Big data, sustainability, artificial intelligence: the Frankfurt financial start-up Arabesque attracted investors with pithy words, prominent names and big promises. Looking behind the facade makes you at least suspicious.
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Jan Diesteldorf and Meike Schreiber, Frankfurt
A villa on the edge of the Frankfurt diplomatic quarter, diagonally opposite is the Palmengarten. Light sandstone plinth, white facade, inside white marble on the walls. The Portuguese consul once resided in the neoclassical building, but the tenant is now called Arabesque, a finance company that has set out to save the world. Everything about her is ambitious: the people, the sounds, the plans. “Together we are developing the next generation of financial services for you,” said the former FDP Vice Chancellor Philipp Rösler on the website.