Bastian has pursued the vision of completely changing life of humans since he was a kid.
Growing up as a working-class child in Staßfurt near Magdeburg, he moved to Berlin for a dual degree in finance. He initially founded deineStudienfinanzierung in 2018, at the age of 21. The platform simplifies dealing with BAföG, education funds, and student loans from KfW, has served over 200,000 students, and brokered 80% of student loans in Germany today, profitable since 2020. The platform was acquired by Getsafe in 2024.
In May 2021, Krautwald founded OWWN. With his team, he analyzed the customer group they had built through deineStudienfinanzierung and determined what Generation Z needs and expects from a bank. As early as June 2021, they were able to raise five million euros in the first round of financing from EQT ventures, 468, and OMR.” - according to Forbes. The OWWN platform teamed up with N26 in 2023.
