Collapse of the DAX group: How Wirecard ruined an Augsburg start-up

A native of Augsburg will take a close look at the start of the Wirecard process. His start-up once worked with Wirecard – and was sucked into the maelstrom of corporate bankruptcy.

By Andreas Herz, BR

Joachim Sedlmeir shoulders his backpack and makes his way to a skyscraper in the east of Munich. The Augsburg businessman takes a deep breath. He is excited. Because soon he will meet the man with whom he associates his greatest professional defeat: the former Wirecard manager Martin Osterloh.

It was 2019 when Sedlmeir made contact with Wirecard for the first time. “That was actually not possible for a start-up of our size,” reports the Augsburger. His company Stampay has not even received an answer to previous inquiries. But this time Sedlmeir has a name with him: Frank Thelen, who is already cooperating with Wirecard through another start-up.

Big business beckoned

“When Wirecard found out that I knew Frank Thelen, there was suddenly trust.” This is followed by an initial conversation with Martin Osterloh, who at the time was Vice President for digital sales at Wirecard. Now Sedlmeir can present his idea: cashless payment via QR code. Osterloh signals interest.

Sedlmeir and his 15-strong team are now working on the idea under high pressure. What they then present to Wirecard is convincing. “They thought it was great,” Sedlmeir recalls. The payment service provider from Aschheim promises Sedlmeir big, global business. Sedlmeir sees himself on target.

Then follows June 18, 2020. Joachim Sedlmeir is sitting in his car while a radio report is playing about the press conference that Wirecard hastily convened. The then Wirecard boss Markus Braun talks about the many inconsistencies with the payment service provider from Aschheim near Munich. But only at the very end of the press conference did the decisive words come out: “It cannot currently be ruled out that Wirecard AG has suffered damage in a case of fraud on a significant scale.”

“I cried”

When Sedlmeir hears the words, he knows that his start-up Stampay is over: “It was a huge shock. Because we had big visions and overnight we ran out of technology because our partner Wirecard no longer existed.” , the entrepreneur recalls. “I hate to tell you. But when the last employee left our office, I sat there and cried.”

Ten years of work collapse. Stampay has to file for bankruptcy. Around five million euros have been destroyed. For Sedlmeir it was also a deep personal cut. Again and again, when he sees the pictures of the former Wirecard bosses Braun and Marsalek, the memories come up.

For Sedlmeir, the trial is also an opportunity to finally draw a line. This also includes talking to Martin Osterloh again, his former mentor at Wirecard.

Worked with 70 German digital companies

When Sedlmeir arrives at the agreed meeting point, Osterloh is already waiting for him. The 52-year-old speaks with a slight English accent and makes little fuss about his personality. No slim-fit suit, no manager talk. Only his expensive watch hints at the illustrious company in which Osterloh played an important role to the end.

Sedlmeir is primarily concerned with one question: How was Osterloh doing back then? “Of course you feel a bit complicit,” replies Osterloh. “On the one hand, the job at Wirecard was done well. Stampay was a great partner for us, innovative technology. Of course, I have a bad feeling about the subsequent insolvency. We carried them away.”

Sedlmeir is happy about the statements of his former business partner: “It’s definitely good to hear that you didn’t care.” According to Osterloh, Wirecard has cooperated with around 70 German digital companies. Around half of the companies came from Bavaria. But few were hit as hard as Sedlmeir.

Partner for many in the start-up scene

The Stampay case also shows that Wirecard was an important partner for the start-up scene in particular. What Wirecard had to offer technologically was unique in Germany, says Sedlmeir. People there were more innovative and risk-taking. “Many of today’s German fin-tech companies would not have existed without Wirecard.”

At the same time, external partners such as his start-up Stampay were also examined in detail, he reports: “We had a payment cooperation with an Austrian company that offered hemp products containing CBD. That was immediately a problem for Wirecard.”

Wirecard was obviously less precise when it came to internal controls. According to his own statement, manager Osterloh had no idea of ​​the fraud. Only the department’s profits in Southeast Asia made him suspicious: “I always thought: How do they manage to earn six to seven times as much as my department?”

What can the court clarify?

Osterloh was also questioned by the investigators after the bankruptcy, but according to his own statement, no misconduct could be proven: “It looks like Jan Marsalek was the perpetrator or criminal. It would be my wish that the process would provide more information what Mr. Braun’s role was,” says Osterloh.

Joachim Sedlmeir would also like that. Professionally, he picked himself up after Stampay’s bankruptcy and rebuilt his company. There are already people interested in the new business idea: digital tips.