Tech Startups Germany (Audio)

Welcome to This Month in German, Swiss, and Austrian (GSA) Startups, our startup news wrap-up for December 2022 by Startuprad.io with Chris from New York City and Joe from Frankfurt. We recorded this news episode on December 19th, 2022. Keep in mind, this news episode covers everything since our last news episode.As always: All news not yet included here will be published in our next news episode, which will be January 2023, the first news for 2023. Guys, another year is over! Find all links to the quoted news on our Medium blog, link belowOur Highlights:Enpal makes huge fundraising in the current environment, more than 800 mn €. Sennder doubles its valuation in the next funding round to 2 bn US$ and has already 60 mn commitments. The funding environment may be bleak, but investors announced new funds for VC and PE investments worth 3.1 bn US$ targeting startups and scaleups in GSA or Europe. One blog asks if the time of Rocket Internet is over, Matter Labs raises 200 mn, a big heist drives a startup into insolvency and Getir buys Gorillas for 1,2 bn US$, a far cry from Gorillas' former 3 bn US$ valuation.Let's talk startups:Top News Enpal FundraisingEnpal could double its valuation in the new funding round. Berlin-based unicorn Enpal closes €855 million in debt funding to accelerate the adoption of solar energy.Sennder Raises New Funds At Double ValuationDigital forwarder unicorn Sennder is raising new money, at a 2 bn US$ valuation. According to the report, they already have 60m commitments.Fundraising For VCs Went Quite Well - More Than 3.1 bn Euros Worth of New Investment Funds Have Been ClosedThe largest is EQT Ventures. It has Money if your startup needs it: EQT Ventures III closes Europe's largest venture capital fund committed to early-stage tech startups. The money will go to early-stage startups in Europe and North America. For more funds, wait for our later section with new fund announcements.A service for our audience: Learn more and send in pitches here: https://eqtgroup.com/current-portfolio/funds/eqt-ventures-iii Has Rocket Internet Already Seen Its Best Years?"Mucho trouble over at Rocket Internet," wrote Robin Wauters in his readworthy newsletter for Tech.eu. The article asks if their era is over. Staff cuts and investment stop point in that direction.Startup Brand RankingJung von Matt publishes their annual GERMAN STARTUP BRAND RANKINGSome of the top 50 startup brands are known from our news: About You, Flink, Numa Group, getquin, Vivid, Flaschenpost, Tier Mobility, Zolar, Enpal, Sono Motors, Trade RepublicMatter Labs raises 200 mn US$Matter Labs, the Berlin, Germany-based developer of zkSync, a solution that reduces the cost of Ethereum transactions, raised $200M in Series C funding https://buff.ly/3UorChpNot Oceans Eleven, But Still BIGBerlin-based luxury watch marketplace Watchmaster was one of the largest marketplaces of its kind. After a spectacular robbery where 10 m € worth of watches have been stolen the company has to file for insolvency https://buff.ly/3Fi3qsG Getir Buys Gorillas And It Is Not Going Well For the Gorillas FounderFirst, this kind of news appeared: Getir will take over Gorillas soon - according to press reports. The negotiations have been dragging on for some time now.Then, we got the confirmation: Getir acquires German competitor Gorillas in $1.2 billion deal - where Gorillas was once valued at 3 bn...

Executive SummaryUniApp is an ed-tech startup from Germany, that helps international students to prepare for their study abroad and helps in the application process, both on their platform. They help students to find the right place to study for undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as online-only programs. Their portfolio includes now universities and colleges in 27 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland, Singapore, and Canada. The tool also works as a CRM for universities and colleges to streamline their international applicants.“We bootstrapped in less than 2 months to more than 20.000 users”Fahed Jaarah, Founder and CEO UniAppSubscribe HereThe Authority on German, Swiss and Austrian Startups | Linktree“We created a search engine for education that is not manipulated by ads.”Fahed Jaarah, Founder and CEO UniAppThe FounderOur guest today, founder and CEO of UniApp Fahed, brings a wealth of experience in entrepreneurship to the table. Having studied at universities across Europe (Cologne, Paris, Buckinghamshire outside of London), he has worked on various projects with notable organizations such as private rating agencies and investment advisers a small investment boutique. After 3 years working within this sector, he decided to take his newfound knowledge and apply it to the world of ed-tech by founding UniApp — creating a modern platform to support students during the process of looking for study abroad by matching students with mentors at universities around the world. With his expertise in launching successful businesses aiding college and university students, Fahed is quickly becoming a prominent figure in the international education community.The StartupUniApp (https://uni-app.com/), started out as Udrus.com and was initially designed to enable Arabic-speaking students to study abroad. However, the team soon expanded its vision to provide study-abroad opportunities for international students from all over the world, under the new name of UniApp. Using a unique application process that takes into account 600+ data points for each individual student, UniApp has become a leader in ed-tech by making the complex college application process easier and smoother for its users. With a platform that eliminates language barriers, UniApp is paving the way for study abroad programs around the globe. By focusing on the needs of the study seeker and their future potential, UniApp is playing a huge role in making study abroad accessible to everyone — whether it's internationally or from within their own region. UniApp also can match you with institutions for an undergraduate degree, advanced degree, or even an online degree.For institutions of higher learning, the application helps them to get matched with better-fitting students and don't have to click through many ads on search engines. The tool works as a kind of CRM program and communication tool for the institutions.Venture Capital FundingUniApp raised 1 mn Euros in Seed Funding in Q2 2022. They are also currently in fundraising mode again.UniApp is HiringYou can learn more about them on their website here: https://uni-app.com/about-us/ and reach out via the website.All Links and Show NotesHere is our blog post:

Our Highlights: FTX may be history, BUT a German Blog reports there are several parties interested in buying the European Entity of FTX. FTX also triggered Bitpanda to order a special audit from KPMG. We have some more job cuts, this time the 2nd round. Gorillas may sell itself at 1 bn USD even though they have raised 1.3 bn USD in venture capital already. Air taxis are still hot, Volocopter raises more than 180 m US$ to get closer to certification and Lilium sells 100 Airtaxis to Saudi Arabia. The German VC market is stabilizing, according to KfW Research. Our former guest Creditshelf partners with Goldman Sachs and pockets 100 m Euros. Gitpod, a startup from Kiel convinces the founders of GitHub and Shopify to invest.Let's talk startups:Our Sponsor StartupravenThe best way to identify investors and cooperation partners for early-stage startups. Sign up for early access here: https://startupraven.com/Find all options to follow us and subscribe here: https://linktr.ee/startupradioTop News FTX may soon be History, BUTA German blog Finance Forward reports there are several parties interested in buying the European Entity of FTX, which is headquartered in Switzerland. Their information has been spot-on in other cases in the past.Job Cuts Keep Coming - 2nd Round NowProptechs Homeday and McMakler enter the second round of job cuts. Homeday cuts 20 jobs (60 before) and McMakler again 100 employeesGorillas May Sell Itself at a Huge DiscountSequoia-backed grocery startup Getir is close to buying its troubled rival Gorillas in a heavily discounted deal said to be worth less than $1 billion. They have been valued at their series C investment at 2.1 bn US$ and to date they raised more than 1.3 bn US$.Related: Deutsche-Startups uncovered that Gorillas (which is in the process of selling itself) paid 300 m € this year for french competitor Frichti.Lilium Sells 100 Airtaxis Saudi Arabia buys 100 air taxis from Munich -based startup Lilium. The delivery is expected 2025. Before the deal, they also hired former Airbus executive Klaus Roewe. Fingers crossed for them, they did not generate revenue yet, but 841 m Euros in losses so far. Volocopter Raises 182 M US$Volocopter raises $182M to bring air taxi closer to certification, as part of their Series E funding The company is currently testing its two-seater VoloCity air taxi for the requirements set by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Volocopter is looking to certify its aircraft in H2 2023 and generate revenue with rides in 2024.Creditshelf Partners with Goldman SachsOur former guest Creditshelf partners with Goldman Sachs and hits profitability - Goldman Sachs is providing the German alternative lender for SMEs with up to €100m of secured funding. Learn more in our interview with Creditshelf here https://buff.ly/3NVANo1 Creditshelf is Germany's only listed pure-play fintech, offering a credit platform, where investors can grant credit to German small and medium enterprises.Mentioned in this episode:Startupraven.comThe best way to identify investors and cooperation partners for early-stage startups. Sign up for early access here: https://startupraven.com/Our EnablersYounium Younium is the subscription management and billing platform for B2B SaaS. Younium brings the transformative infrastructure to manage and grow your business while you focus on the things that matter. https://www.younium.com/ Tvarit Tvarit is an industrial ai startup, that helps companies to reduce rejections by 40%-60% in metal casting, as well as saving up to 18% on energy. Learn more here: https://www.tvarit.com/This podcast uses the following third-party services for...

Welcome to the second Episode, brought to you from the European Angel Investment Summit 2022. The European Business Angel Network (EBAN) is an organization that brings together business angels from all over Europe. The aim of the organization is to provide a forum for business angels to share best practices and learn from each other. EBAN also offers training for new business angels who want to get involved in startup investing. The organization held one of its two annual conferences in Brussels recently, bringing together business angel investors from all over the continent. This year's conference was particularly important, as it provided a much-needed opportunity for startup founders to connect with potential investors. With the COVID-19 pandemic causing economic uncertainty, many startups are struggling to secure funding. The conference offered a unique opportunity for startups to pitch their businesses to a large group of potential investors. The conference was a valuable opportunity for startup founders to meet with potential investors and get their businesses off the ground.300 seed-stage startups applied to be at this event of which 25 have been chosen. The event took place in Brussels. We focused on startups from Germany and made short interviews with them on-site. If you want one or more of these startups back for a full interview, let us know in the comments or via email. The event was a great opportunity to network and exchange ideas with other startup founders, business angels, and VC investors from all across Europe. We also got insights into the early-stage startup scene across the continent and had the chance to listen to some great startup pitches. All in all, it was a very inspiring event that definitely left us wanting more. The next event will take place in Athens, Greece in April 2023. You can apply for the event via the EBAN website: https://www.eban.org/ Publication Schedule Startuprad.ioWe are in the hot fall for Startuprad.io, where we publish two episodes each week, until Christmas. We will finish the year with our annual fintech review on December 25th and be back for you on January 19th, 2022.EnablerHessen Trade and Invest is the enabler of some of the most important interviews that have been conducted for this website. Without their brand, Invest-in-Hessen.com, none of these would have been possible. These interviews would not have been possible without Hessen Trade and Invest's willingness to help facilitate my travel and connect me with startups in their network. Subscribe HereWe are always sharing new resources with you. Find all of our options below.We want to make sure that we provide what's best for your growing team, so please take a look at these additional ways in which can help! https://linktr.ee/startupradioChapters:00:00:00 Intro 00:00:17 Welcome by Joe 00:01:06 Desire Dosch - Guide Care 00:06:34 Hannah Helmke - right. based on science 00:13:30 Katja Filippenko - Saatgutkonfetti 00:22:15 Nikolaus D. Bayer - German Business Angel of the Year 2020 00:26:18 Harald Holzer - HIGHEST - TU DarmstadtFind all blog posts with all the links on our blog https://medium.com/@startuprad_io/female-founders-at-the-european-angel-investment-summit-2-2-e63ba80f5d51Topics discussed in this episode:health tech, MedTech, home care, care-dependent, care at home, startup, startups, business angel, seed...

The European Business Angel Network (EBAN) is an organization that brings together business angels from all over Europe. The aim of the organization is to provide a forum for business angels to share best practices and learn from each other. EBAN also offers training for new business angels who want to get involved in startup investing. The organization held one of its two annual conferences in Brussels recently, bringing together business angel investors from all over the continent. This year's conference was particularly important, as it provided a much-needed opportunity for startup founders to connect with potential investors. With the COVID-19 pandemic causing economic uncertainty, many startups are struggling to secure funding. The conference offered a unique opportunity for startups to pitch their businesses to a large group of potential investors. EBAN director Jacopo Losso spoke about the importance of business angels in the current climate, saying “business angels are more important than ever in these challenging times.”Losso went on to say that business angels “provide the seed funding that is essential for many startups.” The conference was a valuable opportunity for startup founders to meet with potential investors and get their businesses off the ground. For this event more than 300 seed-stage startups applied, of which they have chosen 25 for the event. The event we attended took place in Brussels. We focused on startups from Germany and made short interviews with them on-site. If you want one or more of these startups back for a full interview, let us know in the comments or via email. The event was a great opportunity to network and exchange ideas with other startup founders, business angels, and VC investors from all across Europe. We also got insights into the early-stage startup scene across the continent and had the chance to listen to some great startup pitches. All in all, it was a very inspiring event that definitely left us wanting more. The next event will take place in Athens, Greece in April 2023. You can apply for the event via the EBAN website: https://www.eban.org/ This episode also kicks off our hot fall, where we have two episodes each week, until Christmas. We will finish the year with our annual fintech review on December 25th and be back for you on January 19th 2023. Our Enablers Hessen Trade and Invest Hessen Trade and Invest is the enabler of some of the most important interviews that have been conducted for this website. Without their brand, Invest-in-Hessen.com, none of these would have been possible. These interviews would not have been possible without Hessen Trade and Invest's willingness to help facilitate my travel and connect me with startups in their network. Younium Younium is the subscription management and billing platform for B2B SaaS. Younium brings the transformative infrastructure to manage and grow your business while you focus on the things that matter. https://www.younium.com/ Tvarit Tvarit is an industrial ai startup, that helps companies to reduce rejections by 40%-60% in metal casting, as well as saving up to 18% on energy. Learn more here: https://www.tvarit.com/ Startupraven.com The best way to identify investors and cooperation partners for early stage startups. Sign up for early access here: Startup Raven This Episode 00:00 Introduction00:16 Welcome by Joe01:46 Jacopo Losso — Managing Director of the European Business Angel Network 07:28 Philo Boras — CEO and Co-Founder Aurora Life Sciences 11:36 Nauman Basit — Founder, CEO and CTO of racksnet 16:58 Pascal Schmitt — CEO Voxel Sound 20:35 Stephane Ruiz — European...

