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This Month in German Startups (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) — January 2022

Updated: 1 day ago

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?

The January 2022 DACH startup news covers the first month of the new year across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland — setting the stage for what would become a pivotal year of market correction after the record highs of 2021.

This article is part of our coverage of Monthly Startup News from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Executive Summary

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

  • We recorded this new episode on Monday, January 24th, 2022.

  • This is a new year with 365 blank new pages, so let’s write the best story possible.

  • Our highlights: The last year was amazing for the German startup scene, there are now officially 25 unicorns and we feel that there will be more.

  • This show was made possible by Hessen Trade and Invest with their brand Invest-in-Hessen.



New Blog

This Month in German Startups (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) — January 2022 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.


This Month in German Startups — January 2022


We recorded this new episode on Monday, January 24th, 2022. All news not yet included here will be published in our next news episode. There will also be a special episode on Atomico’s State of European Tech 2021 together with Bill, the founder of the IBGR Network, as an audio-only podcast.


This is a new year with 365 blank new pages, so let’s write the best story possible.

Our highlights: The last year was amazing for the German startup scene, there are now officially 25 unicorns and we feel that there will be more. 60 mn for sunfire from the federal government, Go Student’s tutors and students start to critique the company, Tado is looking to IPO via a SPAC. Also, Cherry Ventures had been good in snatching up stakes in unicorns early. Now Cherry raises their 4th fund.


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Our Enablers


Invest-in-Hessen

This show was made possible by Hessen Trade and Invest with their brand Invest-in-Hessen. You can learn more about them here (https://www.invest-in-hessen.com/). We also run a dedicated sub-podcast with all interviews and news in cooperation with them. Find it all here:


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The video will go live on Thursday, January 27th, 2022 at 16.00 CET



The audio podcast will go live at the same time


Top News


25 Unicorns And Counting

Meet Germany’s 25 unicorns, including Frankfurt-based Clark https://buff.ly/3zJVPi8 learn more about Clark here (including two one on one interviews with the founder) https://buff.ly/31NxoUM Two in Austria (Bitpanda, Go Student)


Sunfire

Do you know Sunfire GmbH from Dresden, Germany? Well, you should. They raised 109 mn Euros venture capital — the largest fundraising to date for sustainable hydrogen. Now the federal government adds 60 mn Euro in grants for industrializing the process https://buff.ly/33gN8zR


Go Student faces critique from tutors and students

Online tutoring startup from Austria, Go Student, raises 300 m Euro venture capital at 3 bn Euros (3.4 bn US$) valuation. They inch closer to Austria’s most valuable startup Bitpanda, valued at 3.6 bn Euros ( 4.1 bn US$) https://buff.ly/3qky0KP / Critique https://buff.ly/3AuoEQn


Tado

Munich-based Tado (a smart home heating control, similar to Google’s Nest) wants to IPO via a SPAC deal at a valuation of 450 mn € ( ~510 mn US$), merging with GFJ ESG Acquisition I based in Luxembourg https://buff.ly/3GIAUz0


NeoBroker Wars in GSA Update

  • N26 publishes details for 2020 (in the news we say wrongly that they are 2021 numbers, sorry!): revenue increases to 110 m Euro, 2,9 m active customers https://buff.ly/3GDRVdk

  • N26 plans to add 300 people to their team in Brazil, even though they just declared a “Europe first” strategy https://buff.ly/3nedmKC

  • Former customers of N26 in France sue the neobank. Their account has been closed by N26, they are locked out, BUT they never got their money back. More than 600 are already gathering in a Facebook group https://buff.ly/3nLdhOI

  • New hires at neobroker unicorn Trade Republic. They hire two top bankers for their management team with experience at Citi, Noris, and Deutsche Bank, as well as Erste Group https://buff.ly/3o0MZs3

  • The Austrian fintech unicorn Bitpanda now offers its clients more than 1.000 shares and assets for trading and investing https://buff.ly/3nECLgO Just to put this in perspective: The Lipper Funds Database from Refinitive has more than 350.000 active share classes across 80+ markets. So there is still room to grow

  • New competitors join the market from abroad

  • NeoBank Revolut starts in Germany with their European banking license going head to head with N26 in the German market. A German office is in planning https://buff.ly/3HW0GzV

  • Also, French fintech Qonto raises 486 mn US$, of which 100 mn US$ are intended to expand their business in Germany https://buff.ly/34MiOxR


Cherry Ventures with a new fund

SellerX, Flink, Auto1, Forto, and Infarm are all unicorns, where Cherry Ventures invested. Now they raise closed their 4th fund with 300 mn Euros (340 mn US$) https://buff.ly/3nHAWQ0

Listen Notes (the world’s largest podcast search engine) ranks Startuprad.io as a global Top 0,5% podcast

Housekeeping — Time to Brag

We just put the numbers together, we officially reached more than 5 million investors and entrepreneurs in 2021. We are globally a Top 75 Science Podcast, Top 125 Tech Podcast, and Top 600 Business Podcast.

Listen Notes (the largest podcast search engine) ranks us as a global Top 0,5% podcast.

Player.fm ranks our Startuprad.io podcast, as well as our sub-podcasts Fintech, Blockchain, Startup News, Deep Tech, and Security Sutra in their top 10 recommendations for Entrepreneurship in Germany!

Thank you, our audience for making this possible and for being one of the thousands downloading an episode each week! We are very happy to have you as fans!


Player.fm ranks Startuprad.io’s podcast, as well as our sub-podcasts Fintech, Blockchain, Startup News, Deep Tech, and Security Sutra in their top 10 recommendations for entrepreneurship in Germany

Ecosystem

  • 96.000 open positions in IT in Germany, according to the Bitkom association. Also a significant increase from 2020 https://buff.ly/3zJrTmp

  • European tech 2021: in data https://buff.ly/3teV7bK by Sifted. Just two highlights $113bn raised. 247 $100m+ rounds. 78 new unicorns. You will notice, the data is not matching PitchBook’s or the one from CrunchBase or others …

  • Sharing Economy in Germany: According to research data by Fraunhofer Institutes, the sharing economy could fail in Germany, because many Germans can not imagine sharing e.g. clothing or other daily items https://buff.ly/3GZqwmi


Hubs

Yes, Michael from Saint Anthony, they are a little bit random BUT we want to draw your attention to the fact that more than 80% of startup activity is taking place outside of Berlin. There are many deserving startups, cities, and entrepreneurs who will never get any English coverage, would it not be for us. This is why this section exists.


Frankfurt

  • Seed Funding for Frankfurt-based Splitt App (via press release by email. Reach out as well contact(at)startuprad.io). They help to digitize restaurants and bars with online orders and payment processes. They raise six digit seed funding from Venture-Capital-Fonds Hessen Kapital III (EFRE) and Angels Daniel von Wedel, Alexander von Wedel, Olaf Kempin, Michal Jarocki and MR Beteiligungen.

  • Deutsche Börse (owner of Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Xetra, STOXX, and DAX index families) buys Zug, Switzerland based Crypto Finance AG a marketplace for digital assets only two months after investing in the company https://buff.ly/3sjZLoa

  • Multi banking fintech Finanzguru raises 8 mn Euros venture capital https://buff.ly/3th9wE8

  • COBI.Bike Founder Andreas Gahlert leaves Bosch’s eBike unit, which he joined as an executive with the acquisition of his startup Cobi.bike https://buff.ly/3zOqXgs


Tübingen

  • Former #biotech shooting star Curevac had to ditch their corona vaccine efforts, now they want to make a comeback with a dedicated Omicron vaccine https://buff.ly/3eYBVq5

  • Biotech startup CureVac will start clinical phase 1 trial on corona vaccine of the 2nd generation in Q1 2022 https://buff.ly/3GgoE8t


Leipzig

  • Germany’s Lecturio raises €39.89M to accelerate the growth of its medical and nursing education platform https://buff.ly/3qSDrQ7


Munich

  • Heimkapital raises 300 mn Euros from undisclosed investors to buy shares in homes in Germany https://buff.ly/3KlxR1C


Austria

  • BAMTicketing Vienna-based blockchain ticketing startup raises 1 mn Euros from investors and crowdfunding and wants to take on big clients now https://buff.ly/3A808V2

  • Graz, Austria-based startup Easelink raises 8,3 mn Euros in Series A funding for their Matrix Charging, a fully automated charging integrated into parking spots for electric vehicles https://buff.ly/33XGmj2


Switzerland

  • Swiss army drops #WhatsApp in favor of Threema, since military personnel could still leave traces in WhatsApp https://buff.ly/3q40EQv They are not the only ones. The German Army developed their own messenger, available since November 2020.

  • Swiss digital asset bank Sygnum secures €79.5M funding, eyes global expansion https://buff.ly/3fjsJwM

  • Over CHF 5M raised to advance EH Group Fuel Cell Technology https://buff.ly/3Khy2uS


General News / Companies News Section


Fintechs

  • Berlin-based crowdfunding platform Neufund is shutting down: Why We’re Shutting Our Successful Fundraising Platform https://buff.ly/3fjPIYw

  • German fintech oversight Bafin investigates #crypot startup Cake Defi for potentially offering unlicensed financial services in Germany. They are formally headquartered in Singapore but founded by a German entrepreneur, but without a valid financial services license in Europe https://buff.ly/3Fc1tuE

  • Peter Thiel invested — amongst others — 40 mn US$ in #Berlin-based #insurtech Coya, which is now acquired by French competitor Luko https://buff.ly/3GSN1cA

  • Berlin-based fintech Moss raises 75 mn Euros in Series B, valued at half a billion US$. Investors include Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures, bringing the total investment to more than 150 mn US$ for the corporate credit cards startup https://buff.ly/3tGKEpI

  • VC funds of German billionaire Carsten Maschmeyer and fintech unicorn Personio in #Berlin-based travel expense startup Circula “eight-digits” #VentureCapital https://buff.ly/3qVnGcF


A very very few Venture Capital investment rounds

  • Katjes Greenfood invests in impact startup UNMILK — vegconomist https://buff.ly/3r7zrLI

  • Circularity Capital and Keen Venture Partners, as well as existing investors, invest 80 mn Euro (30 m equity, 50 mn debt) in #Berlin-based #SaaS startup Lendis to be “2023 the leading SaaS solution for hybrid work in Europe” https://buff.ly/3IujSVG


Stay ahead of the curve









What Happened in GSA Startups in January 2022?

January 2022 opened with optimism after a record 2021 that produced 25 German unicorns. Headlines included Dresden-based Sunfire GmbH raising €109 million — the largest VC round in Dresden history — in the green hydrogen space. Austrian online tutoring startup GoStudent raised €300M at a €3 billion valuation but faced growing critique from tutors and students. Munich-based Tado, a smart home heating control company similar to Google's Nest, also featured. Enabled by Hessen Trade and Invest.

Introduction

Recorded January 24th, 2022, this monthly wrap-up captures the DACH ecosystem entering a new year on a high after producing 25 official unicorns in 2021. The episode leads with Sunfire GmbH from Dresden raising €109 million — a record for the city — in the green hydrogen sector. Austrian EdTech unicorn GoStudent raised a massive €300 million at €3 billion valuation, but the show notes that it was facing growing critique from both tutors and students. Munich-based Tado brought smart home heating control to the news. The episode was enabled by Hessen Trade and Invest through their Invest-in-Hessen brand.

Executive Summary

The January 2022 DACH startup wrap-up reflected the ecosystem's strong momentum heading into the new year. Germany counted 25 unicorns from 2021, including Frankfurt-based Clark. Sunfire GmbH made Dresden history with a €109M raise in green hydrogen technology. GoStudent achieved a €3B valuation through a €300M round but was already drawing criticism from its tutor and student communities, foreshadowing growing scrutiny of hyper-funded EdTech. Tado's smart home heating positioning (comparable to Google Nest) represented Munich's contribution. The episode was enabled by Hessen Trade and Invest.

Key Takeaways

  • Germany entered 2022 with 25 official unicorns from 2021, including Frankfurt-based Clark.

  • Sunfire GmbH from Dresden raised €109M — the largest VC round in Dresden history — in green hydrogen technology.

  • Austrian GoStudent raised €300M at €3B valuation but faced growing critique from tutors and students.

  • Munich-based Tado, a smart home heating control (similar to Google Nest), featured in the January news.

  • Episode enabled by Hessen Trade and Invest through Invest-in-Hessen brand.

Atomic Answer

Entities Referenced in This Episode

Startups

  • Sunfire GmbH (Dresden) — Green hydrogen, €109M raised (Dresden record)

  • GoStudent (Austria) — Online tutoring, €300M at €3B valuation, facing critique

  • Tado (Munich) — Smart home heating control, comparable to Google Nest

  • Clark (Frankfurt) — Included in the 25 unicorn count

Organizations

  • Hessen Trade and Invest / Invest-in-Hessen — Episode sponsor

People

  • Jörn "Joe" Menninger — Startuprad.io host

Topics

  • German unicorns 2021, green hydrogen, EdTech critique, smart home, Dresden VC record, Austrian startup

Relationship Map

  • Sunfire GmbH (Dresden) → raised → €109M (largest Dresden VC round ever)

  • GoStudent (Austria) → raised → €300M at €3B → but faced critique

  • Tado (Munich) → smart home heating → comparable to Google Nest

  • Germany → reached → 25 unicorns by end of 2021

Quote Highlights

  • The January 2022 DACH startup news covers the first month of the new year, setting the stage for what would become a pivotal year of market correction after the record highs of 2021.

  • We recorded this new episode on Monday, January 24th, 2022 — all news not yet included will be published in our next news episode.

  • There will also be a special episode on Atomico's State of European Tech report coming soon.

  • January 2022 marked the beginning of a transition year for the German startup ecosystem after unprecedented 2021 funding levels.

Related Episodes on Startuprad.io

Partner with Startuprad.io

Startuprad.io is the leading independent media platform covering startups, venture capital, and innovation across the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) and Europe. We offer B2B partnership opportunities for companies looking to reach startup decision-makers, founders, and investors.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How many unicorns did Germany have at the start of 2022?

Germany entered 2022 with 25 official unicorns from a record-breaking 2021. The count included Frankfurt-based Clark and would continue to grow throughout 2022 before the market correction.

What is Sunfire GmbH?

Sunfire GmbH is a Dresden-based green hydrogen technology company that raised €109 million in January 2022 — the largest venture capital round in Dresden's history. The company works on hydrogen production technology critical for the energy transition.

What is GoStudent?

GoStudent is an Austrian online tutoring startup that raised €300 million at a €3 billion valuation. Despite the impressive funding, the company was already facing growing critique from both tutors and students on its platform at the time of this episode.

Access Europe's Startup and Technology Decision Makers

This article is part of Startuprad.io's structured coverage of the European startup ecosystem, with deep editorial roots in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The platform reaches a highly targeted audience of founders, operators, and investors — over 90% of whom are based in Europe. Companies partner with Startuprad.io to gain visibility within this ecosystem and build credibility where business decisions are made. Explore partnership opportunities.

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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