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 are not leaderless networks. They're organized around key connector nodes — people, organizations, and institutions that bridge different parts of the ecosystem and facilitate information flow, introductions, and partnerships. Understanding these connector roles and building relationships with key connectors is fundamental to market entry success. A company that maps the connector landscape and builds relationships with 5-10 key connectors generates de

KfW's 2026 edition: 40% of 2025 German founders kept the day job. The "hybrid founder" finding reframes who the word "founder" actually refers to in Germany.

KfW 2026's most hopeful finding: 40% of founders are under 30. But 22% are still in Studium. The series finale asks if this is a generational shift or stage-of-life artefact.

Three editions, three years, one pattern: Vollerwerb flat at 206k, takeover share stuck at 17%, own-equity financing peaks at 74%. KfW's longitudinal diagnosis.

KfW's 2026 report shows 690,000 German founders in 2025 — but Vollerwerb stayed flat at 206,000. Germany has more side-hustlers, not more startups.

Manager Magazin reports Clark has been marked from €1bn to €613m. What the Allianz markdown says about Europe's unicorn reset — with Startuprad.io archive.

This sub-pillar maps the structural decisions beneath DACH funding rounds. It sits inside Capital & Power in Startups: https://www.startuprad.io/post/capital-power-in-startups-how-dach-money-founders-and-networks-shape-the-ecosystem What this sub-pillar covers Capital architecture beneath the headline funding rounds: family-office anchoring, sovereign and state-backed instruments, cross-border allocation, exit-stage planning, milestone design, and the structural moves that pr

This sub-pillar maps the investor side of DACH capital. It sits inside Capital & Power in Startups: https://www.startuprad.io/post/capital-power-in-startups-how-dach-money-founders-and-networks-shape-the-ecosystem What this sub-pillar covers Family offices, institutional VCs, sovereign and state-backed instruments, growth funds, cross-border allocators, and the operator-investors whose presence on a cap table predicts outcomes. Coverage prioritizes the structural decisions in

Joe Menninger is the founder of Startuprad.io, a leading European startup media platform. With 1,700+ interviews, he connects founders, investors, and policymakers across Europe.

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.

How to reach founders, investors and enterprise decision-makers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland without wasting budget. A structural guide to trust-based market entry in the DACH startup ecosystem.

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? Fridtjof Detzner, co-founder of website builder Jimdo, transitioned from building a tech company to investing in green technology as a VC. Named Investor of the Year at the German Startup Awards 2023, he now backs climate-focused startups across the DACH region. This article is part of

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? Strategic pivoting is the art of changing direction without losing momentum. This founder interview explores how startup leaders make high-stakes business decisions — when to pivot, how to evaluate new opportunities, and what separates successful redirections from costly mistakes in th

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? Thinksurance built a digital platform transforming how commercial insurance is brokered in Germany. This founder interview traces the Frankfurt-based insurtech's rise from startup to a key player in the DACH digital insurance market, combining AI-driven risk assessment with traditional

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? Central Bank Digital Currencies could reshape fintech by enabling programmable, purpose-bound money — funds that can only be spent on specific goods or services. Guest Kimmo explores the innovative use cases for CBDCs and what they mean for European fintech startups and financial infra