This Month in German, Swiss, and Austrian (GSA) Startups - March 2023

03/30/23 • 31 min

Security Sutra - Cybersecurity Startups and Venture Capital

Intro

Welcome to our March 2023 wrap-up with important news from the startup scenes in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in 30 minutes or less 🙂.

We follow our top-down structure in the news: The top news, followed by a bird’s eye view at the startup ecosystem, next deeper looking at fascinating startup cities, and we end with general information. And for those serious about startups, there is a collection called: Stay ahead of the curve, where we share exciting reads, articles, studies, and podcasts.

Welcome to our startup news wrap-up for March with Chris from New York City and Joe from Frankfurt. We recorded this news episode on March 27th, 2023. A little disclaimer: You may have noticed a lot of stress in February here at Startuprad.io. We should have remembered a few news items in our backlog and added them to this episode.

All news not yet included here will be published in our next news episode for April, to be published on April 27th. Find all links to the quoted information on our Medium blog link below.

If you celebrate it: Happy Easter! We also try to bring you a bit of culture from Germany here.

Our Highlights:

Good news and bad news for Fintechs Raisin and N26. Raisin gets its unicorn status back and gets a lot of new business, so much in fact that the complaints at Bafin are mounting. N26 generated 200 mn € revenue in 2021 but has to deal with a senior employee uprising. Neobank Ruuky is saved last minute. Startup Bonify reportedly makes a 20 mn € exit, but employees only get invited to a barbeque. GoStudent is a no-go with courts, and the first Goldman-backed fintech in Germany struggles. Bavarian Airlines may be just a hoax, and Grover shows the first signs on their way to an IPO.

Let’s talk startups:

Tune in to our Internet Radio Station here:

www.startup.radio

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 Enablers

This recording is supported by HTAI and the Enterprise Europe Network Hessen.

This recording was made possible by HTAI and the Enterprise Europe Network Hessen. These organizations have made tremendous contributions to helping startup businesses succeed and thrive, providing a range of services from helping to find grants to ongoing partnerships. By taking advantage of these resources, startup companies can network and develop innovative strategies for success on the international stage. The dedicated support of HTAI and the Enterprise Europe Network Hessen is paramount in providing startup businesses with the tools for lasting success. Look for our dedicated sub-podcast in partnership with them: Tech Startups Germany on our https://linktr.ee/startupradio

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Find Us on Newsly

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Top News

Good News and Bad News at Raisin

The rising interest rates are good for deposit broker Raisin. They were driving an increase in business and helped them to get a unicorn valuation with their most recent fundraising. It seems they even got a bit overwhelmed by the new business. Let’s have a look at the news:

We reported about Raisin’s (then) ongoing fundraising and that they are about to get their unicorn horn back. This is now confirmed: Deposit broker, fintech Raisin, raises 60 m Euros in VC funding, reclaiming its formerly lost unicorn status

The bad news: It seems complaints are piling up so that BaFin takes notice

N26 Good News and Bad News — As well

In February 2022, six high-ranking managers of N26 wrote an email warning the founders the company was turning dysfunctional. This became news about a year later when the Chief Risk Officer stepped down. Most of the managers backing the email left already.

First: N26’s top executives warned co-founders over ‘dysfunctional’ leadership

Second: Thomas Grosse, our gue...

Intro

Welcome to our March 2023 wrap-up with important news from the startup scenes in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in 30 minutes or less 🙂.

All news not yet included here will be published in our next news episode for April, to be published on April 27th. Find all links to the quoted information on our Medium blog link below.

If you celebrate it: Happy Easter! We also try to bring you a bit of culture from Germany here.

Our Highlights:

Let’s talk startups:

Tune in to our Internet Radio Station here:

www.startup.radio

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 Enablers

This recording is supported by HTAI and the Enterprise Europe Network Hessen.

Startupraven.com

The best way to identify investors and cooperation partners for early-stage startups. Sign up for early access here: https://startupraven.com/

Find Us on Newsly

Top News

Good News and Bad News at Raisin

The bad news: It seems complaints are piling up so that BaFin takes notice

N26 Good News and Bad News — As well

First: N26’s top executives warned co-founders over ‘dysfunctional’ leadership

Second: Thomas Grosse, our gue...

Previous Episode

This Month in German, Swiss, and Austrian (GSA) Startups — February 2023

Welcome to our February 2023 wrap-up with the important news from the startup scenes in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in 30 minutes or less 🙂.

We follow our top-down structure in the news: First the top news, then we look with a bird’s eye view at the startup ecosystem in the German language countries, dig deeper by looking at interesting startup cities and end with general news. And for those of you who are really serious about startups, there is even a collection called: Stay ahead of the curve where we share interesting reads, articles, studies, and podcasts.

Welcome to our startup news wrap-up for February 2023 by Startuprad.io with Chris from New York City and Joe from Frankfurt. We recorded this news episode on February 21st, 2023.

All news not yet included here will be published in our next news episode. Find all links to the quoted news on our Medium blog, link below.

Our Highlights:

Rising interest rates are leading to an interest rate war between the neobrokers. We covered the troubled company Windeln.de, which is now liquidated. Farewell! Moonfare extended it’s Series C funding to more than 130 m US$, but we are not sure who invested in the last batch, since a fund is mentioned, that was also founded by Moonfare’s founder. The City of Mainz goes live with its quest to become a world-class biotech hub. N26 was reportedly in advanced talks to buy dutch broker Bux, but buxed out shortly before the closing. AAAAAAnd, we like to end on a high note: Raising is in the process of reclaiming its unicorn status with new funding. We have also some event recommendations for you and discounts from 20% to 100% for the events listed in our show notes.

Let’s talk startups:

Our Enablers This recording is supported by HTAI and the Enterprise Europe Network Hessen

Look for our dedicated sub-podcast in partnership with them: Tech Startups Germany on our https://linktr.ee/startupradio

Startupraven.com

The best way to identify investors and cooperation partners for early-stage startups. Sign up for early access here:

Startup Raven

Find Us on Newsly

Top News

Neobrokers Just Started — What May Be An Interest Rate War (Chris)

After german unicorn Trade Republic had a smashing success with offering 2% interest for money deposited there now also fellow unicorn Scalable offers even 2,3%, BUT only from 100k € on and only if you are a subscriber (4.99/month)

Farewell Windeln.de

We have often talked in our news about the precarious position of windeln.de. Now it is finally liquidated

Who Extended Moonfare’s Series C?

Moonfare is a fintech from Germany, allows individuals to invest in Private Equity Funds, founded by former KKR Germany Head Steffen Pauls. They cap their Series C extension round at about $15M, bringing its Series C funding to $130 million+ the Berlin-based fintech allows HNWI, family offices, banks, and their advisor's access to top-tier private markets investments. BUT German business magazin Manager Magazin reports that for this extension the only investor mentioned by name is one that Mr. Pauls has co-founded.

You can find his profile at 7 Global Capital here on their website as Managing Partner and Founder.

City of Mainz Starts to Invest some of Their Billions in the BioTech Hub

You may remember that we told you the story of Mainz? A lovely city with a normal annual budget of 100 million Euros, the capital of one of Germany’s states. Since they are also the headquarters of BioNTech they got flooded with tax revenues as soon as the corona vaccine was rolled out. They showed more than 1 bn € profit as a city in 2021 alone and they want to invest the money to become a world-class biotech hub. Now the company they want to use to drive this initiative is operational: biomindz | Newly established company to promote Mainz as hub for life science and biotechnology now operational and supporting the city of Mainz.

Here is the interview with the person in charge of the BioTech Hub:

The City of Mainz Just Started on Its Way to Becoming a World-Class BioTech Hub

N26 Bux(ed) Out?

According to a press repo...

Next Episode

This Month in German, Swiss, and Austrian (GSA) Startups - April 2023 | Episode 380

Welcome to our April 2023 wrap-up with important news from the startup scenes in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in 30 minutes or less 🙂.