Welcome to This Month in German, Swiss, and Austrian (GSA) Startups in October 2022 by Startuprad.io with Chris from Essen, Germany, and Joe from Frankfurt. We recorded this news episode on Thursday, October 20th, 2022. Our Highlights: Another one of our former guests gets a Snoop Dog investment. Quick delivery startup Gorillas seems to sell itself to competitor Getir, according to Bloomberg, despite an earlier announcement they are looking for more investments. Gadget rental service Grover adds 270 m € in venture debt, getting it close to 2 billion €. Our former guest Nuri (formerly Bitwala) had to file for insolvency, now investors jump ship and the company is wound down this year. Volocopter is sued by early crowdfunding backers, Home24 has a takeover offer from a brick-and-mortar furniture retailer and BioNTech takes on cancer. Also, Munich-based travel tech Holidu raises 100 m € in a combination of 75 m equity and 25 m debt funding. Let's talk startups: Our Enablers Younium Younium is the subscription management and billing platform for B2B SaaS. Younium brings the transformative infrastructure to manage and grow your business while you focus on the things that matter. https://www.younium.com/ Tvarit Tvarit is an industrial ai startup, that helps companies to reduce rejections by 40%-60% in metal casting, as well as saving up to 18% on energy. Learn more here: https://www.tvarit.com/ Invest-in-Hessen This show was made possible by Hessen Trade and Invest with their brand Invest-in-Hessen. You can learn more about them here (https://www.invest-in-hessen.com/). We also run a dedicated sub-podcast with all interviews and news in cooperation with them. Find it all here: Tech Startups Germany - Startups and Venture Capital Startupraven.com The best way to identify investors and cooperation partners for early stage startups. Sign up for early access here: Startup Raven Top News Europe's Largest Cannabis Funding To Date Europe's largest cannabis funding to date: Snoop Dogg-backed German cannabis startup gets $37.6M Series B led by British American Tobacco learn more about the Entrepreneur of the Year 2021 (German Startup Awards) founder Finn Age Hänsel in our interview Gorillas May Soon Be Bought By Getir Delivery Startup Getir in Advanced Talks to Buy Gorillas (Bloomberg). They write: “Proposed deal for Gorillas would be a mix of cash and equity The combination would give Getir, which is backed by Mubadala Investment Co. and Sequoia Capital, scale in key European markets including the UK and Germany. Gorillas had previously held talks with a number of competitors about the prospects for a merger or sale of its business, people familiar with the matter said previously. Chief Executive Officer Kagan Sumer said earlier this year that he planned to look for new financing to recalibrate the company to work toward profitability.” Grover Takes Home 270 m € As consumer spending tightens, yet appetites for tech remain the same, Berlin-based Grover sees an uptick in rental interest and is now bringing its debt funding to close to €2 billion to meet demand. Grover takes on more debt funding, this time €270 million from London-based M&G Our Former Guest Nuri (Bitwala) Will be wound down. Despite seeing interest from investors, they could not get one to sign up. So the company will be shut down until the end of the year. The last day one can use a Nuri account is in mid-December. Neobank Vivid makes...

Executive Summary The industrial ai startup Tvarit is focused on optimizing the process of casting metals. This process is abundant for parts in robots, cars, all kinds of machines, and heavy equipment. With their approach they help their clients save up to 18% of their energy bill, increase production quality and lower the wastage of the process. Tvarit has raised almost 3 million in funding since our 2019 interview and is looking for Series A funding. Suhas founded 17 startups prior to Tvarit, with this being startup №18, for which he sees the potential to become a unicorn. We're excited to see how Tvarit will develop industrial ai further and help factories across the world save money and produce better quality products. Subscribe Here We are always sharing new resources with you. Find all of our options below. We want to make sure that we provide what's best for your growing team, so please take a look at these additional ways in which can help! The Authority on German, Swiss and Austrian Startups | Linktree Our Enablers Our Sponsor Younium Younium is the subscription management and billing platform for B2B SaaS. Younium brings the transformative infrastructure to manage and grow your business while you focus on the things that matter. https://www.younium.com/ Invest-in-Hessen This show was made possible by Hessen Trade and Invest with their brand Invest-in-Hessen. You can learn more about them here (https://www.invest-in-hessen.com/). We also run a dedicated sub-podcast with all interviews and news in cooperation with them. Find it all here: Tech Startups Germany - Startups and Venture Capital The Founder Suhas is a serial entrepreneur who has founded 18 startups, including his last one Tvarit in Frankfurt. Tvarit is an industry 4.0 AI startup that Startuprad.io has been following since 2019. Suhas is an engineer by training (ISEP in Paris). Suhas has worked for more than 12 years for Qualcoom and other companies before becoming an entrepreneur. He has been (co)founding industrial companies and startups in Europe and India already in the past, so this is nothing new for him. In this interview we focus more on the development of Tvarit, for everyone who likes to learn more, we will also link the October 2019 interview in our blog post. The Startup As industry 4.0 and the industrial internet of things (IIoT) continue to evolve, so too does the potential for artificial intelligence (AI) in manufacturing. Manufacturers are already using AI-powered robots for tasks like welding and fabricating, and the technology is quickly being adopted across the industrial sector. One area where AI is making a big impact is in metal casting. By analyzing data from the casting process, Tvarit can help to optimize production and improve quality control. As a result, factories that adopt AI-powered metal casting solutions are able to produce parts more efficiently and with fewer defects and less energy. Tvarit is one company that is leading the way in this area, and its industrial AI software is helping manufacturers around the world to improve their operations. All Links and Show Notes Here is our blog post: https://medium.com/@startuprad_io/tvarit-has-an-industrial-ai-that-brings-real-change-to-metal-casting-4bba280bbafc  Topics Discussed in this Interview In this interview we are talking about metal casting, metal casting parts, industry 4.0, industrie 4.0, industrial internet of things, ai, artificial intelligence, manufacturing,...

Our highlights: Germany is preparing for a potentially rough winter, in many ways. Now Environmental Action Germany (Deutsche Umwelthilfe): Asked Germans not to put up any Christmas lights this season. Startups in GSA keep laying off staff, but also raising significant funds. We have our usually shortened list a bit longer this month, to show that it is not all gloom and doom here. You will also notice that the M&A activity is up, totaling 55 bn US$ in summer 2022 (for all of Europe), and is still going strong. Let's talk startups: Subscribe Here Find all options to subscribe to our newsletter, podcast, YouTube channel, or listen to our internet radio station here: The Authority on German, Swiss and Austrian Startups | Linktree Our Enablers Invest-in-Hessen This show was made possible by Hessen Trade and Invest with their brand Invest-in-Hessen. You can learn more about them here (https://www.invest-in-hessen.com/). We also run a dedicated sub-podcast with all interviews and news in cooperation with them. Find it all here: Tech Startups Germany Startupraven.com The best way to identify investors and cooperation partners for early-stage startups. Sign up for early access here: Startup Raven Blog Post Find all links, news and show notes here: https://medium.com/@startuprad_io/this-month-in-german-swiss-and-austrian-gsa-startups-september-2022-53339fae6ca7

Executive Summary COMPREDICT is a Darmstadt, Germany-based deep tech startup, offering virtual sensors for cars. They already convinced Michelin and Blackberry to invest, so we thought it would be about time to catch up with the team around Rafael. Virtual sensors in a car take data from physical sensors and fuse them to generate additional measurements. Rafael Fietzek, MD and Co-Founder COMPREDICT Subscribe Here We are always sharing new resources with you. Find all of our options below.We want to make sure that we provide what's best for your growing team, so please take a look at these additional ways in which can help! Startuprad.io - Global Top 125 Tech Podcast | LinktreeGlobal Top 125 Tech Podcastlinktr.ee Our Enablers Invest-in-Hessen This show was made possible by Hessen Trade and Invest with their brand Invest-in-Hessen. You can learn more about them here (https://www.invest-in-hessen.com/). We also run a dedicated sub-podcast with all interviews and news in cooperation with them. Find it all here: https://techstartups.sounder.fm/ A normal car has four physical wheel speed sensors to measure each wheel. With us, you need only two physical sensors and save money.Rafael Fietzek, MD and Co-Founder COMPREDICT Feedback We are always looking for ways to make the show better. Please take this opportunity and share your feedback with us! You can also suggest topics or interview partners that you'd like featured on future episodes by leaving a comment below — we would love to hear from YOU!!! https://forms.gle/mLV6mVKwGwKuut8BA Blog Post with Links and Show Notes Find it here: https://medium.com/@startuprad_io/meet-compredict-the-startup-where-blackberry-and-michelin-invested-15b6f4aa6c70

Startups in GSA did better than expected. We had a few insolvency filings, but also amazing fundraisings like Celonis 1 bn US$ combination of equity and debt funding. Insuftech Wefox raises 400 m. One can already see the signs of a downturn, M&A activity going up, as well as the news about insolvencies or job cuts/ hiring freezes. But — according to a Bikcom survey — 8 out of 10 startups are still hiring. Deal time our recent guest Qonto buys former guest Penta and there was more in a B2B neobank deal week. Even Allianz had to learn, that one can not buy fintech success and there is more news on Wirecard. We will also bombard you with funding data on Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, as well as global numbers. Keep in mind you can read all our news on our blog https://medium.com/@startuprad_io/this-month-in-german-swiss-and-austrian-gsa-startups-summer-2022-wrap-up-603e2c1939ae

Welcome to This Month in German, Swiss, and Austrian (GSA) Startups in June 2022 by Startuprad.io. My co-host is again Chris from New York. This recording is sponsored by Invest-in-Hessen and Startupraven.com. It is in radio syndication with our very own station www.startup.radio, and our partner station IBGR.Network. We recorded this new episode on Monday, June 27th, 2022. Keep in mind, that we will have a summer break and be back for you with another news episode on Labor Day, which is September 5th, 2022. In this episode, we will wrap up July, and August. As always: All news not yet included here will be published in our next news episode in September. We will also slightly change our publication schedule for this July and August, mostly going to one publication every two weeks. You can keep up to date with our Google Calendar for all publications. Our highlights: Startups in GSA also shedding headcount, including unicorns that recently raised money. All signs point towards them extending their runway, expecting a recession. Some startups face a challenging fundraising environment, but others like WeFox want to almost double their valuations. Also, Personio and Trade Republic raise additional funds. In our “stay ahead of the curve” section, we have a lot of articles an entrepreneur should read to prepare for the potential downturn. German economic minister Habeck is unveiling his new startup strategy, considering even a minimum investment in VC Funds for German insurers and pension funds. The fast delivery startups seem to hit a wall and even formerly mighty Gorillas now explores strategic options. Let's talk startups: https://medium.com/@startuprad_io/this-month-in-german-swiss-and-austrian-gsa-startups-june-2022-2651b2b64fe

Management Summary Germany has a coalition government in power. The coalition contract of the three governing parties “Koalitionsvertrag” wants to enable the recreational use of cannabis in Germany, during this term. Jakob and Benedikt give us an update on the timeline, expected market size, and how Canasativa wants to get a big share of this market. The brothers also expect the legalization in Germany to have a domino effect in the EU kicking off a round of legalization in other countries. We expect legalization in Germany to be just the start for legalizing cannabis for recreational use in the European Union. Benedikt Sons Co-Founder and CEO of Cansativa Our Enablers Invest-in-Hessen This show was made possible by Hessen Trade and Invest with their brand Invest-in-Hessen. You can learn more about them here (https://www.invest-in-hessen.com/). We also run a dedicated sub-podcast with all interviews and news in cooperation with them. Find it all here: Tech Startups Germany Startupraven.com A startup's journey can be a tough one, but it doesn't have ́to feel like you're alone on your quest! Invest in others' success with us by joining our community of entrepreneurs who are building amazing things every day — no matter how big or small their ideas may seem at first glance. The best way to find investors and cooperation partners for early-stage startups. Sign up here: Startup Raven We are building the leading retail platform for in Germany, as well as the leading B2B marketplace in cannabis. Benedikt Sons Co-Founder and CEO of Cansativa Find all links and show notes here

Welcome to This Month in German, Swiss, and Austrian (GSA) Startups in May 2022 by Startuprad.io — in a news recording with Christian Fahrenbach from New York City and Jörn Menninger, from Frankfurt. This recording is sponsored by Invest-in-Hessen and Startupraven.com. It is in radio syndication with our very own station www.startup.radio, and our partner IBGR.Network. We recorded this news episode on Thursday, May 19th, 2022. The next news will go live on June 30th. Keep in mind, that we will have a summer break afterward and be back for you with another news episode on Labor Day September 5th, 2022. In this episode, we will wrap up July, and August. As always: All news not yet included here will be published in our next news episode in June. We will also slightly change our publication schedule in the summer — as we have done before. For July and August, we will only post a new episode every other week (July 14th, 28th, and August 11th, as well as August 25th). We will be back to normal at the start of September. We also partner with Artic 15 you get a discount with our code in the show notes at www.medium.com/startuprad-io Artic15 startupradio Our Highlights: We can proudly announce unicorn No 29 Taxfix, No 30 Onefootball and on the downside, RaisinDS loses its unicorn valuation. Really bad news for car sharing: BMW and Mercedes pull the plug on their joint venture. Our 2018 guest ProGlove is sold in a 500 m € deal (525 m US$) and Orderbird is sold in a 100 m € deal (105 m US$). Other unicorns are currently on the hunt for new capital and feel the heat of the current funding environment. Let's talk startups: Our Enablers Invest-in-Hessen This show was made possible by Hessen Trade and Invest with their brand Invest-in-Hessen. You can learn more about them here (https://www.invest-in-hessen.com/). We also run a dedicated sub-podcast with all interviews and news in cooperation with them. Find it all here: Tech Startups Germany This is Tech StartUps Germany by Startuprad.io, a global top 125 Tech Podcast. You will find interviews with all sorts…techstartups.sounder.fm Startupraven.com The best way to identify investors and cooperation partners for early-stage startups. Sign up for early access here: Startup Raven Welcome! We know the time-consuming process of approaching investors and companies can be tedious, so we do it for you…startupraven.com Find all news and show notes here: https://medium.com/startuprad-io/this-month-in-german-swiss-and-austrian-gsa-startups-may-2022-de23cf4942e3

Executive Summary Exaloan started out as a rating agency for digital assets. They developed into a global platform to connect crowdlending platforms and institutional investors. They started out with the rating of digital assets. Soon they realized that it makes more sense for them to help investors with the access to lending platforms and building of their portfolio in crowdlending assets using tokenization. Our mission is to close the global financing gap, which is a staggering 5.2 trillion US$, which means there are more than 100 m SMEs that are lacking financing.  Luca Fignani, co-founder and CEO of ExaloanWith our partners we have created a tokenization engine, a digital asset platform, on which we can create a digital token for the loans, we have sourced from crowdlending. This is really a step to the next level. We are joining digital assets with digital lending.  Luca Fignani, co-founder and CEO of Exaloan Subscribe Here We are always sharing new resources with you. Find all of our options below. We want to make sure that we provide what's best for your growing team, so please take a look at these additional ways in which can help! Startuprad.io | LinktreeThe Authority on German Startupslinktr.ee The Founder Our guest today is Luca Frignani (https://www.linkedin.com/in/luca-andre-frignani/), the CEO and co-founder of Frankfurt based fintech Exaloan (https://www.exaloan.com/). He is an original Frankfurt boy, with roots in Italy and Czech Republic. Since he is already very international, he spent quite a bit of time studying in France Lille and Nizza. He also spent time in London and Zürich. At one time he also worked as a quant analyst, developing investment strategies. Development banks are seeing crowdlending platforms are a very important tool.Luca Fignani, co-founder and CEO of Exaloan The Startup Exaloan (https://www.exaloan.com/) is a Frankfurt-based fintech company. They are a rating agency for digital assets. It is also working with its clients to give them access to international crowdlending platforms and help them to build a portfolio. They are cooperating with platforms in Germany, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines, just to name a few. Venture Capital Funding ... learn more on our blogpost at www.medium.com/startuprad-io

