{"id":22819,"date":"2017-04-28T08:27:40","date_gmt":"2017-04-28T06:27:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cms.munich-startup.net\/?p=22819"},"modified":"2020-10-07T14:12:24","modified_gmt":"2020-10-07T12:12:24","slug":"7-questions-about-safety-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.munich-startup.net\/en\/22819\/7-questions-about-safety-tax\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cMunich is popular with Chinese tourists\u201d \u2013 7 questions to\u2026 Safety Tax Free!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The young founders of Safety Tax Free<\/a> prefer to celebrate in their student dorms\u2014or in Beijing. Understandably, because, on the one hand, with a second round of financing almost completed, there's good reason to celebrate. On the other hand, Chinese tourists are among the core target group of the Munich startup, which focuses on simplifying VAT refunds for foreign customers. Sounds like a niche? It is. And one with potential.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Who are you and what do you do?<\/strong><\/p>\n

My name is Chengyuan Zhai, and I am the founder and CEO of Safety Tax Free GmbH. I founded the company in March 2016 together with some fellow students. Our business idea is digitalization and thus simplifying VAT refunds for foreign customers and local retailers.<\/p>\n

We've developed an app that makes the entire process transparent. We also eliminate the need to fill out forms by hand and enable quick payouts in local currency without waiting in line at the airport.<\/p>\n

As a Chinese-German startup, we focus on addressing our customers' challenges, such as existing language barriers. At the same time, we integrate new technological trends from China, such as mobile payments.<\/p>\n

Chinese tourists in focus<\/h3>\n

2. But that's been around for a long time!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unlike our competitors, our focus is primarily on the steadily growing market of Chinese tourists. Our process saves tourists a lot of time! Furthermore, customers always have a clear overview of their tax-free forms. Furthermore, we offer a better refund rate because digitalization allows us to save on certain costs, such as rent and airport personnel.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A time saving for both customers and retailers<\/h3>\n

For retailers, we also offer faster processing and exciting marketing opportunities. By having a Chinese-language presence in the Safety Tax app, participating in special sales promotions with our partners, and sending personalized advertising to our app users, retailers can increase their visibility among Chinese customers and ultimately their sales without having to invest any resources themselves.<\/p>\n

3. What has been your biggest challenge so far?<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the biggest challenges, of course, was setting up our digital VAT refund process so that it would be accepted by customs and the tax authorities. We also sought support from a law firm for our business model, as this topic is very sensitive.<\/p>\n

About three months after our founding and after several test runs by Chinese friends and acquaintances who successfully cleared customs with our forms and also received their tax refunds, we were finally able to officially launch.<\/p>\n

Safety Tax funding? It's happening!<\/h3>\n

4. Let\u2019s get down to business: How is business going?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since the launch of our app in August 2016, we've already achieved initial success. In September, we were able to attract a Chinese investor and are now close to completing our second pre-A investment round.<\/p>\n

We also already have over 3,500 app users who have successfully processed their tax refunds with us. We also maintain relationships with nearly 50 partner retailers in the Munich area and several other cities throughout Germany that offer our service.<\/p>\n

5. What does Munich mean to you?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Munich is very important to us, both personally and strategically. The entire founding team consists of former students of the Technical University of Munich, and we have all lived here for many years.<\/p>\n

This is very important for our company, as Bavaria, and especially the Munich and Neuschwanstein region, is very popular with Chinese tourists\u2014and therefore an ideal entry point for us. We've also had positive experiences with the local startup scene, for example, with BayStartup<\/a>, in whose Munich business plan competition we recently ranked among the top ten<\/a>.<\/p>\n

6. How will your startup become the next unicorn? Or will we see you soon at Epic Fail Night?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the next few years, we would like to establish ourselves on the German market and offer our tax refund service in other European markets.<\/p>\n

The Safety Tax team has now grown to 16 employees and covers various areas such as IT, design, marketing, and sales. We will also be making our app available to other Asian tourist nationalities, such as Taiwanese, Koreans, and Thais. So, there's virtually nothing stopping us from growing.<\/p>\n

Party in Beijing<\/h3>\n

7. Schwabinger 7 or Bob Beaman?<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a Garching-based startup, we prefer the student dorm around the corner, where we enjoy spending long workdays together from time to time. If we want to party, we prefer to stay with our colleagues in Beijing \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The young founders of Safety Tax Free prefer to celebrate in their student dorms\u2014or in Beijing. Understandably, because, on the one hand, with a second round of financing almost completed, they have good reason to celebrate. On the other hand, Chinese tourists are among the core target group of the Munich-based startup, which focuses on simplifying VAT refunds...<\/p>","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":22820,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5634,5638,1,4074,1083],"tags":[4202,80,1441,2466],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n"M\u00fcnchen ist bei chinesischen Touristen beliebt" - 7 Fragen an... Safety Tax Free! - Munich Startup<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Safety Tax fokussiert sich auf eine Vereinfachung der Mehrwertsteuer-R\u00fcckerstattung f\u00fcr ausl\u00e4ndische Kunden. 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