherlands, and Austria.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Digital B2B Leasing Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (51321), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151)

SIC

Short-Term Business Credit Institutions (6153), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

B2B BNPL (Invoice Split/Net Terms for SMB Procurement) (FSAKACAJ)

Keywords

• Digital leasing platform
• B2B leasing software
• Employee technology leasing
• Fintech innovation lab
• Card-based leasing

Headquarters

HQ city

Köln

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. Lease Seven: Digital leasing contract processing platform. Revenue generated from leasing transaction volume processed through the platform. Sales partners use the platform to conclude leasing contracts, with the company acting as the leasing provider within the abcfinance group.
2. JobDealz: Employee technology leasing benefit. Companies offer JobDealz as a corporate benefit to employees, who can lease tech equipment through their employer with tax advantages via the German government MPP program.
3. Leasing Card: Card-based instant leasing solution. Businesses register and receive a leasing card, then can use it like a credit card at merchants to finance purchases immediately with monthly leasing installments.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

abcfinlab is the innovation lab and digital leasing arm of the abcfinance group (within Werhahn-Gruppe) and develops cloud-native software products that digitize and automate B2B leasing processes. Its core offerings include Lease Seven, a web-based platform that lets sales partners issue legally valid digital leasing contracts in minutes; JobDealz, an employee-benefit platform for technology leasing via Germany's MPP program; and Leasing Card, a card-based instant-leasing product.

Product overview

abcfinlab operates as an innovation and incubator unit within the abcfinance group and the Werhahn Group, developing digital business models for the finance sector. Its current product portfolio consists of three named offerings: Lease Seven (live, since 2019) is the core web-based leasing application digitizing end-to-end contract processes; JobDealz (MVP stage) is an employee benefit platform for hardware leasing via the government's Employee PC Program; and Leasing Card (validation stage) is a card-based instant leasing product positioned to make leasing as simple as card payment. The portfolio also includes exploratory ideation areas such as factoring and EU-AI-Act related topics.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Lease Seven: A web-based digital leasing application enabling sales partners to conclude leasing contracts digitally on-site or remotely. Since its 2019 go-live, it has processed over half a billion euros in leasing volume.
• JobDealz
• Leasing Card

Products and services

• Lease Seven Web-based application enabling sales partners (Vertriebspartner) to conclude legally valid digital leasing contracts in minutes, either on-site or remotely, for B2B customers. Digitizes and automates the full leasing lifecycle from contract conclusion through ongoing servicing, processing transactions within the abcfinance group's leasing framework.
• JobDealz Corporate benefit platform that allows employees to lease technology hardware (smartphones, laptops, tablets) through their employer with tax advantages via the German government's Employee PC Program (MPP), accessed through a protected online shop operated by participating companies.
• Leasing Card Digital card-based leasing solution that operates like a credit card, enabling immediate, fully digital leasing at point of purchase with no paperwork. Businesses register online, receive the card, and use it at merchants to finance purchases via monthly leasing installments.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 500 million EUR in leasing volume processed since 2019 Go-Live
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.

• CoolbluecoreTechnology or IntegrationCoolblue is a leading technology provider known for excellent service and high product quality. They serve as a product supplier for JobDealz, providing the technology products (laptops, smartphones, tablets, etc.) that employees can lease through the platform.
• hepstercoreTechnology or Integrationhepster is an insurance partner for JobDealz, representing innovation, user-centeredness, and a simple digital user journey. They provide insurance services for the leased technology products.
• Werhahn-GruppeflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partnerabcfinlab is the innovation engine of the Werhahn-Gruppe, developing digital business models and implementing promising ideas as the incubator of the abcfinance group. The parent company provides strategic direction, resources, and distribution network access.
• abcfinance GruppeflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partnerabcfinlab serves as the incubator of the abcfinance group, developing and scaling digital business models for the financial services group. The abcfinance group provides the operational infrastructure and regulatory framework for leasing operations.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Qonto: European SMB business account and corporate card provider serving freelancers and SMEs across DACH and wider Europe with embedded financing-like products, directly comparable to the Leasing Card proposition.
• Iwoca: European digital lender for small businesses offering short-term working-capital credit lines, comparable to abcfinlab's role as a digital short-term business credit distributor via lease contracts.
• Behalf: B2B financing and net-terms platform that provides short-term credit to SMBs for procurement purchases — the same equipment-finance-for-SMBs motion Lease Seven and Leasing Card serve in the DACH market.
• Pleo: European SMB corporate-card and spend management provider whose card-based financing model maps directly onto abcfinlab's emerging Leasing Card product concept and similar European SMB customer base.
• Moss: Berlin-based SMB credit-card and expense management platform targeting German and European SMEs, comparable to abcfinlab in geography, customer segment, and card-driven financing/expense use cases.
• TreviPay: Global B2B payments and net-terms financing platform enabling SMBs to procure on credit from suppliers, functionally similar to the procurement-financing value proposition behind Lease Seven.
• Grenke AG: German-listed leasing specialist focused on B2B IT and small-ticket equipment financing via partner and reseller channels — the same go-to-market motion abcfinlab's Lease Seven product replicates digitally.

Emerging players

• Finom: European SMB neobank with corporate cards and integrated financing serving freelancers and small businesses across DACH, an emerging adjacent competitor for SMB working-capital and Leasing Card-style products.

Broad incumbents

• CHG-Meridian AG: Established German technology and equipment leasing incumbent with broad global operations across multiple asset categories — a relevant legacy competitor to Lease Seven in the same B2B equipment financing market.
• DLL (De Lage Landen): Global equipment-financing vendor finance provider owned by Rabobank, active in DACH and beyond — a scaled incumbent offering comparable B2B equipment-leasing and asset-finance solutions.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about abcfinlab