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AutorenbildJuan Diego Parra Castillo
27. Okt. 20216 Min. Lesezeit

This Month in German Startups — October 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 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 a 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, fewer startups, but more funding for the surviving ones.


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The Video Podcast Will Go Live on Thursday, October 28th, 2021 at 16.00 CET



Housekeeping — Time to brag

We are scratching another magic mark right now. We just scored No 104 in Chartables Global Tech Podcast Charts. Thank you for your support!


Top News


Germany has a new most valuable fintech

N26 took over Trade Republic, as Germany’s most valuable startup but the way to this monster funding was not easy.

  • N26, the #berlin-based #neobank, raises 900 mn US$, with a valuation of 9 bn US$, becoming Germany’s most valuable fintech, and one of the world’s 20 most valuable fintechs https://buff.ly/3aQwgQW

  • N26, despite being in trouble with the bank oversight BaFin, raises 700 mn Euros (810 mn US$) at an 8 bn € (9.26 bn US$)valuation https://buff.ly/3FAq5i1

  • N26’s CEO for Germany leaves the neobank for Hawk AI https://buff.ly/3ARLTmH

Germany’s Flixbus acquired the legendary US Greyhound bus company, from current owner UK based First Group for 120 mn Euros (140 mn US$). First Group was interested in selling the company already back in 2019 https://buff.ly/3G8rtbX Greyhound itself is of course suffering from corona, they generated more than 10 mn Euros losses in Q1 2021 and cut 50% of their headcount since the start of the corona. Flixmobility (the company behind the Flixbus brand) was valued at 2.5 bn Euros at their last fundraising in June this year, they reached unicorn status already in 2018.


Ecosystem

  • 11 female business angels from Germany, you should know https://buff.ly/2YpcZ6O

  • The number of startups decreases in Germany in 2020 by 30% as measured by KfW https://buff.ly/3m6BaPb

  • Germany to mine lithium under the Erzgebirge in Sachsen. The “white gold” is used in batteries, notebooks, tablets, and smartphones https://buff.ly/2Yui3Gk

  • Seven takeaways from the Accel state of European SaaS report https://buff.ly/3iRucg0

  • EXPLAINED: The surprising parts of Germany where new businesses are blooming https://buff.ly/3DuAf1U

  • Leverkusen

  • Marburg

  • Goerlitz

  • Schwabach

  • Schweinfurt

  • Offenbach am Main

  • Kaiserslautern

  • MainTaunusKreis (this is where Joe is living, just outside of Frankfurt)


Hubs


Frankfurt

  • FreshBooks Acquires FastBill to Boost Growth in Canada https://buff.ly/3ajraMR No purchase price was published, but according to our information a large share was paid in FreshBooks shares. The price could be in the range of 100 mn Euros (75–120 mn Euros depending on the multiple and actual revenue)

  • Former C-Level executives of Frankfurt-listed evergreen VC fund Finlab had differences with their former majority stakeholder. Now they want to use their connection to raise their own VC fund https://buff.ly/3BreWO3

  • Bitcoin miner Northern Data forecasted 120 mn revenue and delayed publication of the numbers. Then they published 16,4 mn revenues. Finance watchdog Bafin filed charges https://buff.ly/3AHuwEb we will keep you updated on this story.


Heidelberg

  • The Struengmann billionaire twin brothers made the BioNTech success possible as large-scale investors. Now they invest in Heidelberg-based fintech Getsafe https://buff.ly/3lFudp9

  • Learn more about the twins here: https://buff.ly/3aAHQQf


Hamburg

  • Heyflow raises USD 6 million in funds — more “clickflow” on websites https://buff.ly/3vLoZvH

  • Hamburg-based circular bioeconomy startup traceless materials receive a €2.42 million EIC grant to quickly scale up its technology https://buff.ly/3B7bAyS


Munich

  • Flixbus is based in Munich, note the story before.

  • There is also another shmaybe unicorn: Munich-based solar car firm Sono Motors files for U.S. IPO https://buff.ly/3GjcRGO reports Reuters. The IPO could value the company at more than 1 bn US$, but the first cars will only be delivered in 2023.

  • German online dating company Parship looking for an IPO in Frankfurt in spring next year, hiring two investment banks https://buff.ly/3pxwkxx


Cologne

  • Iris Capital, New Forge, and Instana founder join existing investors in 27,8 mn US$ funding in ArangoDB. The #Cologne-based startup offers an open-source NoSQL database https://buff.ly/3agGry4

  • 1nce from Cologne is the first joint investment from Deutsche Telekom and Softbank. 1nce is an IoT startup, raising in total 43 mn € (50 mn US$) https://buff.ly/3D4nZ8h


Konstanz


Austria


Switzerland

  • Chronext postpones IPO at SIX in Switzerland, originally planned for early October due to “unfavorable market conditions” https://buff.ly/3agGry4

  • Locatee, the workplace analytics startup raises 7,1 mn Euro https://buff.ly/3F21B19

  • ETH spinoff Scewo, raises 8,5 mn CHF (7,83 mn €) venture capital for their stair-climbing wheelchair https://buff.ly/3zOlMM7

  • Frontify raises 50 mn US$ from investors like Revaia, High Sage Ventures, as well as existing investors for their platform, on which companies can manage their brand presence https://buff.ly/2Y29gMi

  • One million US$ for sporttech startup coachbetter to digitize football coaching https://buff.ly/3iCAZtO

  • VW heir and one of Elon Musk’s investors invest in Switzerland-based car subscription startup Carify https://buff.ly/3AGoIuJ


General News / Companies News Section

The German company Autarq may just have surpassed Tesla with their solar roof tiles https://buff.ly/2Z54MVA


SPACs

“European SPACs have raised $6.6 billion so far this year, according to Refinitiv data. While that’s up from just $500 million in 2020 it’s still only about 5% of the value of the SPAC deals done in the United States in 2021.”

  • But there is a new one: New SPAC “GFJ ESG Akquisition I SE” announced. It shall be listed in Frankfurt, to buy startups and tech companies in sustainable technologies. The company is initiated by well-known founders and a corporate CFO. They want to raise 150 mn € https://buff.ly/3mZa4K4

GoPuff, the Philadelphia-based quick commerce startup, enters the German market https://buff.ly/3AuOmma adding to an already hot competition with Jokr, Gorillas and others.

CureVac stops the development of the Corona vaccine and starts over with a new approach. The first vaccine candidate did not fulfill the expectations https://buff.ly/3aCASKg

Multiple PE funds are fighting over the buyout of Zooplus, the takeover (initially 390 €/ share) offer was raised 40% since mid-August and currently, the shares are trading around 490€ https://buff.ly/3DzkVRK this leads the market to conclude there is more in it for shareholders. We keep you updated.

Venture capital: 8roadsventures raises 450 mn US$ VC fund targeting 15–20 scaleups in Europe https://buff.ly/3uLH2kI

Vehiculum wanted to turn the leasing industry upside down. Now a funding round fell through and they have to file for insolvency https://buff.ly/3mcMclX

Adam Neumann-Backed GoTo Global Acquires German Moped-Sharing Startup https://buff.ly/3DqyX7Z

DWS buys stake in UK-based retirement fintech Smart https://buff.ly/3Fq4KaZ

Baloise’s German Money Pit. Their #Berlin-based insurtech Friday is not working out as planned https://buff.ly/3Byn1Rk

Sad news: A Helicopter crash kills the founder of August Intelligence, the startup in the center of the Amthor Affair, involving questionable lobbying by a member of the German Parliament https://buff.ly/3b8osKM

Selected Fundraisings (really, a very very small collection)

And finally: Landesbank Berlin issued more than 1 mn credit cards for Amazon’s German customers. Now it appears the bank shifts strategy and ends the cooperation https://buff.ly/3CXwj9E


Stay ahead of the curve

10 Things Your Corporate Culture Needs to Get Right https://buff.ly/3atUnEW



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