Solaris to “discontinue major parts” of EMI business
German embedded finance platform Solaris says it has made the “difficult decision” to “discontinue major parts” of its Electronic Money Institution (EMI) business formerly known as Contis, a UK-based company with an EMI licence in Lithuania.
Solaris says the move will bring “redundancies across the EMI team”
Solaris acquired rival Contis back in 2021 after securing €190 million in a Series D funding round. At the time, then-CEO Roland Folz described Contis as a “fantastic business” which ticked the boxes from a “geographical perspective and licence perspective”. Folz left Solaris two years later to lead CloudPay.
Last November, Contis was fined €840,000 by the Bank of Lithuania for failing to comply with the requirements for the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, as well as information security and business continuity risk management.
Now, in a company statement, Solaris explains that the move to retire the EMI business is part of a broader “reorganisation” aimed at reshaping the company into a “stronger, more resilient and agile organisation”.
“As part of this reorganisation, the Solaris Management Board has taken the difficult decision to discontinue major parts of the EMI (formerly Contis) operations, which regrettably will bring redundancies across the EMI team,” the company says.
Carsten Höltkemeyer, Solaris CEO, states: “It’s been a challenging period for the EMI business with difficult market conditions impacting on its ability to sign new businesses and grow revenues as expected.
“These factors, coupled with the loss of key partners and the profitability they provide, have made EMI operations unsustainable.”
Höltkemeyer adds that Solaris “remains fully committed to its partner and regulatory requirements and will support all employees affected by these changes”.
Earlier this year, Solaris bagged €96 million in a Series F funding round.
