The Viennese start-up Notarity is making waves with its online notary platform. The demand for smart solutions in this area is high, but a dispute with the Chamber of Notaries is slowing down growth in Austria. The focus of the expansion is therefore abroad.
A notarial deed often requires a lot of time and patience. The Viennese Jakobus Schuster also discovered this when he worked as a lawyer at a German law firm. During Corona times, online solutions became more important, but he was not satisfied with them. Together with two developers, he quickly designed his own software for the notary.
In early 2022, Schuster and his partners received financing and a six-figure investment, for example from business angel Benjamin Ruschin. A year later, other investors joined, such as advertising guru Mariusz Demner and Durchblicker founder Reinhold Baudisch.
The Chamber of Notaries was not happy with the success of the online platform – and filed a lawsuit. However, the court largely agreed with the start-up (not legally binding). “We wanted to involve the room from the start. But they refused to talk to us,” the founder said.
The legal dispute is slowing down the young company in this country, causing the focus to increasingly shift abroad. “We currently have customers from more than 100 countries,” says Schuster. Every month there are approximately 4,000 online notarial acts and notarial acts (via video calls and digital signatures) that connect notaries and clients via PC thanks to the Notarity software. The aim is to break the million euro mark for the first time this year.
Schuster sees growth opportunities in Spain, England, the Netherlands, the Middle East, the US and Argentina. Germany is also interesting, but is currently not an option there due to the legal monopoly of notaries.
Time savings and cost transparency
The advantage of the software is that it saves time because many notary appointments can be completed online. In addition, transparency increases because the price differences between notaries are large – according to insiders, one of the main reasons for the Chamber’s dissatisfaction. In any case, Schuster remains confident and hopes for conversations. As for the ongoing procedure, the entrepreneur suspects that the chamber will exhaust all legal remedies – which could take another two years and cost the young company a lot of money.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