Welcome to This Month in GSA Startups in April 2022 by Startuprad.io — in a news recording with Christian Fahrenbach ”Chris” from New York City today and me Jörn Menninger “Joe”, from Frankfurt am Main. This recording is sponsored by Invest-in-Hessen and Startupraven.com. It is in radio syndication with our very own station www.startup.radio, the blog Fundscene, and our partner IBGR.Network. We recorded this new episode on Monday, April 25th, 2022. The next news will go live on the 26th of May, the day we celebrate fathers day in Germany. For this reason, we have at this date two publications: the news and an episode on men's health. As always: All news not yet included here will be published in our next news episode. We also partner with the EU-Startups Summit and Artic 15 you get a discount at both events with our codes in the show notes www.medium.com/startuprad-io. You can meet Joe in person in Barcelona at the EU Startups Summit on May 12th and 13th. The discount codes are: EU Startups STARTUPRADIO20 Artic15 startupradio  Our highlights: Despite slightly declining global VC investments GSA still generates Unicorns. This time we welcomed Grover and Choco officially into the league. Swiss Beqom is not confirmed, but also a massive investment. Apple and Porsche are rumored to work together on joint projects. Gorillas is looking for funding again, after raising a billion US$ (850 m Euros) in September 2021. Germany's second most valuable fintech Mambu had to publish numbers. The corona patron registration app Luca first boomed during the lockdown, then their data protection was questioned, now they pivot to a fintech with the backing of investors including the Wefox founder. Let's talk startups: Find all the links and show notes on our blog www.medium.com/startuprad-io

CO2 is a very clean way to produce biopolymers.Fabiana Fantinel, MD and Founder CO2BioClean  This is our first in-person interview since the breakout of the corona pandemic in early 2020, made possible by Hessen Trade and Invest with their brand Invest-In-Hessen.com. Subscribe Here Find all options to subscribe to our newsletter, podcast, YouTube channel or listen to our internet radio station here: Startuprad.io | Linktree We start with CO2 and at the end of our process … there are polymers that can be used like plastics.Fabiana Fantinel, MD and Founder CO2BioClean  Our Enablers Invest-in-Hessen This show was made possible by Hessen Trade and Invest with their brand Invest-in-Hessen. You can learn more about them here (https://www.invest-in-hessen.com/). We also run a dedicated sub-podcast with all interviews and news in cooperation with them. Find it all here: Tech Startups Germany When you have something biodegradable, it will be lasting less than 6 months in the water.Fabiana Fantinel, MD and Founder CO2BioClean  Startupraven.com The best way to identify investors and cooperation partners for early-stage startups. Sign up for early access here: https://startupraven.com/ The Founder We interview Fabiana Fantinel (https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabiana-fantinel-33a24110/), an Italian, who founded her company CO2Bioclean (https://co2bioclean.com/) in Frankfurt. She has a Ph.D. in Chemistry and her Post-Doc at the Max Planck Institute brought her to Germany. She also holds an MBA. Our process is already patented. … currently, our efforts are in working on the scalabilityFabiana Fantinel, MD and Founder CO2BioClean  The Startup The startup CO2Bioclean is a green startup. They use CO2 to turn it into polymers that can be used like plastics but are biodegradable. The startup just received EU funding to start a small-scale plant to improve its patented process and work on its scalability. Our material will last less than one year in the environment.Fabiana Fantinel, MD and Founder CO2BioClean  Venture Capital Funding Received 6.6 mn Euros in total from European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator https://www.deutsche-boerse-cash-market.com/dbcm-de/newsroom/fokus-news-list/EU-Accelerator-f-rdert-drei-Bio-konomie-Start-ups-2914060 They will use the funding to start a first production facility to demonstrate the technology at industrial scale. There will be additional funding round to start the production at an industrial stage, likely starting in 2023. There is no microplastic from our material lasting for years in the ocean.Fabiana Fantinel, MD and Founder CO2BioClean  Find all links and show notes on our blog www.medium.com/startuprad-io

Welcome to This Month in German, Swiss and Austrian (GSA) Startups in March 2022 by Startuprad.io — in a news recording with Chris — not from New York City today and me Joe, from Frankfurt am Main. This recording is sponsored by Invest-in-Hessen and Startupraven.com. It is in radio syndication with our very own station www.startup.radio and our partner IBGR.Network. We recorded this new episode on Monday, March 21st, 2022. The recording is one week earlier than usual, due to the travel schedules of Chris and me. As always: All news not yet included here will be published in our next news episode. Our Enablers Invest-in-Hessen This show was made possible by Hessen Trade and Invest with their brand Invest-in-Hessen. You can learn more about them here (https://www.invest-in-hessen.com/). We also run a dedicated sub-podcast with all interviews and news in cooperation with them. Find it all here: https://techstartups.sounder.fm/ Startupraven.com The best way to identify investors and cooperation partners for early-stage startups. Sign up for early access here: https://startupraven.com/ Our highlights: We have the 100 most influential women in startup and venture capital in Europe. There are two new unicorns to announce in GSA. Unicorn Personio set up a charity fund and Germany's largest fintech exit (at approx 1 bn US$) is in the making. We have an exclusive interview with the CEO in charge for almost 40 minutes from July 2021. We try to touch on the Russian invasion in Ukraine as lightly as possible, only when it impacts the GSA startup scene since you get more than enough news about this tragedy on ANY OTHER outlet. Please note that this does not mean we don't care, but it is not our area of coverage. We are also talking about delivery startups and again Wirecard. Not surprisingly, Wirecard will keep the German courts busy for years to come. Let's talk startups: Find all links and show notes here: https://medium.com/startuprad-io

"We buy the on-site data from a good auditor and re-sell the data to other customers of this supplier."David Schneider, CEO and Co-Founder Qualifyze  Our Enabler Invest-in-Hessen This show was made possible by Hessen Trade and Invest with their brand Invest-in-Hessen. You can learn more about them here (https://www.invest-in-hessen.com/). We also run a dedicated sub-podcast with all interviews and news in cooperation with them. Find it all here: https://techstartups.sounder.fm/ "I approached the company for an investment, and they sent me the chief of staff to vet the company. Over a few beers he decided to join me as co-founder, but the company never invested."David Schneider, CEO and Co-Founder Qualifyze The Founder This time our guest is David Schneider (https://www.linkedin.com/in/%F0%9F%87%BA%F0%9F%87%A6dr-david-schneider-1100a066/), Founder and CEO of Frankfurt-based Qualifyze (https://www.qualifyze.com/), a startup that helps in the chemical and pharma industry with audits. David did see a lot of places while studying in the Netherlands (Maastricht, Rotterdam), National University of Singapore and Università Bocconi in Italy. He was also and intern with JP Morgan in investment banking in London, Rothschild in Frankfurt, or BASF in Ludwigshafen. Before starting his own company, he was working as a consultant for more than 3 years. He tried to attract investment from a steel trading company, and he convinced the person the company sent to become his co-founder. The Startup Qualifyze (https://www.qualifyze.com/) started out as a marketplace for commodity chemical products, called ChemSquare in 2017. They soon realized that in the chemical and pharma industry the required suppliers' audits are a big hassle and they pivoted to help their clients with digitizing them. These audits are essential for supply chains in the chemical and pharma industry, where faulty ingredients can lead to deaths or damage to equipment or nature. "We decided to get the supplier qualification on our platform to make the chemical platform work and it turned into a new business model." David Schneider, CEO and Co-Founder Qualifyze Venture Capital Funding They raised a Series A funding round, led by HV Capital of 14 mn US$, which was disclosed in November 2021.

Welcome to This Month in GSA Startups - meaning Germany, Austria and Switzerland, for February 2022 by Startuprad.io - in a news recording with Chris from New York City and me Joe, from Frankfurt am Main. This recording is sponsored by Invest-in-Hessen and Startupraven.com. It is in syndication with our very own station www.startup.radio, our partner station IBGR.Network and the Fundscene blog. We recorded this new episode on Tuesday, February 22nd, 2022. Today we bring you everything from a new Switzerland-based unicorn to a new take on quick delivery - pardon the pun. We start out with mega-deal in Gaming: ESL Gaming is sold for 1bn US$, Munich-based Fintechsystems is sold for 120 mn € and Aachen-based Next Ego may accomplish THE turnaround of the whole year, coming out of insolvency, they are looking to list via SPAC, valued at 1.5 bn €. Switzerland has a new unicorn, congratulations to Scandit, Gorillas wants to buy a french competitor and is thinking about a SPAC deal. Also, we have a large update on neobanks in Germany, and they are not all doing well. Let's talk startups: https://medium.com/@startuprad_io/this-month-in-gsa-startups-february-2022-44520c52b1eb

This Month in German Startups - January 2022 Happy New Year guys! Welcome to This Month in German Startups in January 2021 by Startuprad.io - in a news recording with Chris from New York City and me Joe, from Frankfurt am Main. This recording is sponsored by Invest-in-Hessen and Startupraven.com. It is in radio syndication with our very own station www.startup.radio and our partner IBGR.Network. We recorded this new episode on Monday, January 24th, 2022. All news not yet included here will be published in our next news episode. There will also be a special episode on Atomico's State of European Tech 2021 together with Bill, the founder of the IBGR Network, as an audio-only podcast. This is a new year with 365 blank new pages, so let's write the best story possible. Our highlights: The last year was amazing for the German startup scene, there are now officially 25 unicorns and we feel that there will be more. 60 mn for sunfire from the federal government, Go Student's tutors and students start to critique the company, Tado is looking to IPO via a SPAC. Also Cherry Ventures had been good in snatching up stakes in unicorns early. Now Cherry raises their 4th fund. Let's talk startups: Tune in to our Internet Radio Station here: www.startup.radio Startuprad.io is globally a Top 75 Science Podcast, Top 125 Tech Podcast, and Top 650 Business Podcast (Chartable.com) Subscribe Here Find all options to subscribe to our newsletter, podcast, YouTube channel or listen to our internet radio station here: https://linktr.ee/startupradio Our EnablersInvest-in-Hessen This show was made possible by Hessen Trade and Invest with their brand Invest-in-Hessen. You can learn more about them here (https://www.invest-in-hessen.com/). We also run a dedicated sub-podcast with all interviews and news in cooperation with them. Find it all here: https://anchor.fm/techstartupsgermany Startupraven.com The best way to identify investors and cooperation partners for early-stage startups. Sign up for early access here: https://startupraven.com/ All show notes and news links are here: https://www.startuprad.io/blog/this-month-in-german-startups-germany-austria-switzerland-january-2022/

HoHoHo Welcome to This Month in German Startups in December 2021 by Startuprad.io - in a news recording with Chris from New York City and me Joe, from Frankfurt am Main. We recorded this new episode on Monday, December 20th. All news not included here will be published in our next news episode. There will also be our annual Fintech Review on December 25th and we will be back with an AI startup interview on January 13th. So we take a few weeks off around the holidays. Happy Holidays! We are not there yet, so let's get started: Today we bring you another new unicorn, a monster funding of 266 mn US$ at Mambu, Volocopter calls off its SPAC IPO and gets a backlash from its early crowd investors, also Jokr is now the 3rd quick delivery unicorn - in record time - and we have an update on Sono Motors. We also take a look at the State of European Tech survey by Atomico and several news pieces on the German Venture Capital Market, as well as VC in general. Let's talk startups: Subscribe Here Find all options to subscribe to our newsletter, podcast, YouTube channel or listen to our internet radio station here: https://linktr.ee/startupradio Enablers Invest-in-Hessen This show was made possible by Hessen Trade and Invest with their brand Invest-in-Hessen. You can learn more about them here (https://www.invest-in-hessen.com/). We also run a dedicated sub-podcast with all interviews and news in cooperation with them. Find it all here: https://anchor.fm/techstartupsgermany Startupraven The best way to identify investors and cooperation partners for early-stage startups. Sign up for early access here: https://startupraven.com/ Find all links and extensive show notes here: https://www.startuprad.io/blog/this-month-in-german-startups-december-2021/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/techstartupsgermany/message

Subscribe Here Find all options to subscribe to our newsletter, podcast, YouTube channel or listen to our internet radio station here: Link https://linktr.ee/startupradio We learned in our projects that charging electric cars is challenging for B2B and B2C customers Simon Vogt, Co-Founder and CSO &Charge Our Sponsor Invest-in-Hessen This show was made possible by Hessen Trade and Invest with their brand Invest-in-Hessen. You can learn more about them here (https://www.invest-in-hessen.com/). We also run a dedicated sub-podcast with all interviews and news in cooperation with them. Find it all here: https://anchor.fm/techstartupsgermany Charging can still be challenging for the EV driver. Simon Vogt, Co-Founder and CSO &Charge The Founder Simon Vogt (https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-vogt-a9a07931/), Co-Founder and Chief Sales Officer of Frankfurt-based startup &Charge is our guest today. They just raised seed funding to help online shoppers offset their climate impact and reward them with points e.g., for charging electric cars or use e-scooters. Simon has collected already some experience in mobility. He worked in emobility projects of BMW, been with Porsche Consulting and finally been the coordinator for e-services for Porsche's model Taycan. Charging is more than refueling. You have time. Simon Vogt, Co-Founder and CSO &Charge The Startup The founding team realized that charging is different from refueling, so the team behind &Charge (https://and-charge.com/#/) realized that the charging EV owner has time on his or her hands. So, &Charge started connecting charging with ecommerce, so an online buyer gets rewards points for recharging their EV or using an e-scooter or similar stuff. Currently they are covering 95% of the German ecommerce market with partnerships. We help our customers to decrease the price of re-charging and the total costs of ownership. Simon Vogt, Co-Founder and CSO &Charge Venture Capital Funding They just raised a seven-digit seed round (https://buff.ly/3oW9C1m) but will surely look soon at a Series A funding round. Amongst their investors are the corporate venture capital arm of energy company Helen, called Helen Ventures and Porsche Ventures. I could be considered a pioneer or dinosaur of emobility, I stared with it 10 years ago. Simon Vogt, Co-Founder and CSO &Charge Feedback Reach out to us, here is our audience survey, to give us feedback, suggest topics, interview partners or just to say “Hallo!” https://forms.gle/mLV6mVKwGwKuut8BA Find all links and show notes here: https://www.startuprad.io/blog/charge-just-raised-seed-funding-to-help-online-shoppers-fight-global-warming/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/techstartupsgermany/message

