Solving KYC complexity in fintech with Camillo Werdich (Episode 43)
In this episode, I sit down with Camillo Werdich, CEO and founder of Sinpex.
Guests
Show notes
In this episode, I sit down with Camillo Werdich, CEO and founder of Sinpex.
Camillo is the CEO and Founder of Sinpex, an AI-driven compliance platform focused on transforming how financial institutions manage KYC, onboarding, and regulatory workflows. Since founding the company in 2019, he has led the development of solutions leveraging large language models to improve data accuracy, automate document analysis, and adapt quickly to evolving regulatory requirements.
He brings a strong blend of technical and financial expertise, with early experience in engineering roles at ZF Friedrichshafen and Transsolar, followed by consulting at Deloitte, where he gained exposure to complex business and regulatory environments.
Dr. Werdich holds a PhD in Economics from the University of St. Gallen, complemented by academic experience at the London School of Economics and a cum laude MSc in International Business. His work sits at the intersection of AI, compliance, and financial services innovation.
In this episode
Camillo Werdich, founder and CEO of Sinpex, explains how seeing a German bank struggle with compliance at Deloitte led him to build a platform for verifying business customers (KYB). He argues that compliant KYB requires dated evidence from primary company registers, not just data pulled from providers, describes the years it took to connect those registers, and explains why Sinpex raised 10 million from BlackFin. He sees Europe ahead of the US in KYB because of stricter regulation.
Chapters
- 0:00Introduction and Sinpex
- 2:36Why KYB is a business problem
- 7:46Evidence, not just data
- 12:11Connecting to company registers
- 16:03Growth and raising 10 million
- 21:46Choosing BlackFin
- 26:14The fintech market today
- 29:41AI in compliance
- 32:46What's next for Sinpex
- 34:17Europe vs the US in KYB
- 38:02Advice for founders
Key facts
Camillo trained as an engineer in Germany, studied in Groningen and at the LSE, and worked at Deloitte, where a German bank's compliance problems inspired Sinpex.
Sinpex was started about seven years ago and spent roughly three years building connections to company registers before launching.
Sinpex connects directly to registers such as the Dutch KVK and German Handelsregister and uses aggregators in other regions.
Some Sinpex customers have gone five or six years in a row with zero audit findings.
Sinpex raised 10 million from BlackFin after about 18 months of strong growth, helped by large customers expanding their contracts.
Sinpex chose BlackFin because it specialises in financial services and understood the product's differences, such as UBO calculation methods.
Sinpex uses AI to analyse documents and extract information but avoids fully agentic automation because compliance leaves no room for error.
Sinpex aims to become the undisputed European KYB leader and is seeing its first customers from the US.
KYC for individuals is becoming a commodity, while KYB is complex, especially with ownership across jurisdictions.
The new EU AML rules, enforced from 2027, are driving demand for KYB.
Pulling data from providers without dated evidence from primary registers leaves firms exposed in audits; documents should be under three months old at onboarding.
KYB is a rare area where Europe is ahead of the US, because stricter regulation forced better technology.
Founders should start as early as possible and find mentors to help with hard decisions.
Questions and answers
Why is KYB now a board-level issue?
Regulators can stop new business after compliance failures, which hits revenue directly.
How hard was connecting to registers?
Extremely: broken APIs, changing websites and scrapers, which is why it took about three years.
What did Camillo look for in an investor?
Someone who understood both the problem and the product, and had a relevant financial services network.