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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 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!
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We have new unicorns to announce
New unicorn in Germany: Munich-based e-commerce specialist Commercetools raises 120 m Euro from investors like Accel and retailer Rewe, valuing the company at 1.62 bn Euros (1.91 bn US$) https://buff.ly/3z3ys1i
Bain Capital pays 700 m Euros for a 40% stake in Berlin Brands Group, turning it into a unicorn. The company offers their own products via platforms and started buying up Amazon shops https://buff.ly/3n8UTj5
29th of July is Germany’s monster funding day. Three large rounds were announced:
Berlin-based Contentful “headless CMS” raises 175 mn US$ at 3 bn valuations, becoming a unicorn https://buff.ly/3zKggdO
Munich-based space startup Isar Aerospace increases funding round from December to 140 m € https://www.businessinsider.de/gruenderszene/automotive-mobility/isar-aerospace-gewinnt-porsche-als-neuen-investor/?utm_source=-custom-by-source-1-
Berlin-based Grover — a company to rent tech gadets raises 1 bn US$ http://press.grover.com/149859-grover-secures-1bn-to-democratize-access-to-consumer-tech?utm_source=-custom-by-source-0-
Grover is also looking for a SPAC IPO https://buff.ly/39KdiLq
Investor Kinnevik values newly merged #fintech Raisin DS at 1.3 bn € Fair Value, as opposed to former book valuation at merger of 2.5 bn € https://buff.ly/2VmF2BJ
Shmaybecorn to Unicorn: solarisBank
solarisBank joins Unicorn ranks with new fundraising of 160 mn € (for a UK acquisition), valuing the bank at 1.36 bn € https://buff.ly/3iusoZp
As reported in This Month in German Startups https://buff.ly/3xbVd2P
Talking IPOs here
Swiss startup Sportradar raises $513 million in IPO at $7.4 billion valuation https://buff.ly/3hDghcM
Babbel to IPO for 24 to 28 Euro a share in #Frankfurt, valuing the company at 1–2 bn €. They expect to raise around 190 mn Euros https://buff.ly/3kg5tDm
BUT they pulled the plug, two days before the IPO in Frankfurt https://buff.ly/39LHZzI, waiting for a better time
SPAC
HomeToGo to receive $295m funding injection as SPAC moves closer https://buff.ly/3lETQFr
HomeToGo seals merger with Lakestar SPAC in German stock market first, valuing the company at 1.2 bn € https://buff.ly/3zgD84x
Electric jet company Lilium launched on September 15th on Nasdaq https://buff.ly/2Ya4IDn
But the deal did not go according to plan.
German air taxi startup Lilium to be listed at NASDAQ shortly via SPAC Deal, trading as $LILM, $LILMW, but raises only 548 mn US$ (at 3 bn valuation), vs 830 mn USD expected https://buff.ly/2Xe1ON0
An article, which is OBE by now: We shared that air-taxi startup Lilium wants to IPO at NASDAQ via SPAC deal. Now Welt am Sonntag uncovered that without this listing the startup may be running out of money https://buff.ly/3zmBBts
The company behind the toy Tonibox will list via a SPAC deal but misses unicorn valuation. More about them in our regular news.
Existing Unicorns
#Vienna-based trading platform Bitpanda raises $263M at a $4.1BN valuation, not even 6 months after raising 170 mn US$. They are also taking back the title of #Austria’s most valuable startup https://buff.ly/3CO8Jgt
They also hired a Global Head of Growth from neobank Revolut, to fill the same position https://buff.ly/3kcioGx
Quick Commerce
Gorillas was making headlines during the summer, but not necessarily the best kind of headlines. Let us walk you through the development
10-minute #delivery #startup Gorillas was a shooting star of the Berlin startup scene, raising funds at a 5 bn $ valuation. After a string of bad press and problems, they look for funding at a 2.1bn valuation. FT reports Doordash to be interested https://buff.ly/3jwtfJp?utm_source=-custom-by-source-0-
Related: Gorillas: The new WeWork? https://buff.ly/37gUIZX
Uber killer Doordash was rumored to invest in #Berlin-based Gorillas, until the deal fell through. Now they invest in competitor Flink https://buff.ly/2XZkG34
Delivery Hero Said to Invest in Gorillas at $3 Billion Value -Bloomberg https://buff.ly/3kQFdQl
Doordash instead now invested in Gorillas’ competitor Flink “several hundred million dollars” among existing investors for a 2.1 bn US$ valuation. This made Flink also a unicorn https://www.deutsche-startups.de/2021/09/23/dealmonitor-23-09-2021/ according to press reports the CEO of Delivery Hero wanted to merge Flink and Gorillas. With the investment of Doordash this is off the table for now. It took only 10 months for Flink from the point they registered the company to a unicorn valuation.
N26
The neobank also made headlines during the summer, but not the good kind. They are in trouble with the German finance oversight body BaFin, since they appear to have not done enough to fight money laundering and scams.
N26 is not only popular with clients, but also with scammers. The press report in the link reveals approx. 1.600 accounts used for #scams like fake shops or eBay scams https://buff.ly/2VZwVMn
N26 failed to fight money laundering. In one of Germany’s states Niedersachsen every 10th case reported to the authority on suspicion of money laundry was with the #neobank https://buff.ly/3yPDYp2
Our Blogpost on the N26 story
N26 reacts to #Bafin threats of limiting their new business, reportedly giving Thomas Grosse an additional role as risk manager https://buff.ly/2WfGFSi
You can learn more about Thomas in our interview when we were still in charge of GooglePay in Germany https://buff.ly/3mtRfAg
Meet the 7 decacorns minted in Germany; they are on a hiring spree https://buff.ly/3zqWC70
Additional reading, what we call “Stay ahead of the curve”
Europe’s quick-commerce startups are overhyped: Lessons from China https://buff.ly/3gC54IW
Why VC valuations increase and why this might be a trap https://buff.ly/3s8Q1uR
Europe’s unicorn herd grows bigger and faster in 2021 https://buff.ly/3lxJyae
Find all links and show notes here: https://www.startuprad.io/blog/this-month-in-german-startups-september-2021-unicorn-tracker-bonus/
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