“To accelerate our growth, we need to buy companies” Pascal Lauria, founder and CEO Cogia Our Sponsor Invest-in-Hessen This show was made possible by Hessen Trade and Invest with their brand Invest-in-Hessen. You can learn more about them here (https://www.invest-in-hessen.com/). We also run a dedicated sub-podcast with all interviews and news in cooperation with them. Find it all here: https://anchor.fm/techstartupsgermany “My goal is 10 mn Euros revenue. To reach this we need to keep buying [companies]” Pascal Lauria, founder and CEO Cogia The Founder Pascal Lauria (https://www.linkedin.com/in/pascallauria/) has a very diverse background, raised in the Rhine-Main-Area his studies took him to Canada. He later worked in Taiwan, Silicon Alley (New York's startup hub) and in Silicon Valley. He took his experience to go back to Frankfurt and set up Cogia there (https://www.cogia.de/?locale=en_us). “Acquisitions are not always successful. We are very aware of that. We are working on it. For example, in our last acquisitions, we did not lose even one employee.” Pascal Lauria, founder and CEO Cogia The Startup Cogia Intelligence (https://www.cogia.de/?locale=en_us) is a big data, ai startup. It provides in its current setup innovative products and solutions in the areas of web and social media monitoring, market research, and open-source intelligence. The company Cogia GmbH is the startup, the company Cogia AG is the listed entity. Pascal started Cogia in 2010 but listed Cogia AG only in 2021 in Düsseldorf. Then the two entities merged and so Cogia GmbH got listed. You can learn more about the listed entity here: https://cogia.ag/de/investor-relations/ “With the access to capital markets I want to do one to two acquisitions per year.” Pascal Lauria, founder and CEO Cogia Find all links and show notes here: https://www.startuprad.io/blog/cogia-just-ipoed-and-wants-to-use-the-access-to-capital-to-drive-market-consolidation/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/techstartupsgermany/message

Welcome to This Month in German Startups in November 2021 by Startuprad.io - in a news recording with Chris from New York City and me Joe, from Frankfurt am Main. We recorded this new episode on Friday, November 19th. All news not included here will be published in our December News (to be published on December 23rd). There will also be our annual Fintech Review on December 25th and we will be back with an AI startup interview on January 13th. So we take a few weeks off around the holidays. We are not there yet, so let's get started: Today we have escooter Tier's newest funding and acquisition, N26 pulling the plug on their US operations already in January 2022, and the amazing IPO of Sono Motors on NASDAQ. There are also new unicorns, we proudly present Frankfurt's first unicorn, the insurtech Clark.de. Also, Razor Group (an Amazon shop buyer) becomes a unicorn with a 125 mn US$ fundraising. In November, there is no unicorn tracker. We will keep our eyes open and maybe the next news will have a unicorn tracker companion. Happy Thanksgiving to our US audience! Let's talk startups: Find all links and show notes here: https://www.startuprad.io/blog/this-month-in-german-startups-november-2021/ Subscribe Here Find all options to subscribe to our newsletter, podcast, YouTube channel or listen to our internet radio station here: https://linktr.ee/startupradio Enablers Invest-in-Hessen This show was made possible by Hessen Trade and Invest with their brand Invest-in-Hessen. You can learn more about them here (https://www.invest-in-hessen.com/). We also run a dedicated sub-podcast with all interviews and news in cooperation with them. Find it all here: https://anchor.fm/techstartupsgermany Startupraven The best way to identify investors and cooperation partners for early-stage startups. Sign up for early access here: https://startupraven.com/ News Text and Show Notes Find all links and show notes here: https://www.startuprad.io/blog/this-month-in-german-startups-november-2021/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/techstartupsgermany/message

The Enabler This interview was made possible by Hessen Trade and Invest with their brand Invest-in-Hessen. You can learn more about them here (https://www.invest-in-hessen.com/). We also run a dedicated sub-podcast with all interviews and news in cooperation with them. Find it all here: https://anchor.fm/techstartupsgermany We started serveral early SaaS Platforms and Fastbill was one of them. We just solved our problems at the time. René Maudrich, MD Germany FreshBooks The Founder In this interview, we talk to one of the most experienced fintech founders in the greater Frankfurt area. René Maudrich (https://www.linkedin.com/in/renemaudrich/) is the CEO and founder of Frankfurt-based accounting and invoicing fintech Fastbill. They have been bought by Toronto, Canada-based, fintech unicorn Freshbooks (https://www.freshbooks.com/). He now holds the position of managing director of FreshBooks Germany. Want to be found by Business opportunities or contacted by new investors? Get scouted by us, when we a have matching mandate and enroll your startup in our database: https://forms.gle/DmPtBKJH7MMmJoYo8 We don't sell your data or spam you. We will even reach out to you before we include you in a scouting mandate. We became a top 3 provider in GSA (Germany, Switzerland and Austria), but we also have clients in 13 other countries. René Maudrich, MD Germany FreshBooks The Startup Fastbill (https://www.fastbill.com/) was one of the early fintech startups, that have been around, before fintech was a thing. They help small companies and freelancers with their invoicing and accounting. They are a top 3 provider for this kind of software in Germany. You can learn more about them here: Also, Mario (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mahachemer/), the CTO of Fastbill has been a frequent guest. Mario is also part of the frequent crew of our annual fintech review. You can learn more about the company, him, and René in our interviews linked below. We bootstrapped for six years before we took VC money. That was a bit too late. I would recommend it later. René Maudrich, MD Germany FreshBooks The Exit FreshBooks already knew Fastbill from events. FreshBooks was interested in purchasing a stake in Fastbill with their next investment round. During the conversation, they decided on an outright takeover. FreshBooks now owns all equity in Fastbill and the core team with René, Mario and Benjamin stay on board. All former Fastbill shareholders are now FreshBooks shareholders. The Fastbill team is not permitted to speak about the transaction price. We can make estimates about the price range: In 2019 they had approx. 2.5 mn Euros revenue (according to estimates in several databases). Assuming a growth to 3 or even 5 mn Euros annualized revenue in 2021 one can estimate the range of the transaction volume with normal multiples from 45 mn Euros at the low end to 110 mn € at the higher end, adding an “earn-out clause” of approx. 10% over the next few years. Find all links, show notes and further readings here: https://www.startuprad.io/blog/fastbills-exit-to-canada-based-unicorn-freshbooks/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/techstartupsgermany/message

Welcome to This Month in German Startups by Startuprad.io – in a news recording with Chris (from New York City) and me Joe (from Frankfurt am Main). Guys, it is October, it is getting colder outside and cozier inside, so we bring you another “Doppelpack”of our news recording! We bring you another bonus news episode as part of our news coverage of the German startup scene. We recorded this episode on October 25th, 2021, wrapping up October. This is a Bonus Episode following our special coverage of the unprecedented creation of unicorn startups in the German speaking startup scene! Subscribe Here Find all options to subscribe to our newsletter, podcast, YouTube channel or listen to our internet radio station here: Link https://linktr.ee/startupradio Want to be found by Business opportunities or contacted by new investors? Get scouted by us, when we have a matching mandate and enroll your startup in our database: https://forms.gle/DmPtBKJH7MMmJoYo8 We don't sell your data or spam you. We will even reach out to you before we include you in a scouting mandate. Find all the links to our sources and the show notes here: https://www.startuprad.io/blog/gsa-unicorn-tracker-october-2021/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/techstartupsgermany/message

This Month in German Startups - October 2021 Welcome to This Month in German Startups in October 2021 by Startuprad.io - in a news recording with Chris (Back Home in New York) and me Joe, from Frankfurt am Main. We recorded this new episode on October 25th. Note that there is also another episode of our unicorn tracker, getting published along with this episode in order to keep the news brief. Today we have to announce that N26 reclaimed the title of Germany's most valuable fintech (but not startup, that is still Celonis), Sono Motors is filing for an IPO in the US - ahead of even delivering their first car -, corona is leaving the first traces in the startup scene, less startups, but more funding for the surviving ones. Subscribe Here Find all options to subscribe to our newsletter, podcast, YouTube channel or listen to our internet radio station here: https://linktr.ee/startupradio Want to be found by Business opportunities or contacted by new investors? Get scouted by us, when we have a matching mandate and enroll your startup in our database: https://forms.gle/DmPtBKJH7MMmJoYo8 We don't sell your data or spam you. We will even reach out to you before we include you in a scouting mandate. Find our extensive collection of links, sources and the whole show notes here: https://www.startuprad.io/blog/this-month-in-german-startups-october-2021/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/techstartupsgermany/message

Meet Emma Sleep – They are on their way to becoming the world's No 1 Sleep Brand We only raised just about 5 mn Euros … we grew to 405 mn Euro revenues in 2020 Dennis Schmoltzi, CEO and Co-Founder Emma Sleep Find all options to subscribe to our newsletter, podcast, YouTube channel or listen to our internet radio station here: https://linktr.ee/startupradio Want to be found by Business opportunities or contacted by new investors? Get scouted by us, when we have a matching mandate and enroll your startup in our database: https://forms.gle/DmPtBKJH7MMmJoYo8 We don't sell your data or spam you. We will even reach out to you before we include you in a scouting mandate. We were very capital efficient. We are profitable, most competitors are not. Dennis Schmoltzi, CEO and Co-Founder Emma Sleep The Founder This time we hear the impressive story from Dennis Schmoltzi (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dennis-schmoltzi-b61b21109), CEO and co-founder of Emma Sleep, Europe's leading sleep tech startup. Before founding Emma, Dennis got his degree in business administration in Germany, an advanced diploma from New York University Law School, and his Ph.D. in finance. He spent more than 6 years with McKinsey, before starting out on his own. Dennis was convinced by his friend Manuel to start Emma. Manuel has been in the business of selling medical matrasses, so he knew more about the business before. We had to invest smartly: How do we get to a better marketing efficiency? How can we build better products, how can we reduce costs in the supply chain? Now we are profiting from this. Dennis Schmoltzi, CEO and Co-Founder Emma Sleep Enabler This recording was made possible by (Hessen Trade and Invest). Learn more about our enabler here: https://www.invest-in-hessen.com/ Our interviews with Invest-in-Hessen are available as a dedicated sub-podcast here: https://anchor.fm/techstartupsgermany In 2016 Emma really started to grow and competitors like Caspar entered the market … but the competition was actually good. It helped us to educate the customer, that buying mattresses online is a thing Dennis Schmoltzi, CEO and Co-Founder Emma Sleep The Startup Emma Sleep (https://team.emma-sleep.com/) is helping people to improve their sleep, starting out with matrasses. They are currently one of Europe's leading sleep tech companies. Emma sells their products (matrasses, pillows, …) online and increasingly with retail partners. Originally they did not start out with their own products but selling products of other companies online. In 2020, Emma sold 50,1% of their equity stake to German investment holding Haniel Group (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FranzHaniel%26_Cie.). Find all links and show notes here: https://www.startuprad.io/blog/meet-emma-sleep-they-are-on-their-way-to-becoming-the-worlds-no-1-sleep-brand/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/techstartupsgermany/message

Welcome to This Month in German Startups by Startuprad.io – in a news recording with Chris (from New York City) and me Joe (from Frankfurt am Main). Guys, it is fall and we are back from the summer break! We bring you another bonus news episode as part of our news coverage of the German startup scene. We recorded this episode on September 28th, 2021, wrapping up July, August, and September. This is a Bonus Episode following our special coverage from June! Want to be found by Business opportunities or contacted by new investors? Get scouted by us, when we have a matching mandate and enroll your startup in our database: https://forms.gle/DmPtBKJH7MMmJoYo8 We don't sell your data or spam you. We will even reach out to you before we include you in a scouting mandate. Find all links and show notes here: https://www.startuprad.io/blog/this-month-in-german-startups-september-2021-unicorn-tracker-bonus/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/techstartupsgermany/message

Welcome to This Month in German Startups in September 2021 by Startuprad.io - in a news recording with Chris (Back Home in New York) and me Joe, from Frankfurt am Main. We recorded this new episode on September 28th. Note that there is also another episode of our unicorn tracker, getting published along with this episode. Have a look. This will be a bit longer recording. Best get a snack and a drink right now. The summer was hot here in Germany in terms of startups, but not so much in terms of temperature. Since we have the weather out of the way. Let's talk startups: Want to be found by Business opportunities or contacted by new investors? Get scouted by us, when we have a matching mandate and enroll your startup in our database:https://forms.gle/DmPtBKJH7MMmJoYo8 We don't sell your data or spam you. We will even reach out to you before we include you in a scouting mandate. Find all links and show notes here: https://www.startuprad.io/blog/this-month-in-german-startups-summer-wrap-up-july-august-september-2021/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/techstartupsgermany/message

Welcome to This Month in German Startups June 2021 by Startuprad.io - in a news recording with Chris (Back Home in New York) and me Joe, from Frankfurt am Main. We are reporting live from Germany's largest unicorn wave ever. We announce two new unicorns (Scalable Capital and Forto (formerly FreightHub)) and Germany's first Decacorn Celonis, valued at more than 11 bn US$. The 2019 Unicorn Wefox raises large funding of 536 mn € (650 mn US$). About You IPOs for 23 €/share at 4 bn Euro (4.85 bn US$) AND Austria becomes a new most valuable startup with GoStudent (1.4 bn €, 1.67 bn US$), after they had their first unicorn only last month. Plus SolarisBank is rumored to be in talks of a 100 mn Euro VC Deal, which would make them a unicorn as well, to buy up a competitor. Especially active in this frenzy of unicorn creation is Softbank from Japan and Tencent from China. We have a special episode on the unparalleled unicorn creation, which is available on the same channels. If you want to know more about the new Decacorn and unicorns in Germany and Austria you want to listen to this episode as well. We keep here the coverage of unicorns to a minimum. Note: This will be the last news recording before the summer break. There will be no regular news in July or August, but we will be back with news at the end of September, wrapping up the summer news. We are soooooooooo looking forward to the summer that Joe even wears a Hawaii shirt. Be happy for your eyes if you are only listening to this podcast :-) Subscribe Here Find all options to subscribe to our newsletter, podcast, YouTube channel or listen to our internet radio station here: Linkhttps://linktr.ee/startupradio Find all links, texts, and show notes here on our blog post: https://www.startuprad.io/blog/this-month-in-german-startups-june-2021/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/techstartupsgermany/message

Welcome to This Month in German Startups by Startuprad.io – in a news recording with Chris (from New York City) and me Joe (from Frankfurt am Main). This is a Bonus Episode covering the Unicorn Stampede in German-speaking countries. This recording is from June 29th, 2021 and all-new unicorns, formed afterward will be covered in our next news podcast, to be published End of September! You may remember that we had another bonus episode last month covering the rise of Berlin-based fintech Trade Republic to become Germany's most valuable startup? There is already a new king in the country with Celonis becoming Germany's first Decacorn (valuation above 10 bn US$, here even 11bn US$). We also see that all of these monster fundings are driven by international investors, especially Softbank from Japan and Tencent from China. Find all links and show notes on our blog post here: https://www.startuprad.io/blog/bonus-this-month-in-german-startups-unicorn-stampede/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/techstartupsgermany/message

