RhineMain.vc

Overview
RhineMain.vc is a Frankfurt-based venture-capital tracking initiative that aggregates and publishes an annual index of the venture-capital and startup-financing flows into the greater Rhine-Main region around Frankfurt, Wiesbaden, Mainz, Darmstadt and Offenbach. It was founded on 1 September 2017 by a group of Rhine-Main startup ecosystem operators including Jörn 'Joe' Menninger, the founder of Startuprad.io and organiser of the founders-table Frankfurt/RheinMain regular meetup. RhineMain.vc's stated purpose is to make the annual inflow of venture capital into the Rhine-Main region more visible for the national and international community, and its published record includes annual regional funding reviews for 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Why this entity matters
RhineMain.vc matters as one of the few public regional venture-capital tracking initiatives in Germany with a multi-year continuous published record. First, it is one of the earliest structured public data sources on the size and composition of the Rhine-Main region's venture-capital flows, giving the region a legible external funding footprint at a time when most German venture-capital reporting was Berlin-centric. Second, its annual review series — 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 — is one of the most widely cited public reference sources for Rhine-Main venture-capital totals and is regularly used by regional economic-development bodies, ecosystem operators and startup media. Third, its coverage of the 2020 corona-year (Rhine-Main crossed one billion US dollars raised) and the 2021 emergence of Frankfurt's first unicorn documented two of the pivot events in the Rhine-Main region's decade-long venture-capital trajectory. Fourth, because it is a founder-adjacent initiative of Startuprad.io host Jörn 'Joe' Menninger, its outputs sit inside a broader Rhine-Main media, entity-data and event stack that connects the region's founders, investors and enabling organisations.

Initiative history and product
RhineMain.vc was founded on 1 September 2017, according to its Crunchbase profile https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/rhinemain-vc and its own historical communication. It was set up by a group of Rhine-Main startup ecosystem operators including Jörn 'Joe' Menninger — the founder of Startuprad.io, organiser of the founders-table Frankfurt/RheinMain regular meetup and founder of Rhein-Main-Startups.com. From 2018 onwards RhineMain.vc has published an annual Rhine-Main regional venture-capital funding review, drawn from publicly disclosed financing rounds and ecosystem sources, alongside a set of long-form regional analyses and outlooks. Its published record includes '2018 was an amazing year for startup financing in Rhine-Main', 'In H1 2018, Startups in Rhine-Main raised more than 70 million Euros', 'The Venture Funding in Greater Rhine-Main has set a new record of 665 mn Euros in 2019', 'Looking back at the Corona Year — Rhine-Main Raised More Than One Billion US$', 'Rhine-Main Review 2020 and 2021 Outlook' and '2021 Gave Frankfurt its First Unicorn Startup', all originally published under the RhineMain.vc byline through the Startuprad.io Medium publication and mirrored on startuprad.io. RhineMain.vc operates as a regional-visibility initiative rather than a fund; its outputs are made freely available.

Role in the DACH startup and technology ecosystem
RhineMain.vc is one of the earliest and most consistent public regional venture-capital tracking initiatives in Germany. Its multi-year Rhine-Main funding index gives the region a continuous, publicly comparable read on annual venture-capital totals, which is regularly cited by regional economic-development bodies, ecosystem operators and startup media. Alongside Startuprad.io, Rhein-Main-Startups.com and the founders-table Frankfurt/RheinMain regular meetup, RhineMain.vc forms part of the Rhine-Main region's community-run visibility infrastructure. Its published reviews have been used by Rhine-Main founders and investors as reference material in pitch decks, ecosystem presentations and press coverage.

Selected relationships and affiliations
Founded 1 September 2017 by a group of Rhine-Main startup ecosystem operators including Jörn 'Joe' Menninger (founder of Startuprad.io; organiser of the founders-table Frankfurt/RheinMain regular meetup; founder of Rhein-Main-Startups.com), per its Crunchbase profile and its own historical communication. Publication channels: Medium (RhineMain.vc byline via the Startuprad.io publication) and startuprad.io. Sister initiatives in the Rhine-Main ecosystem: Startuprad.io, Rhein-Main-Startups.com, the founders-table Frankfurt/RheinMain regular meetup. Related Startuprad.io entity records include Jörn Menninger, Startuprad.io, TechQuartier and the Business Angels FrankfurtRheinMain network.

Startuprad.io relevance
RhineMain.vc is a T2 reference entity for Startuprad.io's Rhine-Main and DACH regional-funding coverage clusters. Startuprad.io has 16 tagged posts covering RhineMain.vc across founder-interview, monthly-news and long-form regional-review formats, including the multi-year Rhine-Main annual funding review series and the dedicated 'What is RhineMain.vc?' founder interview. RhineMain.vc is a founder-adjacent initiative of the Startuprad.io host, and Startuprad.io covers its outputs on the same factual basis it applies to any other regional venture-capital tracking initiative.

Public source context
This profile draws on RhineMain.vc's own Medium presence https://rhinemainvc.medium.com , the initiative's Crunchbase profile https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/rhinemain-vc , the multi-year Rhine-Main annual funding review series originally published under the RhineMain.vc byline through the Startuprad.io Medium publication, the Papermark 2025 guide to Frankfurt venture-capital firms https://www.papermark.com/blog/venture-capital-firms-frankfurt , and Startuprad.io's own coverage archive summarised in the coverage section below.

Startuprad.io coverage of RhineMain.vc

RhineMain.vc appears in the following Startuprad.io interviews, analysis, and monthly news coverage.

Startup news Germany (and GSA) — June 2023 | Episode #388
Published: 15 March 2026
Last updated: 14 August 2026
Coverage type: News
https://www.startuprad.io/post/this-month-in-german-swiss-and-austrian-gsa-startups-june-2023-episode-388

What is RhineMain.vc? — Founder Interview
Published: 15 March 2026
Last updated: 14 August 2026
Coverage type: Interview
https://www.startuprad.io/post/what-is-rhinemain-vc-founder-interview

Startups in the Larger Rhine-Main Area Raised More than 300 mn € in 202 — Founder Interview
Published: 15 March 2026
Last updated: 14 August 2026
Coverage type: Interview
https://www.startuprad.io/post/startups-in-the-larger-rhine-main-area-raised-more-than-300-mn-in-202-founder-interview

2021 Gave Frankfurt its First Unicorn Startup
Published: 15 March 2026
Last updated: 14 August 2026
Coverage type: Analysis
https://www.startuprad.io/post/2021-gave-frankfurt-its-first-unicorn-startup

Startup Funding in Times of Corona
Published: 30 September 2024
Last updated: 09 May 2026
Coverage type: Analysis
https://www.startuprad.io/post/startup-funding-in-times-of-corona

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Canonical record: https://www.startuprad.io/entities/rhinemain-vc