Celonis: Germany's Process-Mining Decacorn, Last Primary-Priced at ~$13 Billion (August 2022)

Unicorn Atlas — Edition 5 · Created 2026-07-31 · Last updated 2026-07-31 · Last verified 2026-07-31 · Unicorn status: Active (peak $13.2B, Aug 2022) · Valuation confidence: Medium — last primary round dated; current mark secondary/estimated, attributed

In short. Celonis, the Munich-founded process-mining company, is the DACH ecosystem's highest-valued private software company — and another clean test of the Atlas' central question. Its last primary round valued it at $13.2 billion (Aug 2022); secondary-market estimates since have marked it far lower (around $7.7 billion in mid-2024). Unlike a repriced consumer app, Celonis sits on a large, growing, category-defining software business. It is the case where "the mark came down" and "the company is winning" are both true at once.

Celonis did not stop leading its category. The market simply stopped paying 2022 multiples for it.

This edition sits under Startup Scaling, Growth & Operations and extends the Unicorn Atlas and the Power Structures that shape it from "who qualifies?" to "who still justifies the mark?" For partners who want to reach the founders, investors, and operators tracking these companies, the Unicorn Atlas is sponsorable intelligence inventory — see our B2B case studies and partner with Startuprad.io.

What Celonis actually does

Celonis makes process-mining software — increasingly branded process intelligence. Its platform reads the event logs that enterprise systems (ERP, supply chain, finance) generate and reconstructs how a company's processes actually run, versus how they are supposed to run, so large organisations can find inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and automation opportunities. It effectively created the process-mining category and remains its leader, and has layered AI copilots on top of that data foundation.

How Celonis makes money

Plainly: enterprise software subscriptions, sold to large corporations on annual recurring-revenue contracts, expanding by seat and by use case. Its reported ARR grew from about $400 million (2021) to roughly $771 million (2023, reported and unverified) — a large, high-growth, sticky enterprise-software base, which is exactly why a valuation markdown does not tell the whole story.

The Celonis valuation, dated and in context

Celonis — key facts	Detail (dated, attributed)
Founded	2011, Munich (from TU Munich)
Founders	Alexander Rinke & Bastian Nominacher (co-CEOs); Martin Klenk (CTO)
Peak primary valuation	$13.2B — $1.4B Series D, Aug 2022
Prior valuation	$2.5B, Nov 2019 (Series C)
Current mark (secondary)	~$7.7B, mid-2024 estimate — secondary, not a new round
Revenue (ARR)	~$400M (2021) → ~$771M (2023, reported/unverified)
HQ	Dual: Munich & New York
Investors	83North, Qatar Investment Authority, Activant Capital (among others)
Atlas status	Active unicorn — repriced category leader; DACH's most valuable private software co.

The two valuation lines tell the Atlas story again. The $13.2 billion (Aug 2022) figure is a real, negotiated primary round — a $1.4 billion Series D. The ~$7.7 billion (2024) figure is a secondary-market estimate, not a new primary down round. No fresh primary round has reset the mark since 2022. As the Atlas argues, the absence of a down round is not proof the old number still holds — but a secondary estimate is not an audited price either, and here it sits atop a genuinely large, growing software business.

A category leader can be worth less than its last round and still be winning its market. Valuation, value, and momentum are three different measurements.

A founder-led category creator

Celonis was founded in 2011 in Munich — out of the Technical University of Munich — by Alexander Rinke, Bastian Nominacher, and Martin Klenk. Rinke and Nominacher remain co-CEOs and Klenk chief technology officer, an unusually intact founding team for a company of this scale and age. The company now operates with a dual centre of gravity in Munich and New York, a common pattern for European enterprise-software companies chasing a US customer base and, eventually, a US listing.

What the Atlas records for Celonis

For each company, the Atlas tracks: last disclosed primary valuation; secondary or estimated current valuation; revenue trajectory; profitability or burn signal; strategic investors; leadership continuity; and exit feasibility. On that scorecard Celonis reads: active unicorn; peak primary valuation $13.2 billion (Aug 2022); current secondary mark estimated lower (~$7.7 billion, 2024); ARR in the high hundreds of millions and growing; founder-led with an intact founding team; a credible eventual IPO candidate. It is the DACH ecosystem's most valuable private software company and, on the achieved-versus-current spectrum, a repriced leader rather than a distressed one.

A unicorn list records a moment. An atlas records movement — and Celonis has moved from boom-era darling to repriced category leader without losing the category.

Summary

• Celonis is a process-mining (now "process intelligence") software company founded in 2011 in Munich by Alexander Rinke, Bastian Nominacher, and Martin Klenk.

• Its last primary valuation was $13.2 billion in August 2022, a $1.4 billion Series D; it had been valued at $2.5 billion in November 2019.

• Secondary-market estimates since read lower — around $7.7 billion in mid-2024 — but no new primary down round has been struck; that figure is an estimate, not an audited price.

• Its reported ARR grew from about $400 million (2021) to roughly $771 million (2023, reported and unverified).

• Rinke and Nominacher remain co-CEOs and Klenk CTO — an unusually intact founding team — with the company now dual-based in Munich and New York.

• Celonis is the DACH ecosystem's most valuable private software company and, on the Atlas' achieved-versus-current spectrum, a repriced category leader rather than a distressed unicorn.

FAQ

How much is Celonis worth? Its last primary round valued it at $13.2 billion in August 2022. Secondary-market estimates since read lower — around $7.7 billion in 2024 — but no new primary round has reset the figure.

What does Celonis do? It makes process-mining and process-intelligence software that shows large organisations how their business processes actually run, so they can fix inefficiencies and automate.

Who founded Celonis? Alexander Rinke, Bastian Nominacher, and Martin Klenk, in Munich in 2011. Rinke and Nominacher are co-CEOs; Klenk is CTO.

Has Celonis raised money since 2022? No new primary round has been disclosed since the August 2022 Series D; the company remains private, with only secondary-market activity reported since.

Relations

Entity	Relation	Target	Source / type
Celonis	is part of	Unicorn Atlas (Startuprad.io)	Internal pillar
Celonis	extends	Startup Scaling, Growth & Operations	Internal pillar
Celonis	peak valuation	$13.2B, Aug 2022	Series D ($1.4B)
Celonis	founded by	Alexander Rinke; Bastian Nominacher; Martin Klenk	Founders (2011)
Celonis	current mark	~$7.7B (2024, secondary)	Secondary-market estimate
Celonis	backed by	83North; Qatar Investment Authority; Activant Capital	Investors
Celonis	created category	Process mining / process intelligence	Market

This is Unicorn Atlas by Startuprad.io — the map of the companies, capital, and power behind Europe's billion-dollar startup economy.

About the host

Joern "Joe" Menninger is the founder and host of Startuprad.io — Europe's leading English-language startup media platform covering Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, with more than 1,700 episodes since 2014. Connect on LinkedIn.

Partner with Startuprad.io

The Unicorn Atlas and its editions reach founders, investors, and operators across the European startup ecosystem — built as recurring, sponsorable intelligence inventory. Become a partner · B2B case studies · Partner FAQ · Grow in Europe handbook · partnerships@startuprad.io