Meet Palturai – The Google of Business Data We used to store data in paper-based handwritten cards. We bring this to the 21st century … so you can get some great insights from it. Tilo Walter, CEO and Founder Palturai Subscribe Here Find all options to subscribe to our newsletter, podcast, YouTube channel or listen to our internet radio station here: Link https://linktr.ee/startupradio You can use our tool for example in the KYC process. Tilo Walter, CEO and Founder Palturai The Founder We talk in this interview to Tilo Walter (https://www.linkedin.com/in/tilo-walter-18b90567/), the CEO and Founder of Frankfurt-based business intelligence platform Palturai (https://palturai.com/?lang=en). Tilo first started out with an apprenticeship at a bank, after studying industrial engineering he was a consultant and then spent quite some time working in Germany's largest credit bureau called Schufa. This gave him the idea of Palturai, which allows one to aggregate important business data to companies. We have data from more than 7 mn companies, from public sources, building a graph with more than 1 bn relations. Tilo Walter, CEO and Founder Palturai Is your Startup in Need of a Bank Account? - Affiliate Links Try the account of our Affiliate Partner Penta: http://bit.ly/3bdHX3d The Startup Palturai (https://palturai.com/?lang=en) is a business intelligence platform, aggregating important data about companies in their database. The company provides the information as a business graph. The name also originates form a Hungarian mathematician named Pál Turán, who contributed a lot to graph theory (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A1l_Tur%C3%A1n). The company was founded in 2014, but re-branded in 2020 with the opening of its first international location close to Philadelphia. We have been bootstrapped, but with the international expansion we needed a proper funding round. Tilo Walter, CEO and Founder Palturai Funding Round Palturai raised 4 mn Euros Series A investments, and their investors include a German bank and SBI Holding (Softbank's Berlin entity). Is your Startup in Need of an Office? - Affiliate Links Try the account of our Affiliate Partner WeWork: https://we.co/2GYbxvS With the outbreak of corona, all of our US expansion plans have been blown to pieces. We had to change our strategy fast. Tilo Walter, CEO and Founder Palturai Learn more here: https://www.startuprad.io/blog/meet-palturai-the-google-of-business-data/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/techstartupsgermany/message

Welcome to This Month in German Startups by Startuprad.io - in a news recording with Chris (Back Home in Germany) and me Joe, from Frankfurt am Main. Today we are wrapping up May 2021 for you. We talk about the massive Trade Republic funding, making them Germany's most valuable startup. We are talking about SPACs again, Germany’s institutional funds investing in crypto, and 3 bn shots of the corona vaccine. As always, we have a great show for you! Housekeeping - Time to brag Stay safe everyone! We are very happy to have been listed as No 4 on the Welp Magazine list of "20 Best Start-ups Podcasts of 2021" https://welpmagazine.com/20-best-start-ups-podcasts-of-2021/ Station Frankfurt featured our newest internet radio station in an article https://station-frankfurt.de/2021/05/07/das-steckt-hinter-dem-24-7-startupradio-startuprad-io/ Italy-based Startup.info covered our internet radio station as well: The World’s First Internet Radio Station Dedicated to Startups and Tech Companies Just Launched https://buff.ly/3upGZte Top News Trade Republic is now Germany’s most valuable startup with 5.3 bn US$ SPACs In the US the largest wave of SPAC IPOs is already behind us, but in Europe, it is just gaining speed. Frankfurt Stock Exchange expects up to 20 SPAC IPOs in 2021. In all of Europe, they expect more than 30 https://buff.ly/3h0mMqS Amazon Shops are still HOT Berlin’s Razor Group raises $400M to buy and scale Amazon Marketplace merchants – TechCrunch https://buff.ly/2PVJULY Germany rumored to open flood gates to Crypto Investments - Think again 'Damn Huge': Germany Opens Up to Institutional Crypto Funds - Decrypt https://buff.ly/3vvX3dU Joe will talk about this soon - as soon as he gets to it - but the main point one has to understand in German institutional funds is that the investors are regulated and not so much the vehicles. 3bn Shots are coming Corona vaccine producer BioNTech is looking to produce 3bn shots https://buff.ly/2RHzXlA We just passed a small moment in History 80 years ago, on May 11th, 1941 german inventor Konrad Zuse started his Z3. This was one of today's first - maybe The first - modern-day computer. He developed it, to take over statistical calculation he found tiresome https://buff.ly/3eEJ3sB Find all other show notes here: https://www.startuprad.io/blog/this-month-in-german-startups-may-2021/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/techstartupsgermany/message

Welcome to Startuprad.io, we cover the German-speaking startup scene since 2015 with our franchise. Since 2019, we eased access to the German-speaking startup scene further with our special interest podcasts Fintech Germany, Blockchain Germany, Deeptech Germany, and German Startup News. We have been called "The Authority on German Startups" and are a Top 0.5% global podcast, according to Listen Notes. Chartable.com scored us in 2020 a global Top 100 Science Podcast, a global Top 150 Tech Podcast, and a global Top 750 Business Podcast. You can learn more here: https://linktr.ee/startupradio --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/techstartupsgermany/message

Enabler This recording was made possible by (Hessen Trade and Invest). Learn more about our enabler here: https://www.invest-in-hessen.com/ The Finish company later stopped all their activities in Central Europe. This is where I started crossinx. Marcus Laube, Founder and CEO of crossinx The Founder In this interview, we are talking to Marcus Laube (https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcus-laube/) , the founder and CEO of one of the largest fintech exits this year. He sold the company, he founded in 2007 in 2021 for 100 mn Euros to Unifiedpost Group from Belgium (https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210411005030/en/Unifiedpost-Group-and-Crossinx-Join-Forces-to-Create-a-Unique-European-Business-Network). Marcus has been the chairman of the European Fintech Alliance (https://eufintechs.com/) and the co-chairman of the European E-Invoice Service Provider Association (EESPA https://eespa.eu/) The story of Marcus as an entrepreneur is totally fascinating: He was helping one of Lufthansa’s businesses (AirPlus) to get their first website and digitize Germany’s Flag Carrier. This brought him in contact with lots of electronic business ideas, with which he ventured out on his own. His first company was sliding into insolvency. He bought the company out of insolvency and this company stayed afloat by selling chairs and tables. This company was bought later by a company from Finland. This Finnish company stopped their business in Germany and Marcus decided to start over again with founding crossinx in 2007. He now sold this company in a 100 mn Euro plus deal (the deal includes a clause of up to 13 mn € further conditional earn-out payments according to the press statement). Tune in to our exclusive content. We call what we do the financial supply chain. Marcus Laube, Founder and CEO of crossinx Affiliate Links Learn how to grow your business using the numbers in your profit and loss and balance sheet: https://www.learndesk.us/class/5571076509663232/growth-by-the-numbers-real-small-business-finance-for-real-small-business-owners use our promo code: Access The Startup crossinx (https://www.crossinx.com/en/) is the leading provider of e-invoicing based service solutions in Germany, working with the largest companies and institutions, such as Nestle, Bayer, TNT, Sixt and the German national government. The company was founded back in 2007 by Marcus Laube. The Exit On April 12 Unifiedpost Group announced to acquire crossinx for 100 mn Euros (up to 113 mn €): https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210411005030/en/Unifiedpost-Group-and-Crossinx-Join-Forces-to-Create-a-Unique-European-Business-Network The connection came from Marcu’s work in EESPA, where he met Unifiedpost. There has been interest to acquire crossinx 3 years before, but the deal was sealed after the IPO of Unifiedpost at Euronext (Euronext: UPG). https://www.startuprad.io/blog/meet-the-fintech-behind-the-100-mn-e-exit-nobody-talks-about/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/techstartupsgermany/message

Today we are wrapping up April 2021 for you. We talk about SPACs, which have been all the rage, but now they get to work. We bring you news about potential SPAC deals with Solarisbank, Infarm, Lilium, and Volocopter. The first three eying a valuation of more than one billion. Also, we have a Gorilla Unicorn. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/techstartupsgermany/message

The FounderThis time we talk to Sebastian Wuerz (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sebastianwuerz/) the founder and CEO of the co-living startup homefully (https://homeful.ly/), a proptech headquartered in Frankfurt, offering furnished apartments across Germany and Switzerland. This trend is called co-living and offers a convenient way for ex-pats to relocate to a new city and have instant social connections. Sebastian graduated with an international MBA, which took him to Warsaw University, DUFE (Dongbei University of Finance and Economics 东北财经大学), and the University of North Florida. Before starting homefully Sebastian also had stints in wealth management in Singapore and investment banking in Frankfurt. We have roughly 50% international tenants. Sebastian Würz, CEO and Founder homefully Subscribe HereFind all options to subscribe to our newsletter, podcast, YouTube channel or listen to our internet radio station here: Link https://linktr.ee/startupradio We started homefully as a side business, but it grew and grew. So, I had to make a decision. And I went all in. Sebastian Würz, CEO and Founder homefully   EnablerThis recording was made possible by (Hessen Trade and Invest). Learn more about our enabler here: https://www.invest-in-hessen.com/You can also find the podcast we run together here:iTunes https://apple.co/2Z17bfl Spotify https://spoti.fi/3wUshwv Deezer http://bit.ly/2Qbh1rl TuneIn http://bit.ly/2M8vpzn We started homefully as a side business, but it grew and grew. So, I had to make a decision. And I went all in. Sebastian Würz, CEO and Founder homefully https://www.startuprad.io/blog/homefully-offers-co-living-in-germany-and-switzerland-and-is-looking-to-expand/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/techstartupsgermany/message

Subscribe HereFind all options to subscribe to our newsletter, podcast, YouTube channel or listen to our internet radio station here: Link https://linktr.ee/startupradio Life gets better for editors with Television.ai Olcay Buyan, Television.ai EnablerThis recording was made possible by (Hessen Trade and Invest). Learn more about our enabler here:https://www.invest-in-hessen.com/ The FounderIn this interview, we talk to Olcay Buyan, (https://www.linkedin.com/in/olcaybuyan/) CEO and Founder of Television.ai (https://www.television.ai/). He has vast experience in media, including Axel Springer (owner of e.g. the German newspaper Die Welt, finanzen.net, Business Insider, Immowelt, Stepstone), as well as other publishing houses and TV stations. He stuck with the technical side of product development.

This Month in German Startups – March 2021Welcome to This Month in German Startups by Startuprad.io – in a transatlantic news recording with Chris in New York City and me Joe, from Frankfurt am Main. Today we are wrapping up March 2021 for you. We talk about Austria’s first unicorn Bitpanda, a Samwer attempt at a German Tesla, SPACs, indoor farming, open positions at N26, and much more. Follow us Find all our social media channels, our podcasts, and our internet radio station here: https://linktr.ee/startupradio Housekeeping – Time to brag Stay safe everyone! Startuprad.io was placed by Listen Notes in the global Top 0.5% of podcasts (out of more than 2 million they are tracking). These are the Top Venture Capital Companies in Germany (2021) by Welp Magazine London), with an honorary mention of Startuprad_io https://buff.ly/3qAfzyA Startuprad.io now has an Alexa Skill for its internet radio station: https://www.amazon.com/dp/product/B08YP37X9K Affiliate Linkssaw the improvement in audio and video quality in the last few months? Part of it was the AI audio filter Krisp and the online recording tool Riverside.fm. You can get an account at both of them with an affiliate link from us here: Krisp https://ref.krisp.ai/u/u5bbe231d7 Riverside http://www.riverside.fm/?via=joern Find all the links and show notes here: https://www.startuprad.io/blog/this-month-in-german-startups-march-2021/

