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.

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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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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...