Our Highlights:

Considerable funding made headlines last month. We have more than 600 M euros in funding in our highlights alone. A potential large exit: Software AG, the Darmstadt-based listed software company, is close to a 2.4 bn US$ exit with an offer from Silverlake Partners. Also, Berlin-based Blinkist may be close to a 200 M € exit. Hundreds of millions of raised funds were announced by Enpal (via ABS), Isar Aerospace, IntegrityNext, Razor Group, and Tado. Also, SAP is close to investing in Germany’s hottest AI startup Aleph Alpha from Heidelberg. Diverging picture in Airtaxi space: Lilium is looking for new investors; Volocopter builds the taxis and expects them to fly in less than 500 days at the Paris Olympics.

Let’s talk startups:

Top News

Software AG Close to a Multi-Billion Acquisition

Private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners, based in Menlo Park, is close to buying Germany’s Software AG in $2.42 billion deal. The offer is already public, reported Reuters. Shares of listed Software AG jumped 53% at the announcement. The investor already knows the company: In February 2022, Silver Lake had invested 344 million euros in the software developer’s convertible bond, which upon conversion would represent nearly 9% of issued Software AG shares.

Enpal Raises More Than 300 M€

Enpal raises up to €356 million via Securitization of Solar Receivables with first German residential solar ABS. ABS are asset-backed securities, that means if Enpal can not pay interest or pay back the final sum, the investors have the collateral (assets) backing the security

Blinkist Close to 200 M € Exit

Reports blog Deutsche-Startups, with an offer from an — yet unnamed — American company. The blog, with its founder Alexander Hüsing is usually pretty well informed and has been right before.

Isar Aerospace Closes €155 Million Funding

Isar Aerospace closes €155 million Series C funding round, ignition sequence start, all engine running. Investors are 7-Industries Holding, Bayern Kapital via its Scale Up Fund Bavaria, Earlybird Venture Capital, HV Capital, Lakestar, Lombard Odier Investment Managers, Porsche Automobil Holding SE (Porsche SE), UVC Partners, and Vsquared Ventures

100 m € for IntegrityNext

The company has been bootstrapped for seven years, but now IntegrityNext takes €100 million from EQT Growth fund.

Razor Group Raises 88 M US$

Berlin-based Razor Group, an e-commerce aggregator, closes Series C at $88M at $1.2B valuation, acquires Stryze to consolidate.

Tado Raises Money, As IPO Plans Falter

Smart thermostat startup Tado wanted to IPO but then came Corona and Ukraine. They originally wanted to explore a sale or IPO after their 2021 fundraising, but the SPAC deal faltered and they needed to adapt. So they raised 46.9 M US$. Their existing investors already include Siemens, Amazon, and EON.

SAP To Invest In AI Startup Aleph Alpha

German press reports that the software giant SAP is about to invest in German ChatGPT competitor Aleph Alpha, which also claims to have eliminated fake news from its software. As yet, the valuation and investment are not known.

Related: Heidelberg-based startup, a competitor of ChatGPT, claims to have eliminated fake news from its tool Luminous

Airtaxi Lilium is Looking for New Money, and Volocopter is Planning to Fly

Airtaxi Lilium: 0 Euro revenue, 253 mn € losses. They are looking for new investors. Volocopter on the other hand, wants to start operating their drones as taxis ASAP. They also pledged to operate their air taxis in Paris, during the Olympic Games, in less than 500 days.

Related: Volocopter starts production — founders magazin

All Links and Show Notes

Here is our blog post: https://medium.com/startuprad-io/this-month-in-german-swiss-and-austrian-gsa-startups-april-2023-episode-380-88b68d4bd32d

Mentioned in this episode:

Startupraven.com

The best way to identify investors and cooperation partners for early-stage startups. Sign up for early access here: https://startupraven.com/

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Podder - https://www.podderapp.com/privacy-policy
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Security Sutra - Cybersecurity Startups and Venture Capital - This Month in German, Swiss, and Austrian (GSA) Startups - March 2023

Transcript

Intro (Easter In Germany, Strike In Germany)

[0:00] Startup Red Dot IO.

Your podcast and YouTube blog covering the German startups.

With News interviews and Live Events hey Chris can you hear the sound of approaching Easter bunnies.

I'm not sure.

I'm not sure guys hello and welcome to this month in GSA startups March 20 23 Edition Welcome to our March news wrap-up.

With the most important news from the startup scenes in Germany Austria and Switzerland

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