This Month in German Startups - February 2021Welcome to This Month in German Startups by Startuprad.io - in a transatlantic news recording with Chris in New York City and me Joe, from Frankfurt am Main. Today we are wrapping up February 2021 for you. There is great news in the German startup scene, the much anticipated Auto1 IPO generated two new tech billionaires, Europe’s first Tech SPAC lists in Frankfurt, more Wirecard details, we talk about Trade Republic and Gamestop, as well as the billion exit of Berlin-based AdJust. Follow us on Social MediaInstagram https://www.instagram.com/startuprad.io/ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/4837115/ Twitter https://twitter.com/startuprad_io Keep Up to DateHere is our publication calendar: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0?cid=MDEyaTI3YWs1MjVxaTNzbWdqbDh2OXRiaW9AZ3JvdXAuY2FsZW5kYXIuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbQ Affiliated LinksWhy not learn from entrepreneurs and executives who are open to share their favorite books. We skimmed through some recommendations and that is what we found. Recommended by: Bill Gates “Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker” https://amzn.to/2XAENlBRecommended by: Jeff Bezos “Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras” https://amzn.to/2RGKGKeRecommended by: Elon Musk “Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel” https://amzn.to/2REbHhwRecommended by: Tony Hsieh “Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization by Dave Logan” https://amzn.to/34KgraQRecommended by: Warren Buffet “Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales From the World of Wall Street by John Brooks” https://amzn.to/2K92z06Recommended by: Tim Cook “Competing Against Time by George Stalk and Thomas Hout” https://amzn.to/3cjMMYn Housekeeping - Time to brag Stay safe everyone! In the meantime you can tune in to our internet radio station, the worlds first 24/7 dedicated to startups and tech companies! https://s2.radio.co/sb16d65602/listen - We will soon be available on many platforms, for now: https://raddio.net/373202-startupradio/ https://radio.streamitter.com/station/startupradio-89HNV Top NewsWe have two new tech billionairesThe IPO of Auto1 went spectacularly well and skyrocketed on the first day of trading on February 4th, surging 45%. We took a look at the data and realized that this was the first tech IPO in a long time that generated new tech billionaires in Germany. Bloomberg: SoftBank-Backed Auto1 Soars in Debut After $2.2 Billion IPO https://buff.ly/2YLTm5jReuters: UPDATE 2-AUTO1 shares go into top gear in Frankfurt debut https://buff.ly/3pLaOSmRead more in our blogpost here: At recording this Auto1 IPO turns founders into billionaires https://buff.ly/3oY45EA Related: The story from the side of one of their first investors: How VC fund DN Capital invested in car marketplace Auto1 8 years ago and landed an $8 billion IPO winner https://buff.ly/3abVPMO N26German regulator, stung by past failings, extends oversight of N26 - sources https://buff.ly/2Ymp88F German mobile bank N26 is thinking of making its first acquisition https://buff.ly/3ckRpVq Trade Republic, Reddit and GameStopBerlin-based SolarisBank needed four years to get to 400k customers, but the next 600k came within half a year says their chief commercial officer Jörg Diewald, many of them have to be attributed to Trade Republic https://buff.ly/3oEKLMc Our take on this topic: https://www.startuprad.io/berlin/gamestop-reddit-and-fintech-trade-republic/ Note: There will be a follow-up on yet another blog post from our side, with hearings of Roaring Kitten and profits for hedge funds. We're nothing like Robinhood, says Berlin-based broker Trade Republic | Sifted https://buff.ly/3bAqNOq iCarPorsche's Cayenne Boss Dr. Manfred Harrer (48) is hired by Apple. He was rumored to be one of the best engineers in the company. Is the iCar around the corner? https://buff.ly/36x2SNM Game over for Mapify?Founders of Berlin-based traveltech Mapify “the Instagram of travel" give up "evaluating options." Their current investors include Lakestar and Atlantic Labs https://buff.ly/39BbzZp (We will come back to Lakestar, keep them in mind). AdJust Exit for 1.2 bn US$ (990 m Euro)AppLovin buys Berlin-based mobile marketing company AdJust and pays 1,2 bn US$ https://buff.ly/3pQCm9P according to Deutsche Startups, who published the priceRelated: Apploving said to acquire Berlin-based Adjust in a 1 bn $ deal https://buff.ly/2NVhrV2 Wirecard We keep you updated, just a small selection of news here. Keep in mind there is still an investigative committee ongoing. Deutsche Bank fires supervisory board member Schütz over email correspondence with Wirecard CEO Braun https://buff.ly/3tGjs7QGerman finance oversight BaFin places one employee on leave due to internal investigations in trading in Wirecard shares before the scandal became public https://buff.ly/2YywIgGGermany's highest court ruled that EY auditors have no right to refuse to give evidence, now the parliamentary committee will invite the auditors and EYs CEO for Germany https://buff.ly/3s01zzi The Digital EuroECB keeps working on digital Euro. Italien central banker said the ECB is looking at the digital Euro for their instant payment system "Target Instant Payment Settlement TIPS" as a first step https://buff.ly/3ji4xMJ The Audio Interview You can subscribe to our podcasts here Ecosystem Why we need to start looking at Europe as one tech ecosystem https://buff.ly/3cdZWJU It's IPO time! Here are 30+ European tech companies most likely to go public this year great list by Tech_eu https://buff.ly/39lB3de including German startups Auto1, SUSE, Mister Spex, About You and N26What U.S. Startups Get Wrong About Expanding into Europe https://buff.ly/3rIR5EA Iconiq Capital, the US investment firm backed by Silicon Valley elites like Mark Zuckerberg, is expanding to Europe https://buff.ly/3anUdj4 Hubs Note: The order of news and cities is only due to the time when we discovered the news. HeidelbergAleph Alpha, Heidelberg-based AI startup raises 5.3 m Euros (6.4 m US$) from investors LEA Partners and #Berlin-based 468 Capital https://buff.ly/2YhD0kL Frankfurt Startups in the Area around Frankfurt, called Rhine-Main raised more than 1 bn Euros in 2020 our research shows (1.12 bn US$): https://rhinemainvc.medium.com/looking-back-at-the-corona-year-4a8e8806e4cfLakestar SPAC I: First tech-focused SPAC in Europe successfully launches on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange https://buff.ly/3aGFQXn We talked to one of the founders of Frankfurt-based Iconic Lab, which wants to be the largest crypto asset manager in Europe: https://buff.ly/3dBR94V Münster The founders of beverage delivery startup Flaschenpost just sold their company to German food giant Oetker, now they invest in an HRtech startup from Münster - Echometer, which better enables agile work https://buff.ly/2YfmTUO Tübingen Germany #BioTech #startup Curevac, which listed on NASDAQ in summer 2020 - working on a corona vaccination - is planning to raise additional capital, which could amount to 600 m US$ https://buff.ly/3t1PkDS Düsseldorf Düsseldorf-based SME financing platform Compeon closes 15 m € Series C #VentureCapital funding with government-backed NRW Bank joining previous investors including Quatar Development Bank https://buff.ly/39tdJu7 Munich Egym receives 28 m € #VentureCapital for the production of connected gym equipment. In spring 2020 they had to let go 100 of 450 employees https://buff.ly/2O3hmyP Austria Australian Unicorn Canva buys Vienna-based Kaleido AI. Kaleido offers a service where one can automatically cut the picture of a human out of the background https://buff.ly/3aIohVL Austrian crypto startup "Startup Hero" issuer of the Herocoin gets acquired by international gambling group Novomatic, also from Austria https://buff.ly/3d695nY Switzerland Swiss listed travel portal HolidayCheck raises 47 m Euro by selling new shares https://buff.ly/2Z5td1z Liechtenstein Liechtenstein-based VC MIG gets 340 m € payout from their investment in Mainz-based BioNTech https://buff.ly/3jjsHq3 Companies Fintech and CryptocurrenciesMastercard to open up network to select cryptocurrencies https://buff.ly/3d0AzLM, but not the ones you may thinkMastercard will support cryptocurrencies—but not the ones you think https://buff.ly/3p9MTvDFinleap was once a fintech company builder in #Berlin with 80 employees at peak. Now there are around 20 left to manage existing investments and there may be 20 more work on innovations for corporates in the future https://buff.ly/3u1BrWEHere’s why the former Global Head of Google Payment, former COO of Venmo have backed the €20M Seed round of this fintech https://buff.ly/2M9YoWs Funding News (a very tiny collection, of what we see) Follow us on Twitter to stay up to date here. Berlin-based #traveltech Getyourguide fills war chest with additional 80m € loan, after a convertible of more than 100 mn € last year, looking for targets https://buff.ly/3s8x5LP Autonomous driving startup Recogni, with locations in San Jose and Munich, gets two new investors Bosch and Continental are investing together, this is new for German OEMs https://buff.ly/3k62Q52New VC Funds#Dublin and #London-based #VC firm Frontline has raised its third seed fund of €70m to invest in #B2B #startups across #Europe looking to take on the US. https://buff.ly/3tGEGmmEurazeo gets €340 million in additional commitments to its growth strategy - tech.eu https://buff.ly/2YOrqxOTCV Captial raised 4 bn US$ #VentureCapital fund, aiming for German #startups https://buff.ly/36nPBHw The VC's past investments include Netflix and AirbnbSPACs will be here pretty soon! Lakestar plans to raise 200-300 m Euros for a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) to be listed on a German stock exchange https://buff.ly/2MI3w47 - Listing already happened by now ⇒ Frankfurt NewsRocket Internet plans to list a SPAC in New York, with a volume of more than 100 mn Euros https://buff.ly/3a2vT6b Technology SPAC Rocket Internet Growth Opportunities files for a $250 million IPO at #NYSE - backed by #Berlin-based #RocketInternet https://buff.ly/2LGkeRp More exitsKinnevik, once an important and trusted Rocket Internet investor now wants to sell all Zalando shares worth 5,5 bn € (6.6 bn US$) https://buff.ly/2Zt6o89 Shell buys Berlin-based electric car charging firm ubitricity https://buff.ly/3pZWd6A Not a direct exit, but preparing for some: Berlin Brands Group commits $302M to acquire D2C and Amazon merchants – TechCrunch https://buff.ly/3t7hc9o Berlin-based startup Branded raises 123,5 m Euros (150 m US$) to buy up Amazon Shops https://buff.ly/3jyi7LWGerman home appliance company Miele buys majority stake in #Berlin-based Kptncook, in which they have already been an investor. Kptncook offers recipes in their app https://buff.ly/3a57j4F All Other NewsMDAX listed tech company Teamviewer want to grow their revenue in the next two years to 1 bn Euros https://buff.ly/3jCfzwsHome24: Growth slows from +54% in Q3 to +50% in Q4 read more here: https://buff.ly/3tM6upb The 1st Unicorn by #German #investor Carsten Maschmeyer in the USA / Startup "Modern Health" with 1.17 ... https://buff.ly/3dbD6THGermany based HDI insurance (a subsidiary of Hannover Re) wants to invest more in startups - especially #cybersecurity https://buff.ly/2Nzjiyw Zalando interested in buying beauty platform Flaconi to add to their second foray in beauty https://buff.ly/3u5WPdiQuandoo, the #Berlin-based platform for table reservations axes 20% of their workforce https://buff.ly/3pDnrjq Stay ahead of the curveVenture Capital and Private Equity Funds trends for 2021 https://buff.ly/3bdMIKW

This Month in German Startups - January 2021 Welcome to This Month in German Startups by Startuprad.io - in a transatlantic news recording with Chris in New York City. This is the first news episode of 2021, but you can have a look at our 2020 review. Today we are wrapping up January 2021 for you. There is great news in the German startup scene, from two new unicorns to a much anticipated IPO of Auto1 (will be raising at least 1.5 bn Euros), Delivery Hero goes VC and there may be Amazon TV/Radio in Germany. Housekeeping - Time to brag Just a bit of bragging today: Listen Up! Here’s Your Guide To European Tech And Startup Podcasts In English https://buff.ly/39S3qyR Top NewsWe have two new unicornsMambu - Germany’s newest Fintech Unicorn offers Banking Software as SaaS https://buff.ly/3oNEHC2 - Without them, no N26. They provide the software, which enables challenger banks like them.Munich-based HR scaleup Personio lands €103.5 million Series D funding and a €1.4 billion valuation https://buff.ly/35QYn0pRelated: Start-Up Personio Joins Circle of Unicorns - Technical University of Munich - School of Management https://buff.ly/2YgKm7W Delivery Hero raises 1.2 bn in fresh capitalDelivery Hero raises 1.2 bn Euros (1.47 bn US$) in new funding, selling "in hours" 9.44 mn new shares for 132 Euros each https://buff.ly/394ZFFQRelated:Delivery Hero starts their own Corporate Venture Fund called DX Ventures with 50 m Euros https://buff.ly/2MPUt11 Auto1 IPOAuto1 IPO will be raising a minimum of 1.5 bn Euros (2.2 bn US$) https://buff.ly/3plC62nOlder articles related to this IPO - you can see the fundraising went up 500 million More details of the planned IPO of Auto1 Group emerge. They want to list in 2021 Q1 in Frankfurt in Prime Standard. Out of 1 bn € to be raised 250 m will pay back convertibles, 750 m will be invested in further growth https://buff.ly/38Hq0uz Used-car platform AUTO1 to float in Frankfurt, looking to raise 1 bn Euros from selling new shares, with a valuation of 6-8 bn Euros https://buff.ly/3bxbWWx Amazon TV or Radio Station in Germany?Amazon has filed paperwork in Germany to get a broadcast license. The filing dates to November 2020 https://buff.ly/3bW0Mur Wirecard We keep you updated, just a small selection of news here. Keep in mind there is still an investigative committee ongoing. Oliver Samwer from Rocket Internet gave a private loan to Markus Braun from Wirecard of 75 mn Euros (91 m US$), which he demanded back rather harshly, shortly before Wirecard filed for insolvency https://buff.ly/3bW2ITUIn Austria, an investigation against former Wirecard COO Marsalek is ongoing in potential bribery of an employee of Austrian constitution protection (like their NSA). He is supposed to have checked the solvency of porn site hosts for Mr. Marsalke https://buff.ly/39eVNDz Ecosystem Slack users in Germany were greeted in the new year with a big outage covering most of the first working day of the new year 2021 https://buff.ly/3972zd0 January 4thTech workers want to relocate to Germany more than any other country in the world https://buff.ly/2Jims8n Germany starts with the test of a countrywide patient file, called "E-Patientenakte." The users can carry around all their medical files (x-rays, reports ...) on their smartphone and grant their physician access https://buff.ly/3hHb3M4Berlin remains the capital of German Venture Capital in 2020. EY tracked 314 financing rounds, out of a total of 743 they found. according to their data, VC funding declined in #Germany in 2020 by 15% to 5.3 bn Euros (6.45 bn US$) https://buff.ly/3oMxaDEIn the most recent fintech ranking #Frankfurt is losing position No 3 to Hamburg and now only scores at No 4 https://buff.ly/3o5IeKU Hubs Note: The order of news and cities is only due to the time when we discovered the news. FrankfurtFrankfurt-based provider of high performance computing Northern Data raises 52.5 mn Euros (64 m US$) #VentureCapital https://buff.ly/2KOccFcFrankfurt-based insurtech Clark raises 85 mn US$ (69 mn Euros) #VentureCapital, with lead investor Tencent (owner of Wechat) https://buff.ly/3nCyzeq we have an interview with the CEO for you here: XXXFrankfurt: Developing towards an epicenter of the German games industry - Frankfurt Valley https://buff.ly/39iZKao DarmstadtWe interviewed the Darmstadt based robotics software startup Energy Robotics in June 2020, where they already talked about their intention to raise Venture Capital. Now they closed their 2 mn Euros VC round: Earlybird and several Business Angels like Paul Achleitner, Gerhard Roiss, Martin Klässner, and Andrej Henkler invest 2 m Euros Venture Capital in Energy Robotics https://buff.ly/3qhA43kYou can learn more about them in our interview here: https://buff.ly/3fgyUQ0Merck KGaA snaps up German CDMO in boost to mRNA portfolio — including for Covid-19 https://buff.ly/2KauK2q Heidelberg/WalldorfSAP Unit Qualtrics Heads for IPO https://buff.ly/3pyBwOz MunichNew unicorn Personio is from MunichMunich-based Konux raises 80 m US$ #VentureCapital from Impact Investor Sanno Capital and Athos, The Family Office of Strüngmanns (Hexal), and existing investors (e.g. Alibaba). Konux builds intelligent sensors for Industry 4.0 https://buff.ly/3idMl6iMunich fintech Fidor Bank (a German fintech pioneer) is split up and sold to two bidders, Ripplewood Advisors form New York and Steria Mummert from Paris https://buff.ly/2MFo6SPepsi backs #Munich-based scented air drinks startup "Air Up" https://buff.ly/3i9vTDT HamburgtecHHub is the new 35 m Euro Entrepreneurship Center in Hamburg to keep founders in the city. Until the project is completed the city is thinking about a makeshift container solution https://buff.ly/3hL7If3 FreiburgInsight Partners and existing investors invest 100 m US$ #VentureCapital in Freiburg-based Jedox, the company offers enterprise performance management software for company planning and analysis https://buff.ly/2MPUt11 SwitzerlandZurich-based Blue Horizon Ventures is a VC focused on sustainable food, now they close their first fund with 183 mn Euros (221 m US$) with more than 100 investors from 20 countries. https://buff.ly/3a7l69Z Companies Food - Always a good topic to talk aboutDish Order: German grocery wholesaler Metro is partnering with Google to offer a competing offer to Lieferando. The clue for restaurants: There is no fee https://buff.ly/35TEEgvGerman food giant Dr. Oetker had their own beverage delivery service Durstexpress. Then they bought Flaschenpost, doing the same reportedly for 1 bn €. Now they merge Durstexpress in Flaschenpost https://buff.ly/3qB3Jov?utm_source=linkedinFintech / FinanceInvestors value Berlin-based Trade Republic with 600 m Euros (735 m US$) https://buff.ly/3hs0v36N26 Eyes IPO With Hiring Of New CFO https://buff.ly/3sXBUstN26 granted a banking license in Brazil https://buff.ly/3s2lGxK Vanguard will be starting an investment portal in Germany. They hired the „Head of Clients“ from market leader Scalable Capital for their based-Berlin team, headed by Jesper Wahrendorf (Ratepay) and Andreas Bittner (Solarisbank) https://financefwd.com/de/vanguard-scalable-thomas-wolff/Sibylle Strack, former CEO of #Berlin-based fintech Kontist hired at Deutsche Bank as Chief Growth Officer BizBanking https://buff.ly/2LhWClrBerlin-based fintech incubator Finleap shifts focus to test products for corporate clients, they don't want to be entrepreneurs any more https://buff.ly/3mgSHCc New VC FundsAnt Financial plans to start a fintech Venture Capital fund in Berlin https://buff.ly/3qyAtic20 health insurer in Germany invest in Berlin-based VC Heal Capital's 100 mn fund, to invest in health tech startups https://buff.ly/38XWmS3Keep in mind the news of the Delivery Hero fund from before Selection of investmentsDigital road freight forwarder Sennder raises $160M Series, plans European expansion – TechCrunch https://buff.ly/35Eu9gR Peter Thiels' Valar fund joins other investors in a 21 mn Euros #VentureCapital round for credit card #fintech Moss from #Berlin. They were registered in summer 2019 and now valued at 100 mn Euro https://buff.ly/38F6rTQ Global Savings Group raises € 12 Million in their most recent financing round https://buff.ly/35aumID All Other NewsNot even half of the German employees would recommend Tesla as an employer reports German tech blog t3n. Applicants post in forums and websites about chaos and arrogance https://buff.ly/35bZqrc?utm_source=-custom-by-source-0- Which startups have footballers invested in? https://buff.ly/3hcuWdG Including investments of Mario Götze (Frankfurt-based Qualifyze), Philipp Lahm, and Matts HummelsElliott Stake Complicates Rocket Internet’s Plan to Delist https://buff.ly/2MjL1muBerlin-based #grocery delivery service (you still buy from a supermarket) named Gorillas raises 44 m US$ #VentureCapital https://buff.ly/2IPM7F0 Stay ahead of the curveWhere Challenger Banks & Incumbents See The Next Digital Banking Opportunity: Seniors and the underbanked https://buff.ly/35jRIf3Top Investors Fueling The Renewable Energy Tech Ecosystem - CB Insights Research https://buff.ly/3bieHKXCharting retail banking revenues by generation https://buff.ly/2L9b9zD

