Scalable Capital, Munich's neobroker unicorn, manages more than €30bn for over 1M clients and won a full ECB banking licence in 2025. Inside the $1.4B fintech's model — and where its valuation actually stands.

TU Darmstadt VP Thomas Walther on how Focused Energy became a fusion spin-off: IP for Shares, HIGHEST, the Company Builder and Futury, and why Europe still loses deep tech companies.

Düsseldorf business angel Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt screened about 200 startups and backed 10 green tech companies. Her test: cheaper, faster, better, and at least one woman as operating co-founder.

DeepL, the Cologne AI-translation company led by Jaroslaw Kutylowski, hit a $2B valuation in 2024 (Index Ventures) and is reportedly weighing a US IPO. How it makes money and why its valuation is a moving target.

Fabian Siegel led Delivery Hero as Co-CEO, spent three years inside the Samwers' Global Founders Capital, then built meal-kit company Marley Spoon for a decade — including its hard final chapter.

Europe's scale-up problem isn't a talent shortage — it's a knowledge-recycling gap. How founder factories, operator density, and ESOP reform decide who scales globally.

Berlin fintech Moss closed a €35M Series C at a €1B valuation — Germany's newest unicorn. Inside its bet on steerable Finance AI over autonomous agents.

The eldest, quietest Samwer brother built a parallel institution — Founders Forum with Brent Hoberman — while advising GFC and staying out of the headlines the other two brothers attract.

Gadowski ran the Berlin factory model in parallel to Rocket Internet — and produced Delivery Hero, the DAX-listed food-delivery giant he still chairs in 2026.

Alexander Samwer's Picus Capital is the cleanest Samwer second act — a Munich early-stage VC with institutional LPs, Carlyle AlpInvest preferred equity, and a conviction-led strategy.

Rocket Internet is remembered as a clone factory. The more useful reading: it was Europe's most productive founder-and-capital pipeline — and the 2020 delisting is not the end of the story.

Rocket Internet is remembered as a clone factory. The more useful reading: it was Europe's most productive founder-and-capital pipeline — and the 2020 delisting is not the end of the story.

Helsing closed $1.8bn Series E at $18bn on July 13, 2026, led by Dragoneer and Lightspeed. Real product, real war, wartime valuation. First entry in the Unicorn Atlas.

DACH startup ecosystems operate according to distinct mechanics that are fundamentally different from US venture capital ecosystems. Understanding these mechanics is prerequisite to effective market entry. This is not poetry — it's mechanical. Understanding the mechanics allows you to navigate the ecosystem strategically rather than randomly. This final framework synthesizes the principles we've discussed into a coherent system for understanding and entering DACH markets. The

Market entry into DACH is a credibility-building exercise disguised as a sales process. The first 90 days are critical. During this period, you're not trying to close deals — you're trying to establish credibility, build relationships, and prove that you're serious about the market. How you use these 90 days determines whether you'll build sustainable market position or spend years fighting skepticism. This is a framework for structuring the first three months of DACH market

Why German Buyers Google You Before They Reply There's a critical insight about German B2B buyer behavior that most American companies entering DACH markets misunderstand: the German buyer's evaluation process is heavily research-driven and happens before direct sales conversations. When a Mittelstand CTO receives an email from you, she's not immediately looking to take a meeting. She's going to Google you, assess your online presence, check your references, and conduct due d

Hamburg-born LinkedIn co-founder Konstantin Guericke is Silicon Valley's most-called German translator. Zero DACH unicorn checks. All bridge, no cap table.

Every B2B founder knows about Web Summit, Slush, and the major venture conferences. These are high-profile events that attract thousands of startups, investors, and media. But for DACH market entry, these mega-events are often less valuable than smaller, specialized events that attract concentrated decision-maker audiences and build deep industry credibility. This is not to say Web Summit and similar events are useless — they're valuable for fundraising and international visi

The Conference-to-Deal Pipeline: How European B2B Events Work American B2B companies often approach conferences and events as lead-generation channels — ways to capture contact information and build sales pipelines. This approach works reasonably well in the US, where conferences are transactional and high-volume. In DACH and Europe more broadly, events function differently. They're relationship-building, community-reinforcing, and information-sharing channels. Understanding

Swedish-born Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström runs Europe's largest founder-led venture firm — Atomico, $5.5B+ AUM across six funds. Germany is Atomico's largest single non-UK/Nordic market. Berlin is one of four Atomico offices. DeepL is the flagship current bet. Lilium was the most expensive write-off in the firm's history. Inside the Bundestag's €50M loan refusal that killed Munich's electric-aviation pioneer and why a Swedish patriarch built his German position.