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AutorenbildJuan Diego Parra Castillo
25. Feb. 20216 Min. Lesezeit

This Month in German Startups — March 2021

New Blog


This blog post first appeared first on old medium publication (https://medium.com/startuprad-io), and was moved to this blog with the relaunch of our website in summer 2024.


Welcome!


Welcome 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.


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Housekeeping — Time to brag


Stay safe everyone!


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The Video Podcast Will Go Live on March 25th, 2021, at 17.00 CET


Audio Podcast



Top News


Griaß di Unicorn

Austria’s first unicorn: Neobroker for digital assets (Bitcoin and more) Bitpanda raises $170M at a valuation of $1.2B, located in Vienna, Austria https://buff.ly/3txYJlR


The youngest Samwer Brother working on a German Tesla

Alexander Samwer plans listing of solar company Enpal wanting to be “a German Tesla” https://buff.ly/3tDn7Tp


Fit Analytics from Berlin gets snapped up

Snap buys Berlin-based startup Fit Analytics, whose AI-based Fit Finder recommends fitting clothes and shoes https://buff.ly/2OKFt5Z


Bigger Indoor Farming with Infarm

Urban Farming Startup Infarm Raises Extra $100 Million to Expand, after raising 170 m US$ in September 2020 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-05/urban-farming-startup-infarm-raises-extra-100-million-to-expand?srnd=technology-vp


Asset Management: Gimme your money

After Vanguard and BlockRock: Fidelity enters German Robo Advisor / Digital Asset Management Market, buying a stake in Berlin-based Moonfare, which offers investments in Private Equity funds https://buff.ly/38xbzJe


N26 has many open positions

N26 is losing employees. Their current headcount is around 1.150, down almost 500 from 2019 (~1.500). This coincides with the head of HR (formerly with Adidas) leaving her job after 6 months https://buff.ly/3bNRnVx


Wirecard

We keep you updated, just a small selection of news here.

Keep in mind there is still an investigative committee ongoing.


Ecosystem


German Venture Capital Barometer: VC business climate in Q4 2020 better than 2019 says KfW Research https://buff.ly/2MqaxH8 they also see the depths of the corona depression overcome and increased satisfaction with government programs. Keep in mind this was published before the current increasingly sticky lockdown around easter.

TOP 50: Europe’s most influential women in the startup and venture capital space https://buff.ly/3sX4Boo

Including

  • Alisée de Tonnac CEO & Co-founder of Seedstars World from Switzerland

  • Julia Bösch is the founder and CEO of Outfittery

  • Madeleine Gummer v. Mohl is co-founder and CEO of Betahaus

  • Maria Pennanen is co-founder of Accelerator Frankfurt and the previous CEO of the crypto/blockchain startup Santiment (learn more about her here in our interview: https://www.startuprad.io/blog/learn-from-maria-investor-in-several-of-germanys-renowned-startups/)

  • Marie-Helene Ametsreiter is Lead Partner at SpeedInvest


Short Sellers Boost Bets Against SPACs — WSJ https://buff.ly/38FGrXM (more on SPACs later)

“Investors who bet against stocks are targeting special-purpose acquisition companies, one of the hottest growth areas on Wall Street. The dollar value of bearish bets against shares of SPACs has more than tripled to about $2.7 billion from $724 million at the start of the year, according to data from S3 Partners.” WSJ March 14th

Female founders struggle for funding in Berlin startup scene | DW https://buff.ly/3cwmTq1


Hubs


Note: The order of news and cities is only due to the time when we discovered the news.


Frankfurt



Bremen


Heidelberg

  • Heidelberg: Berlin-based Patient 21 buys hospital Sankt Elisabeth in the borough of Heidelberg https://buff.ly/3vDksuG


Karlsruhe



Munich

  • Apple will invest 1 bn US$ over the next three years in Germany, including a new center for chip design in Munich, which has the capacity for 1.500 employees https://buff.ly/38JcPcr

  • Kranus Health is focusing on men’s health and raises “seven-digit” — Munich Startup https://buff.ly/38qtIIv

  • Starnberg-based AM Ventures starts 100 m Euro VC fund for investing in industrial 3d printing startups https://buff.ly/3bv3uqr


Rostock


Hamburg

  • NEW WORK SE (a competitor of LinkedIn with Xing.com in the German-speaking area) slightly increases revenues 276,0 M € and EBITDA 92,3 M € in 2020, according to their published, but not yet audited results https://buff.ly/3aTtLhN

  • Hamburg-based real estate crowdfunding platform Exporo loses the 2nd of its three founders. Only one of the three remains https://buff.ly/3tpf7VF and the remaining one was the founder of an acquired startup


Chemnitz

  • Air quality monitoring company Corant GmbH, raises “six digits” venture capital funding from strategic corporate investor https://buff.ly/3cN4BB8


Austria

  • From above Austria’s first unicorn: Neobroker Bitpanda raises $170M at a valuation of $1.2B | Silicon Canals https://buff.ly/3txYJlR


Switzerland

  • “Planted Foods” closed 17 Mio CHF (15 m €, 18 m US$) venture capital round | Moneycab https://buff.ly/3vgq1iD

  • Hashmasks — The story behind the Swiss-based NFT pioneer (in German) https://buff.ly/3bGYJds

  • Porsche Digital, with their brand Forward31 expands start-up portfolio with The Embassies from Switzerland https://buff.ly/3tgXis3 The Swiss company is developing a digital platform and a habitat that provides tailored, premium living in retirement


Companies Section


On-Demand Groceries, Delivery Fight is heating Up in Germany

  • Flink, the Berlin-based grocery delivery startup that operates its own ‘dark stores’, raises $52M — following their competitor Gorillas, which raised 44 m US$ https://buff.ly/2Oiwp7W all focusing on the delivery of groceries

More on SPACs

  • Here is the next SPAC made in Germany to go public. Tio Tech A by Lesara founder Kirsch and HelloFresh CEO Richter wants to raise 300 m US$ at NASDAQ IPO. Bookrunner is Deutsche Bank https://buff.ly/3aR0Ivb here is the link to the SEC filing S1

  • Frontier Acquisition Corp, a SPAC backed by German investor Christian Angermayer and Falcon Edge from New York started trading at NASDAQ, looking for biotech companies https://buff.ly/3cn6iVH


Gamestop Not Over By A Long Run


  • In the aftermath of GameStop is the German finance oversight body Bafin starting to investigate neobroker Trade Republic https://buff.ly/3vlpKdU. We will keep you updated.


Company News


All Other News

  • Germany outpaces the US in new e-car registrations in 2020, after a 264% subsidy-induced surge. Both countries remain behind China as the No1 market globally https://buff.ly/30ot4qr

  • Delivery-Hero CEO sells company stock worth more than 22 m Euro https://buff.ly/385AC5U


Stay ahead of the curve


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