[A Ping-Pong table, a PlayStation or a table football] don’t help that much if the [corporate culture] is broken. Christopher Oster, CEO and Co-Founder Clark In this interview we are talking to a previous guest. Christopher Oster is the CEO and co-founder of Frankfurt-based insurtech clark. In the past we talk to him about the appearance of Clark on Bloomberg’s list of startups to watch, back in 2017. Now they raised an 85 m US$ series C venture capital round, with noteworthy investor Tencent from China. We talk to him about the funding, the way to the funding and their plans. Insurance has still not really penetrated by technology … you have unhappy customers … this is a great opportunity for a founder. Christopher Oster, CEO and Co-Founder Clark EnablerThis recording was made possible by (Hessen Trade and Invest). Learn more about our enabler here: https://www.invest-in-hessen.com/ In 2015 there was almost no funding for insurtech startups, it all started in 2016 Christopher Oster, CEO and Co-Founder Clark The FounderIn this interview we are talking to Christopher (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-christopher-oster-3158802/) the CEO and co-founder of Frankfurt-based insurtech clark. In the past we talk to him about the appearance of Clark on Bloombergs list of startups to watch, back in 2017. You have a paper folder with your insurance policies, but nobody checks if the insurance policies still matches your life. Christopher Oster, CEO and Co-Founder Clark The Startup The startup was built by a group of four friends, who to together, since they could not find the help they wanted with their insurance needs. The whole founding team is still on board, more than 5 years after the company was set up Crunchbase (https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/clark-2), company website (https://www.clark.de/). An average German has six insurance policies with 4 different insurance carriers. Christopher Oster, CEO and Co-Founder Clark The Interview from 2017 The whole blog post is here: https://www.startuprad.io/interviews/clark-de-startup-germany-bloombergs-list-50-promising-startups/ Or just tune in to the interview here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3xryTBqaxncpSrnXO3L3QQ?si=2qC09ZDDTJ6XnewH7_LMvg For our series a, we talked to 300 VCs or so. There was a lot of uncertainty and many other companies started as well. Christopher Oster, CEO and Co-Founder Clark Feedback Reach out to us, here is our audience survey, to give us feedback, suggest topics, interview partners or just to say “Hallo!” https://forms.gle/mLV6mVKwGwKuut8BA The InterviewerThis interview was conducted by Jörn “Joe” Menninger, startup scout, founder, and host of Startuprad.io. Reach out to him: LinkedIn Twitter Email Follow us on Social MediaInstagram https://www.instagram.com/startuprad.io/ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/4837115/ Twitter https://twitter.com/startuprad_io

This Month in German Startups - 2020 Review Welcome to This Month in German Startups by Startuprad.io - in a transatlantic news recording with Chris in New York City. This is an annual tradition, where we look at the past year and forward into the coming one. Not to mention, we have been totally wrong last year with the outlook, so we are more sticking to the review this year. Today we bring you an overview of the German startup corona aid, an overview of the German startup scene, lists of top startup stories, a few outlooks on 2021, and a bit of wine :-) Ecosystem European Startup Scene 2020 - Snapshothttps://2020.stateofeuropeantech.com/chapter/state-european-tech-2020/article/exec-sum/ 8 crucial takeaways from Atomico's recently-launched The State of European Tech 2020 report | via Silicon Canals https://buff.ly/3m6MxVg ‘Megarounds’ helped European Tech ecosystem growWhile many founders found it more challenging to get funding, 2020 is on track to be a record year, with potential to surpass $41B invested, driven by more $100M+ deals.Germany is projected 23 bn US$Low capital, pivoting the product, and sales decline hit founders hardest in 2020International investment hasn’t dried upFrance is the only one of Europe’s three largest markets to grow in 2020. London remains the biggest investment hub in 2020Travel sector gets notably low investmentsInvestment in purpose-driven tech companies soarsGender and racial inequality still prevails in the European tech ecosystem List: 10 biggest healthtech stories of 2020 https://buff.ly/3aQlnjv The guinea pigs of Germany’s new healthcare revolutionBioNTech: the German biotech startup behind the coronavirus vaccine Hot or not: Where European VC funding went in 2020 by Pitchbook https://buff.ly/3nMSzf7 - Difference to Atomico ⇒ Different source for data ... UK still has the largest VC market in total (13.7 bn $), but Germany (6.8 bn $) grew three times as fast with 10.9% vs UK’s +1.7% BUT this may also be due to Brexit. We will see what 2021 brings. According to Pitchbook France grew by an astonishing 25.4% to a total of 6.1 bn $. The other markets in Europe surpassing 1 bn $ are Sweden (3.2 bn$), Spain (1.4 bn$), and Finland (1.2 bn$). These are the 10 largest funding rounds of Europe in 2020 https://buff.ly/2W1KGX8 including AUTO1 Group, Tier Scooters and Lilium from Germany German Startup Scene 2020 - Snapshot Deutscher Startup Monitor https://deutscherstartupmonitor.de/ This is an annual survey by the German startup association, this year more than 1.900 startups participated.The largest share of the - participating startups - (note, there is a bias here) have been inBerlin 17,7%Rhein-Rhur (Cologne, Düsseldorf, …) 12.8%Munich 6.5%Hamburg 5.8%This is one of the reasons we try to highlight so many startups from different areas, since not only every 5th startup is in Berlin. Please note that we try to have approx. 20% of our interviews from Berlin, to give these startups also a fair representation.On average a startup in the survey employed 14.3 employees, up from 13.3 in 2019 and 12.3 in 2018. Despite Corona, 90% were planning to hire people. 15.9% of founders are female in this survey, slightly up from the previous years (15.7% in ‘19 and 15.1% ‘18)Universities play a central role as a core for a startup cluster, especially Germany’s Technische Hochschule (technical universities aka TU) e.g. TU München, KIT, RWTH Aachen, LMU München, Universität Mannheim, Universität Bremen, WHU, TU Berlin, TU Darmstadt and FU Berlin.~ 20% of founders have a migration backgroundThe most important technology is AI, more than 26.7% of startups had a SaaS business model68.8% of all startups focus on B2B, 26.5% on B2C, and 4.7% on B2G (Business to Government)The most important funding sources are the founder's own savings (used by 78.4%), government programs (used by 44.3%), and business angels (used by 31.6%). Actually, only 18.6% of participating startups have VC funding, while 42.3% want funding. DO YOU HEAR THIS INTERNATIONAL INVESTORS?Startups in Berlin (39,0%), Munich (28,8%), and Hamburg (22,1%) are the most frequently funded by Venture Capital Fintech Survey by Comdirect Comdirect is an online bank with a small startup program. They are part of Commerzbank group and conduct an annual fintech survey in Germany. Some highlights here: Volume of top 3 deals down by more than 50%12 fintechs with more than 100 m Euros fundingTop 20 funded fintechs get more money than the other 414 fintechsThe top fintech locations Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt and Hamburg raised 72% of all VC fundinghttps://www.comdirect.de/cms/ueberuns/de/presse/fintech-studie-2020-wagniskapital.html Venture Capital in Germany A list of Germany's largest Venture Capital Rounds in 2020 https://buff.ly/2JTtJM1 Germany’s Corona Aid for StartupsGermany extends it’s two billion (2,43 bn US$) startup corona aid program from spring 2020 until June 30th, 2021, since not all two billion Euros of the original program have been spent. The two billion have been equally divided into two pillars - called Pillar One and Pillar Two.Pillar One (1 bn €, 1.2 bn US$) is direct aid for startups, who already have external investors. As of December 31st, 860 mn Euros (1 bn US$) have been committed by KfW, which administers all of the money. You can learn more here on their website about the program, unfortunately in German only (https://www.kfw.de/inlandsfoerderung/Unternehmen/KfW-Corona-Hilfe/Start-ups.html). KfW will also provide aid to startups and companies with a “strong relation to Germany”, which may also apply to your company? Check their website. Pillar Two (1 bn €, 1.2 bn US$) is a matching facility, were on a 1:1 basis the government matches investments. As of December 31st, 2020 only 556 million Euros ( 676 mn US$) have been committed. This program is administered by KfW, the development banks of each state (yes, 16 different ones and you have to apply at the bank in your state) and the government’s ERP fund, if you are already receiving funds from the ERP fund. Learn more here (yes, German only) https://www.kfw.de/inlandsfoerderung/Unternehmen/KfW-Corona-Hilfe/Start-ups.html. Again, you don’t need to be a German company, but only have your economic focus on Germany. Check the website if you think that may apply to you. Important: Your company must have steered clear of economic problems in 2019. Here is some more information, where you can also find more details: Germany’s startups have 2 bn Euros (2,43 bn US$) corona aid to draw upon (Known as Pillar One): https://www.bmwi.de/Redaktion/DE/Pressemitteilungen/2020/20200401-sart-ups-bekommen-2-milliarden-euro.html Plus there has been a Pillar Two, called the matching facility. Here the government (KfW) matches private investments in startups (50/50). https://kfw-capital.de/corona-matching-fazilitaet/ You can learn more here at the website of the German Business Angel Association, since the programs differ by state https://www.business-angels.de/aktueller-status-zur-saeule-ii-in-den-einzelnen-bundeslaendern/ More good news: The corona aid is extended to June 30th 2021: https://www.business-angels.de/%ef%bb%bfbrandneues-16-2020-start-up-corona-schutzschild-bis-30-06-2021-verlaengert/ How has Covid impacted Germany, Austria, and Switzerland’s startups? | Sifted https://buff.ly/3mLVgMM Hubs Frankfurt Rhine-MainLook-back at 2020 in the Rhein Main Startup Ecosystem - Frankfurt Valley https://buff.ly/3nBVPcB Frankfurt Rhein Main attracted multiple international companies in 2020 - Frankfurt Valley https://buff.ly/3nCU7HUThe most important startup exists in 2020 https://buff.ly/3pXop9Y including Emma, Bettzeit, Lizza and Mailtastic from the Rhine-Main AreaRhinemain.vc (Joe’s project) tracks venture funding of any kind in the Rhine-Main Area. We tracked 28 deals, in total 894 m Euros (skewed towards large rounds with BioNTech’s fundraising due to the development of corona vaccine and placement of additional shares and convertibles). Official publication to follow soon ...MunichMunich has a list of the Top 10 most important investments https://buff.ly/3bwig0k, headed by Lilium with 240 mn US$. Remember, we talked about it in the news. HamburgHad a great wrap-up: VCs holding back, Corona aid did not always help and the mood was still overall positive. Thank you for this amazing wrap-up.https://buff.ly/39rqzbe 2021 Outlook(s)We collected some outlooks, but they may be totally wrong, like last year. Only thing we can say for sure is that Germany is going to invest 10 bn € in VC funds, which in turn will invest in German startups. As said before, a few hundred millions from the corona aid for startups are also left. If we could beat corona soon, the second half of the year promises to be great for startups in Germany. Germany launches €10bn ‘Future Fund’ for startups. But will it go far enough? | Sifted https://buff.ly/2WhCHFzAnalysis: From famine to feast, investment in European tech startups roars back https://buff.ly/38taDop The World in 2021: five stories to watch out for | The Economist https://buff.ly/2KQlsbSWhat Will Life Be Like After the Pandemic? https://buff.ly/2KQdNdNWhat’s Coming for the Fintech Industry in 2021 - IMC Grupo https://buff.ly/3aEqNhf Top Fintech Trends in 2021 https://buff.ly/34WZaMJ 6 strategy and innovation insights from MIT Sloan Management Review | MIT Sloan https://buff.ly/3nzKB8e Detour You guys know we like to end on a high note and sometimes take detours … :-) German wine consumption has risen during times of corona. On average a German has bought 20.7 Liters of wine (700 oz for the Americans here) in last year’s harvest season, roughly 2.5 bottles per month. https://www.deutscheweine.de/presse/pressemeldungen/details/news/detail/News/wein-pro-kopf-verbrauch-gestiegen/

This Month in German Startups - December 2020 Welcome to This Month in German Startups by Startuprad.io - in a transatlantic news recording with Chris in New York City. Welcome to the Chris-mas edition :-) Today we are wrapping up December 2020 for you. Please keep in mind that due to the holidays and the current lockdown in Germany we are recording this news on December 15th. All news not included here will be part of our January warp-up and there will be a 2020 review 2021outlook as well. Today we bring you news about the 10 bn investment package of the German government, the new DAX, Peter Thiel’s investments in Germany, Taxes, AI, and much more. EnablerThis recording was made possible by (Hessen Trade and Invest). Learn more about our enabler here: https://www.invest-in-hessen.com/ Find all options to subscribe here:

Learn from Maria – Investor in several of Germany’s renowned startupsNormally you want to invest in people who you already know. Maria Pennanen, Startup Investor The EnablerThis interview is part of our series of startups and investors in the startup scene in the state of Hessen. The whole series is sponsored by Hessen Trade and Invest, you can learn more about our enabler here: www.invest-in-hessen.com Startup investment is a very risky business Maria Pennanen, Startup Investor The InvestorIn this interview we talk to Maria Pennanen, she is known to our established audience as co-founder of Accelerator Frankfurt, but she is also a Business Angel with more than 10 direct investments. Directly and indirectly, she is or was invested in many renowned startups like Solarisbank, Clark, Bankify, Savedo or Finance Ads. You can learn more about Maria here: Twitter: https://twitter.com/pennanenmariaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariapennanen/Accelerator Frankfurt: https://www.acceleratorfrankfurt.com/Mindclip: https://www.mindclip.com/ The best thing to start is joining a business angel organization Maria Pennanen, Startup Investor The AuthorMaria is also the author of the book “how to f*ck up your startup” in which she helps entrepreneurs to learn from failures. You can find the eBook here https://amzn.to/3oa2Stw Affiliate LinksWhy not learn from entrepreneurs and executives who are open to share their favorite books. We skimmed through some recommendations and that is what we found. Recommended by: Bill Gates “Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker” https://amzn.to/2XAENlBRecommended by: Jeff Bezos “Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras” https://amzn.to/2RGKGKeRecommended by: Elon Musk “Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel” https://amzn.to/2REbHhwRecommended by: Tony Hsieh “Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization by Dave Logan” https://amzn.to/34KgraQRecommended by: Warren Buffet “Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales From the World of Wall Street by John Brooks” https://amzn.to/2K92z06Recommended by: Tim Cook “Competing Against Time by George Stalk and Thomas Hout” https://amzn.to/3cjMMYnIt is very rare that you invest in an idea from people you just met, especially in seed. Maria Pennanen, Startup Investor Find all information and an automated transcript here: https://www.startuprad.io/blog/learn-from-maria-investor-in-several-of-germanys-renowned-startups/

This Month in German Startups - November 2020 Welcome to This Month in German Startups by Startuprad.io - in a transatlantic news recording with Chris in New York City. Today we are wrapping up November 2020 for you with an update on German startups working on corona vaccines, Flixbus, Finleap, Rocket Internet’s ongoing delisting, and a potential digital Euro Enabler This recording was made possible by (Hessen Trade and Invest). Learn more about our enabler here: https://www.invest-in-hessen.com/ Find all options to subscribe here: Tech Startups Germany by Startuprad.io - Audio PodcastiTunes https://apple.co/2Z17bflSpotify https://spoti.fi/3kCcgoB Housekeeping - Time to brag We have only one thing to say: Stay safe everybody! Be grateful for what you have! Affiliated Links Why not learn from entrepreneurs and executives who are open to share their favorite books. We skimmed through some recommendations and that is what we found. · Recommended by: Bill Gates “Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker” https://amzn.to/2XAENlB · Recommended by: Jeff Bezos “Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras” https://amzn.to/2RGKGKe · Recommended by: Elon Musk “Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel” https://amzn.to/2REbHhw · Recommended by: Tony Hsieh “Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization by Dave Logan” https://amzn.to/34KgraQ · Recommended by: Warren Buffet “Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales From the World of Wall Street by John Brooks” https://amzn.to/2K92z06 · Recommended by: Tim Cook “Competing Against Time by George Stalk and Thomas Hout” https://amzn.to/3cjMMYn Show Notes, Links and more reading https://www.startuprad.io/blog/this-month-in-german-startups-november-2020/

doks. innovation enables indoor drone flights for next-level digital logisticsInside a building GPS does not work. We use a combination of global mapping and local mapping… it is very very complex. Benjamin Federmann, CEO and Co-Founder doks.innovation The FounderIn this interview, we talk to Benjamin Federmann (https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminfedermann/) the CEO and Co-Founder of Kassel-based drone startup doks. innovation (https://www.doks-innovation.com/). D oks.innovation is not a hardware startup, they only provide Benjamin has spent some time after university in marketing and consulting for some smaller and also well-known companies like Leica. The feedback from the interviews I conducted was so good, I was sure I needed to found the company Benjamin Federmann, CEO and Co-Founder doks.innovation PatreonLearn about our interviews hours before they are released, help in the selection of the startups we interview, or even suggest startups to be interviewed, by becoming a Patron: https://buff.ly/32bZ4zW The customer can ask almost any question and find the answer in our data. Benjamin Federmann, CEO and Co-Founder doks.innovation DueDashIf you don’t like Patreon, there is DueDash. DueDash is a Social Network, for startups and investors. We have a group of supporters there as well. You can join the group there: https://buff.ly/2R90PYp When we started with our first prototype, we crashed 30 to 40 drones. Benjamin Federmann, CEO and Co-Founder doks.innovation Affiliate LinksIs your startup in need of a bank account in Germany? Try our partner affiliate Penta http://bit.ly/3bdHX3d Looking to open a bank account to shift between crypto and fiat? Try our partner Bitwala with this affiliate link here http://bit.ly/2w01Zye Our drone is a flying camera to collect data for the inventory management. Benjamin Federmann, CEO and Co-Founder doks.innovation The Startup The startup doks.innovation enables companies to monitor their warehouses via drones, which can fly indoors without smacking on any shelf or wall. Doks is not a hardware startup. doks.innovation provides only the ai software for the drones to enable them to fly indoors. On the other hand, they are also working closely with hardware providers, since they have very specific requirements for their drones. The drones are using cutting-edge drone hardware, which is not yet publicly available. The company is still small, but they have reference customers like Mars and BMW. Our clients have to press a button and come back 3 or 4 hours later. The data collection is totally automated. The customer can ask almost any question and can find the answer in our data. Benjamin Federmann, CEO and Co-Founder doks.innovation Venture Capital Fundingdoks.innovation is open to talking to new investors from Europe and the US. They are looking for the next financing round in Q1 2021 and to expand to the US in 2021. When we stared there was no hardware available for what we have been looking for. Benjamin Federmann, CEO and Co-Founder doks.innovation The Video Interview is set to go live on October 15th, 2020 19.00 CET Frankfurt/Paris/Zürich/Milanohttps://youtu.be/yi8SmEMuuj8 Drones are good for land surveying, but are there areas where drones are currently not working? So I made more than 100 interviews in one and a half year. Benjamin Federmann, CEO and Co-Founder doks.innovation Further Readings / Additional ResourcesLearn more about Kassel here: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g187342-Kassel_Hesse-Vacations.html FeedbackReach out to us, here is our audience survey, to give us feedback, suggest topics, interview partners or just to say “Hallo!” https://forms.gle/mLV6mVKwGwKuut8BA The InterviewerThis interview was conducted by Jörn “Joe” Menninger, startup scout, founder and host of Startuprad.io. Reach out to him: LinkedIn Twitter Email

Cyreen provides brick and mortar retailers with analytics for offline shopping cartsWe analyze shopping behaviour based on the contact with an in-store commercial. Our system does not even know if you are male or female. Davide Scheidegger, Co-Founder Cyreen [caption id="attachment_3655" align="aligncenter" width="1194"]Cyreen establishes a data-driven retail media standard for consumer brands in supermarkets. Courtesy of Cyreen[/caption]The FounderWe talk to Davide Scheidegger (https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidescheidegger/), who is originally from Switzerland, but now lives in Wiesbaden, working with his other co-founders on their startup Cyreen (https://www.cyreen.de/). They provide with movement tracking of shopping carts and in-store-advertisements, analytics for brick and mortar retailers, as well as for retail brands. EnablerThis recording was made possible by (Hessen Trade and Invest). Learn more about our enabler here: https://www.invest-in-hessen.com/ Find all options to subscribe here: Tech Startups Germany by Startuprad.io - Audio onlyiTunes https://apple.co/2Z17bflDeezer http://bit.ly/2Qbh1rlTuneIn http://bit.ly/2M8vpznStitcher http://bit.ly/34xTANOTech Startups Germany by Startuprad.io - VideoiTunes https://apple.co/2M8ZxKJ This is kind of the best advertisement in Germany, when you say: “Today you save 20%” Davide Scheidegger, Co-Founder Cyreen The StartupCyreen is an analytics software for inside a brick and mortar retailer. The tool tracks (anonymized) shopping carts and analyze customer behavior in the market. They can also show advertisements to the clients inside the retailer on small screens and track their efficiency. Cyreen can also include outside parameters e.g. temperature. Cyreen is an award-winning start-up that provides transparent, measurable and close-to-purchase marketing solutions for advertisers. They successfully launched their first product C.A.P. (Connecting Ad-Impressions with Purchase) in several stores. With C.A.P., they have developed a high-end digital signage system. For the first time, detailed advertising effectiveness analyses for offline marketing are possible according to the online logic of Facebook & Co. We normally don’t talk to our clients directly, but via our ad & media agencies. Davide Scheidegger, Co-Founder Cyreen Davide refers to this advertisement of Wiesenhof, which they helped to measure in storeAtze Schröder Wiesenhof, was one of the commercials measured by Cyreen in-store: https://youtu.be/7BZfmh7JM68 More information on their tool CAP - Connecting Ad-Impressions with Purchase (Cyreen is the name of the company)https://vimeo.com/341804155 A study by the University of St. Gallen. The link will open a PDF. We even tested the advertisement for ice cream in winter. Davide Scheidegger, Co-Founder Cyreen PatreonLearn about our interviews hours before they are released, help in the selection of the startups we interview or even suggest startups to be interviewed, by becoming a Patron: https://buff.ly/32bZ4zW DueDashIf you don’t like Patreon, there is DueDash. DueDash is a Social Network, for startups and investors. We have a group of supporters there as well. You can join the group there: https://buff.ly/2R90PYp Affiliate LinksIs your startup in need of a bank account in Germany? Try our partner affiliate Penta http://bit.ly/3bdHX3d Looking to open a bank account to shift between crypto and fiat? Try our partner Bitwala with this affiliate link here http://bit.ly/2w01Zye Even though I have not been to Wiesbaden before, I fell in love with the city instantly. Mainz is not too far away and the wine is great. Davide Scheidegger, Co-Founder Cyreen The Video Interview is set to go live on September 17th 19.00 CET (Frankfurt / Zürich)https://youtu.be/iN0RgBpMYg8 The Audio Interview will go live at the same timeSubscribe to our podcasts here Further Readings / Additional Ressources Bahncard 100 https://www.bahn.com/en/view/offers/bahncard/bahncard_100-conditions.shtml German retailer REWE (as of end of 2019 they generated 62.7 bn Euros in revenue, almost 75 bn US$) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REWE_Group Herbert, a German male first name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_(given_name)#:~:text=From%20Wikipedia%2C%20the%20free%20encyclopedia,names%20with%20the%20same%20roots. Joe refers to the shopping list app BRING! https://getbring.com/#!/app ALDI and Lidl (the German discounters mentioned): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidl We normally don’t talk to our clients … but to their ad agencies. Davide Scheidegger, Co-Founder Cyreen Feedback Reach out to us, here is our audience survey, to give us feedback, suggest topics, interview partners or just to say “Hallo!” https://forms.gle/mLV6mVKwGwKuut8BA The InterviewerThis interview was conducted by Jörn “Joe” Menninger, startup scout, founder and host of Startuprad.io. Reach out to him: LinkedIn Twitter Email

This is the last episode before our summer break of this podcast. We will be back in September!QuoScient helps to analyze, investigate and respond to cyber-threats Attackers are devious… During the current health crisis, they are going after health institutions and hospitals. They don’t basically care that they are doing damage to people who have already health problems. Ioannis Bizimis, Co-Founder QuoScient The FounderIn this interview, we are talking to Ioannis Bizimis (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ioannis-bizimis-6423527/, https://twitter.com/defense_active), the Co-Founder, CFO, CRO, and CISO of QuoScient. Ioannis has been an Investment Manager, project lead with Dow Jones, with MarkIt, an employee of Deutsche Bank and other well-regarded companies. He has a lot of experience and with this experience, he started to set up QuoScient. One of the biggest strategies [of hackers] is to come into your network and stay there and install as many backdoors as they can. They will use them when they need it. Ioannis Bizimis, Co-Founder QuoScient PatreonYou can now support us on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=35246148 if you like what you see and hear consider to support us, so we can keep bringing you great content. It costs hackers just a few hundred Dollars or Euros to build up an attack campaign. The effort on the other side is thousands, sometimes millions to understand this kind of campaign. Ioannis Bizimis, Co-Founder QuoScient Affiliate LinksIs your startup in need of a bank account in Germany? Try our partner affiliate Penta http://bit.ly/3bdHX3dLooking to open a bank account to shift between crypto and fiat? Try our partner Bitwala with this affiliate link here http://bit.ly/2w01Zye The StartupQuoScient (https://www.quoscient.io/, https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/quoscient) is a cybersecurity startup, which recently split into three parts to better pursue their respective activities. Two of those entities are still headquartered in Frankfurt, one in Columbia, Maryland (close to Baltimore). They basically split along their business lines: QuoLab Technologies – Defense Technology https://quolab.com/QuoSec – Security Consulting https://www.quosec.net/QuoIntelligence – Cyber Threat Intelligence https://quointelligence.eu/ [A company] first must understand what their most critical assets are and what are the [cyber] risks to those assets. Ioannis Bizimis, Co-Founder QuoScient Venture Capital FundingQuoScient has just raised venture capital. They may be looking at another funding round in the fall of 2020. If you want to keep posted, reach out to us. Threats can not only come from the outside. Capable hackers can also send you someone, pretending to work for you as contractor. … they do this professionally. Ioannis Bizimis, Co-Founder QuoScient The Video Interview is set to go live on July 2nd, 2020 19.00 CEThttps://youtu.be/qM_ngqKHuZ4 Subscribe to our podcasts here Further Readings / Additional ResourcesFront Office https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/frontoffice.aspBack Office https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/backoffice.aspMiddle Office https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/middleoffice.aspNeuer Markt / and its index Nemax https://deutsche-boerse.com/dbg-en/our-company/know-how/glossary/glossary-article/NEMAX-50-248782Trading Floor https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/trading_floor.aspSWIFT https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_for_Worldwide_Interbank_Financial_TelecommunicationHave a look at the other interview Joe refers to with IT SEAL: https://www.startuprad.io/blog/it-seal-helps-companies-to-train-their-employees-in-cyber-security/ Feedback Reach out to us, here is our audience survey, to give us feedback, suggest topics, interview partners or just to say “Hallo!” https://forms.gle/mLV6mVKwGwKuut8BA

This Month in German Startups - May 2020If you are new to our podcast(s), we are wrapping up the startup news of the German-speaking area in a monthly recording from Frankfurt and New York. Have a look at our website www.startuprad.io or www.startup.radio and you will find all the links to our recordings and the articles we are quoting from there. Some of the source articles are in English, some are in German. Reach out to usOur audience survey, to give us feedback, suggest topics, interview partners or just to say “Hallo!” https://forms.gle/mLV6mVKwGwKuut8BA Find the hosts here:Jörn “Joe” Menninger joe@startuprad.io / Twitter / LinkedIn / Video Interview (2018)Christian “Chris” Fahrenbach chris@startuprad.io / Twitter / Homepage / Video Interview (2018)PatreonIf you like our podcast, consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/startupradio EnablerThis recording was made possible by (Hessen Trade and Invest). Learn more about our enabler here: https://www.invest-in-hessen.com/ Together with our enabler, we are running a podcast called “Tech Startups Germany”, which will focus on startups at a Serie A stage or even more mature. You will also find all the videos we produce for this podcast on our YouTube channel www.youtube.com/startupradio. This podcast is available directly on our device as an audio and video podcast. Yes, Startuprad.io makes the first downloadable video podcast. Find all options to subscribe here: