DACH Startup News April 2021: Founders, Funding and Ecosystem Updates
Updated: 3 hours ago
Everything you need to know about the startup scene in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in April 2021
What Is This About?
April 2021's comprehensive overview of the startup scene in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. This monthly roundup covers key funding rounds, founder news, ecosystem developments, and the accelerating momentum in the DACH startup landscape during a record-breaking spring.
Introduction
April 2021's startup news covers a month of accelerating momentum in the German, Austrian, and Swiss startup scenes. This roundup captures key funding rounds and ecosystem developments during a spring that would set the stage for a record-breaking year.
April 2021 DACH startup roundup covers key funding rounds and ecosystem developments during an accelerating spring that set the stage for a record-breaking year.
Everything you need to know about the startup scene in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in April 2021 Startuprad.io brings you independent coverage of the key developments shaping the startup and venture capital landscape across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
This article is part of our coverage of DACH Startup News January 2022: Founders, Funding and Ecosystem Updates.
Welcome!
Welcome to This Month in German Startups by Startuprad.io — in a transatlantic news recording with Chris in New York City and Joe, from Frankfurt am Main.
Today we are wrapping up April 2021 for you. We talk about SPACs, which have been all the rage, but now they get to work. We bring you news about potential SPAC deals with Solarisbank, Infarm, Lilium, and Volocopter. The first three eying a valuation of more than one billion. Also, we have a Gorilla Unicorn.
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Top News
Unicorn Banking from Berlin via SPAC
„Banking as a Service“ specialist, the Berlin-based Solarisbank, is looking for an investment bank to take her public via a SPAC deal. They are looking for a valuation beyond 1 bn € (1.2 bn US$) Deutsches Fintech prüft SPAC-Börsengang zu Milliardenbewertung Note that they raised a Series C round in June 2020 with a valuation of 360 mn US$ (300 m €). This is compared to Commerzbank (Germany’s No 2 as listed Banks) with a market cap of 7,81 bn US$ as of April 27th, but they had 47.718 employees globally as of end of 2020, compared with 230+ for Solaris.
Unicorn Farming from Berlin via SPAC
The Berlin-based vertical farming startup Infarm hired Goldman Sachs to get them listed in a SPAC deal valuing the company at 1 bn US$. The startup raised 100 mn US$ from investors like Atomico and Skype founder Zennström Infarm soll Spac-Börsengang zu Milliarden-Bewertung planen
Flying SPAC with Volocopter?
Air taxi startup Volocopter eyes fresh capital, SPAC an option: CEO Air taxi startup Volocopter eyes fresh capital, SPAC an option: CEO | Reuters
Lilium is Already There
Aviation start-up Lilium to go public through SPAC deal with ex-GM executive, tripling the valuation of the company to 3.3bn US$ Aviation firm Lilium to go public through SPAC deal with ex-GM exec
About You to Surpasses 1 bn in Revenue
Online fashion retailer “About You” surpasses 1 bn € revenue (+57%) in FY 2020 About You knackt die Umsatzmilliarde bei 1,17 Mrd. € (+57%) – Exciting Commerce
Related: Hamburg-based fashion online retailer “About You” stops potential merger with Zalando and prepares for IPO About You bereitet Börsengang vor und kippt Fusionspläne mit Zalando - Business Insider
German Nest Competitor Tado is Looking for a NASDAQ IPO
Tado is a German competitor of Google’s Nest. They raised more than 100 mn US$ VC money from investors like Siemens, Amazon, Total, or Eon. Now they are considering an IPO at NASDAQ Tado nimmt möglichen US-Börsengang ins Visier
Unicorn Gorilla!
“Gorillas, the on-demand grocery delivery startup, raises $290M and ‘surpasses’ $1B valuation” Gorillas, the on-demand grocery delivery startup, raises $290M and 'surpasses' $1B valuation | TechCrunch
Wirecard
We keep you updated, just a small selection of news here.
Keep in mind there is still an investigative committee ongoing.
Chancellor Merkel had to appear in front of the investigative committee for Wirecard. We did not win any new insights, she only admitted to lobbying for Wirecard in China, but did not know about them cooking their books: https://www.bundestag.de/ausschuesse/untersuchungsausschuesse/3untersuchungsausschuss
Finch Capital’s Nomu Pay sweeps up Wirecard Apac assets Finch Capital's Nomu Pay sweeps up Wirecard Apac assets
Ecosystem
We already had news that the largest fintechs are raising more money than the others, now we have confirmation that this held true in 2020 for all German startups as well.
Top 100 Tech Startups in Germany raised in 2020 more money than in 2019, despite corona Technologie-Startups in Deutschland sammeln trotz Corona-Krise mehr Geld ein - onlinemarktplatz.de
Blockchain technology: Bundesbank confirms first successful trades of German government bonds with large international banks on blockchain Bundesbank meldet Testerfolg bei elektronischer Wertpapierabwicklung
Fintechs in Europe raised 4,4 bn Euro (5.2 bn US$) according to BlackFin Tech 4,4 Milliarden Euro in drei Monaten – europäische Fintechs im Funding-Fieber | FinanceFWD
Hubs
Note: The order of news and cities is only due to the time when we discovered the news.
Frankfurt
Wingcopter and All Nippon Airways partner to jointly develop drone delivery infrastructure Wingcopter and All Nippon Airways partner to jointly develop drone delivery infrastructure - YouTube Learn more here in our interview: https://www.startuprad.io/blog/meet-wingcopter-the-startup-that-develops-drones-for-ups
Düsseldorf
Citigroup and UK-based asset manager Chenavari invest 250 mn € (297 m US$) in Düsseldorf-based finance plattform Auxmoney, for credits directly from the platform 250 Millionen Euro für neue Kredite: Auxmoney gewinnt weitere finanzstarke Partner
Munich
Munich-based fintech Global Savings Group buys Berlin-based loyalty app Shoop — Munich Startup Global Savings Group übernimmt Shoop | Munich Startup Platform
Austria
Graz in Austria opens new startup center for 12 m euros, suggestively named Unicorn Unicorn: In Graz eröffnet neues Startup-Zentrum für 12 Millionen Euro
Switzerland
Zürich-based Beekeeper acquires Lua to tackle trillion-dollar opportunity in the frontline workforce productivity and collaboration space Finanznachrichten | Börsennews | finanzen.at
The Video Interview is set to go live on Thursday, April 29th, 2021 at 17.00 CET (Frankfurt / Paris / Zürich / Milano)
The Audio Interview Podcast
The Audio Podcast will be published at the same time.
Companies
More on SPACs
The ticker symbol $RKTAU is the SPAC made by Berlin-based Rocket Internet. They will be traded on NASDAQ. The IPO volume could reach up to 287.5 mn US$ Article: Rocket Internet bringt heute seinen Spac an die Wall Street NASDAQ Overview | Nasdaq
Germany-based SPAC Tio Tech A prices $300M IPO Germany-based SPAC TiO Tech A prices $300M IPO | Seeking Alpha
Not Really Good, but Current Reality in eMobility
The e-mobility is not yet working in Europe. A retired couple wanted to drive with an ID3 (an all electric VW) from Freiburg (Germany) to Montpellier (France). Normal trip time 7,5 hours. It took them 26 due to problems with apps, charging, and payments — it’s maybe one extreme example, but with its emphasis on a specific problem, it shows a bigger frame for reporting about the future of mobility Chaos-Trip im ID.3: Rentner-Paar braucht 26 Stunden zum Ferienhaus - Business Insider
Fintech News
Berlin-based payment terminal provider Sumup raises 750 m Euros Venture Debt from investors like Bain Capital & Goldman Sachs for further expansion. IPO is at least 3 years down the road and SPAC out of question Sumup erhält Kredit über 750 Millionen Euro | FinanceFWD
AllianzX, the VC arm of German insurance giant Allianz is rumored to have invested 100 mn US$ in the 600 mn US$ investment round with Stripe Stripes Rekordfinanzierung – Allianz soll rund 100 Millionen Dollar investiert haben | FinanceFWD
Adler App — is the robo advisor of Vanguard in Germany. The blog Finance Forward reports BCG helped with building it (original source no longer available)
Meet the fast-growing N26 ‘mafia’: the employees turned entrepreneurs | Sifted Meet the fast-growing N26 ‘mafia’: the employees turned founders | Sifted
Wefox brings in Goldman Sachs for funding push | Sifted Wefox brings in Goldman Sachs for funding push | Sifted
Single Company News
Founders of Berlin-based Kolibri games studio leaving the company, after already selling it to Ubisoft in 2020 Die Kolibri-Gründer verlassen ihr erfolgreiches Startup - Business Insider
Otto, a former catalog retailer, and No2 in German eCommerce increased revenue in 2020 by 30%, mostly driven by online shopping Otto steigert Umsatz um 30 Prozent im Corona-Jahr
Mario Götze (yes, the football player) invests in Berlin-based Plusdental — a company producing dental splints. The company wants to become a unicorn Mario Götze investiert in Berliner Zahnschienen-Startup Plusdental - Business Insider
The billionaire twin investors behind BioNTech’s success have set their sight on a new startup “Münchner Leukämielabor” a startup focusing on treating (original source no longer available)
Learn more about them in our blog post:
All Other News
ECB: New digital Euro will be anonymous EZB über digitalen Euro: Anonymität und Schutz der Privatsphäre | FAZ
Stay ahead of the curve
The a16z Marketplace 100: 2021 — Andreessen Horowitz The Marketplace 100 | Andreessen Horowitz
Zoom launches $100M Zoom Apps investment fund — TechCrunch Zoom launches $100M Zoom Apps investment fund | TechCrunch
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The Interviewer
This interview was conducted by Jörn “Joe” Menninger, startup scout, founder, and host of Startuprad.io. Reach out to him:
„Banking as a Service“ specialist, the Berlin-based Solarisbank, is looking for an investment bank to take her public via a SPAC deal.
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.
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What are the key facts about DACH Startup News April 2021:?
Everything you need to know about the startup scene in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in April 2021
How does this affect the German startup ecosystem?
This article is part of our coverage of DACH Startup News January 2022: Founders, Funding and Ecosystem Updates.
What are the latest startup funding trends in the DACH region?
Startuprad.io tracks venture capital and startup funding across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Explore our pillar coverage pages for the latest data.
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.
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This article is part of Startuprad.io’s ongoing coverage of monthly DACH startup news.
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