Samsung Buys IP of German Startup Cynora for 300 m $ — All Employees Are Fired

Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

This article is part of our coverage of Startuprad.io Knowledge Graph: The DACH Startup Ecosystem.

Executive Summary

• This blog post first appeared first on old medium publication (https://medium.

• The IP of Cynora GmbH was sold to Samsung at 300 m US$, as reported by Bloomberg.

• Adding some information from the reputable and usually well-informed German Tech Blog Golem, the deal is just an asset deal.

• Samsung and LG invested 25 m Euros in September 2017 in the company as part of a Series B funding.

Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

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Samsung Buys IP of German Startup Cynora for 300 m $ — All Employees Are Fired Startuprad.io brings you independent coverage of the key developments shaping the startup and venture capital landscape across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

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.

The IP of Cynora GmbH was sold to Samsung at 300 m US$, as reported by Bloomberg. Cynora was founded 2013 in Bruchsal, Germany, and working in improving the blue color in OLED displays with TADF (thermally activated delayed fluorescence) technology.

Adding some information from the reputable and usually well-informed German Tech Blog Golem, the deal is just an asset deal. This means that Samsung only buys the IP and all employees are let go. The notices to the ~120 employees have been made in the last weeks, during the preparations of the transaction. The founder did not respond to contact attempts by Golem.

Samsung and LG invested 25 m Euros in September 2017 in the company as part of a Series B funding. In total, the company raised more than 60 m US$ according to CrunchBase. Other investors include Wecken & Cie, MiG, DBOLED, KfW, SRF Partners Group, and the Korean SBI Cross-Border Advantage fund.

Key Takeaways

• The IP of Cynora GmbH was sold to Samsung at 300 m US$, as reported by Bloomberg.

• This article covers a significant development in the DACH startup and venture capital ecosystem.

• The DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) continues to be one of Europe's most dynamic startup markets.

Frequently Asked Questions

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This article is part of our coverage of Startuprad.io Knowledge Graph: The DACH Startup Ecosystem.

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This article is part of our coverage of Startuprad.io Knowledge Graph: The DACH Startup Ecosystem.

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About the Host

Joern "Joe" Menninger is the host of the Startuprad.io podcast and covers founders, investors, and policy developments across the DACH startup ecosystem. Through more than 1,300 interviews and nearly a decade of reporting, he documents the evolution of the European startup landscape. Follow Joern on LinkedIn.