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This Month in German Startups — Summer Wrap-Up (July, August, September) 2021

Jörn Menninger
Mar 15
16 min read

Updated: Sep 20

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 summer 2021 DACH startup wrap-up covers July through September — the peak months of what would become Germany's biggest startup funding year ever. The roundup captures the unicorn boom, record deal volumes, and ecosystem milestones that defined summer 2021.

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

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

  • Welcome to This Month in German Startups in September 2021 by Startuprad.

  • We recorded this new episode on September 28th.

  • This will be a bit longer recording.

  • The summer was hot here in Germany in terms of startups, but not so much in terms of temperature.



New Blog

This Month in German Startups — Summer Wrap-Up (July, August, September) 2021 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.


Welcome to This Month in German Startups in September 2021 by Startuprad.io — in a news recording with Chris (Back Home in New York) and me Joe, from Frankfurt am Main.


We recorded this new episode on September 28th. Not that there is also another episode of our unicorn tracker, getting published along with this episode. Have a look.


This will be a bit longer recording. Best get a snack and a drink right now.

The summer was hot here in Germany in terms of startups, but not so much in terms of temperature. Since we have the weather out of the way. Let’s talk startups:


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Housekeeping — Time to brag

  • Puh, we put the numbers together and so far, we scored in 58 countries in the podcast charts, for more than 3.900 days and counting. Thank you to our audience. We would have already quit without you!

  • Klint Marketing included Startupradio in the “Best Startup Podcast List — Discover Podcasts For Entrepreneurs [2021]” for thought leadership "Source Link dead 2026-09-14"

  • https://twitter.com/startuprad_io/status/1424738964045508611

  • Radio Station Growth New schedule, starting October 1st 2021. This is a test run, we will add more content on an ongoing basis.

This Video Will Go Live on Thursday, September 30th, 2021 at 17.00 CET



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Top News

Again, there is a special episode of our unicorn tracker coming out with this episode of our news. Have a look there for everything related to unicorns. We cover there the story of Gorillas, the investment of Doordash, Spac Deals and Liliums SPAC IPO, as well as the troubles of N26.

July 29th was a monster funding day for the German startup scene:

German biotech shooting star BioNTech crossed a magic threshold on August 4th. BioNTech surpasses 100 bn US$ market capitalization in NASDAQ trading. This is approx. 3 times the market cap of delivery hero


Wirecard

  • German prosecutor investigate suspicious share dealings of former Wirecard supervisory board member Wirecard: Verdächtige Aktiendeals des Ex-Aufsichtsratchefs Rehnig

  • German media reports on the involvement of EY Law in acquisitions valued at 264 mn €, some of them now appear questionable. The question being asked: Was there a conflict of interest within EY between audit and law? "Source Link dead 2026-09-14"

Three of the transactions are especially questionable: GFG Group, PT Prima Vista Solusi and PT Aprisma. All three companies acquired client portfolios from letterbox companies, shortly before being bought by Wirecard. The majority of the acquisition was made up by these client portfolios.

This is our last coverage of Wirecard as a stand alone topic. In summer the German Parliament Bundestag published its final report on Wirecard, spanning more than 2.000 pages. If you’re curious and can read German, here it is: https://www.bundestag.de/dokumente/textarchiv/2021/kw25-de-3ua-bericht-847030

Fight over listed online shop for pet supplies Zooplus


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Ecosystem

On the VC Market. Is it normal, what is going on here, with the creation of unicorns within 10 months after they were founded? Here are some articles about the market in General


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Hubs

Note: The order of news and cities is only due to the time when we discovered the news. We took the time to allocate almost all startups to hubs.


Frankfurt


Bruchsal (between Heidelberg and Stuttgart)


Wessling (outskirts of Munich)

  • Air-Taxi Startup Lilium Generates 29-Fold Return on Atomico Bet — Bloomberg "Source Link dead 2026-09-14" ⇒ More about Lilium’s IPO in our unicorn tracker


Munich


Augsburg


Hamburg


Düsseldorf


Cologne


Mannheim


Großröhrsdorf (35km outside of Dresden in Sachsen)

  • The startup Skeleton Technologies, a technology leader in energy storage, raises 29 mn € venture capital, amongst the investors is the founder of #Adyen, MM Grupp, Harju Elekter and leading industrial CVCs "Source Link dead 2026-09-13"


Halle (Saale)


Austria


Switzerland


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General News / Companies News Section

Crypto Custody Licenses are approved by German Finance oversight body BaFin

12 deals in 4 months — Chinese Ant Group builds crypto portfolio from Berlin 12 Deals in 4 Monaten – wie die Ant Group von Berlin aus ein Krypto-Portfolio aufbaut | FinanceFWD


Fintech News

Plans have been published for Germany to get its own ocean-based space launch platform in the North Sea by 2023 Deutschland bekommt Weltraumbahnhof – erste Starts vielleicht schon 2023

Biotech: Curevac once hailed as a big German hope for a corona vaccine cancels some of the smaller production contracts Impfstoff-Aus für Curevac: Unternehmen kündigt Partnerverträge

Rocket Internet generates record revenue in 2020 and record write-downs as well (Away, Eatfirst, Helpling, …). EBITA loss is 18 mn Euros in total the group turns a profit mainly from selling stakes and interest income Rocket Internet: Die Geschäftszahlen aus dem Delisting-Jahr 2020 - Business Insider

Startup Vay has a new take on carsharing. If you need a car, it will arrive with a remote driver. No need for parking as well, after you are done with your ride Sharing per Fernsteuerung: Vay lässt Autos zum Kunden bringen - Business Insider


A very few selected investments and exits

Autodoc is a #Berlin-based platform for auto parts. They are reported to prepare for an #IPO. The legal form changed to an AG, which can be listed, the founders moved on to the supervisory board and an experienced manager takes the CEO role Autodoc: Dieses deutsche Start-up eifert dem Milliarden-Erfolg von Auto1 nach - WELT

German listed online furniture store Home24 wants to crack one bn Euro revenues in 2023 Home24 will die Umsatzmilliarde jetzt 2023 erreichen – