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

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.

Bavarian-born Andreas von Bechtolsheim is the most successful German in Silicon Valley — net worth $31–35 billion, #5 richest German globally, the man who wrote Google's first $100,000 check. He is also the quietest. Inside his DACH deep-tech portfolio — KONUX, Black Semiconductor, USound, LiveEO — the Hermann Hauser co-invest pattern, and why he is the operating opposite of Peter Thiel.

Frankfurt-born Peter Thiel publicly championed European defense tech for years before the consensus shifted. The German defense wave he forecast just produced its biggest winner — Helsing at $18B — and it's not in his portfolio. Inside the 15-company DACH position, the Trade Republic anchor, the STARK Defence bet, and the structural friction Germany has with the man whose capital its founders happily take.

He built SAP's North American business, exited in 1997 for DM 1.6B, then spent 30 years constructing Germany's STEM and AI talent pipeline.

Hopp turned SAP wealth into permanent regional infrastructure — KiTZ, neonatal screening, 19 public parks, biotech anchor capital. Not charity. Capability.

52 years inside SAP. Three architectural bets. Europe's most important software founder. The story of how Hasso Plattner built — and held — the platform.

Claus Wellenreuther died March 21, 2026, age 91. He built SAP's financial accounting module, exited in 1980, founded the alternative — and SAP bought it back.

Christian Fahrenbach is a US correspondent for RND, co-host of Startuprad.io, and award-winning journalist. He covers politics, economics, and innovation across Europe and the US.

Ventech partner Stephan Wirries explains how AI agents reprice SaaS, shift software value to outcomes, and open a narrow European industrial AI window.

The EU's €40 billion Innovation Fund has deployed less than 1% of its budget after five years. A Startuprad.io analysis of what the European Court of Auditors' 2026 audit reveals for DACH deep tech founders, VCs, and cleantech investors — and what comes next with the €451B European Competitiveness Fund.

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. What Is This About? Evaluating a startup is part science, part storytelling. This episode presents a structured seven-step framework that combines quantitative metrics with narrative analysis — helping investors and founders assess a startup's potential through the lens of the story it tells about its mar

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. What Is This About? Brant Cooper, New York Times bestselling author of "The Lean Entrepreneur," shares how lean startup methodology applies beyond Silicon Valley. His framework helps founders in any market — including DACH — validate ideas faster, reduce waste, and build products customers actually want.

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. What Is This About? In the 2022 Starting Y Christmas episode, Michelle and Jörn reflect on the entrepreneurial year that was — and look ahead. They discuss resilience, the importance of fresh starts, and why the holiday season is the perfect time for founders to recalibrate their purpose and energy for th

Image by Republica from Pixabay What Is This About? Startuprad.io announces a new fall 2022 schedule for its internet radio station, adding shows like the Cleantech podcast with David Hunt and The Failure Guy to the lineup. This episode previews the expanded programming and explains the vision behind building the world's first tech entrepreneurship radio station. This article is part of our coverage of Scaleup Founder Interviews from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. This bl

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. What Is This About? Startuprad.io reached #18 on Apple iTunes' global entrepreneurship podcast charts — a milestone for the DACH startup ecosystem's leading English-language podcast. This episode celebrates the achievement and reflects on what it means for the show's growing international audience. This a

Image by WorldSpectrum from Pixabay What Is This About? Berlin-based crypto bank Nuri, formerly known as Bitwala, served 500,000 clients before filing for insolvency. After cutting 20% of its workforce and failing to secure a €30-40M funding round, the collapse became a cautionary tale about the crypto winter's impact on European fintech. This article is part of our coverage of Scaleup Founder Interviews from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. This blog post first appeared fi

Hintertux Glacier in Tyrol by Markus Fischer via Pixabay What Is This About? Austrian fintech Monkee raised €1.5 million for its "Save Now, Buy Later" model — the opposite of buy-now-pay-later. The app helps users set savings goals and build financial discipline, returning to Startuprad.io after their first appearance in September 2021 to share their funding news. This article is part of our coverage of Scaleup Founder Interviews from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. This b

RhineMain.vc or German RheinMain.vc is an inbound venture capital index. We strive to provide numbers on money raised by ventures in the greater Rhine-Main Area. What Is This About? RhineMain.vc is an initiative dedicated to covering the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main startup and venture capital scene — a region with significant startup activity and capital raised that receives far less media attention than Berlin. The project aims to close this coverage gap. This article is part of ou

This story was migrated from our old blog, originally published on February 8th, 2022 What Is This About? Berlin Brands Group (BBG) is the second profile in the German Unicorns series. The company runs multiple direct-to-consumer eCommerce brands with a vertically integrated distribution approach — building, acquiring, and scaling consumer product brands entirely through online channels. This article is part of our coverage of Scaleup Founder Interviews from Germany, Austria,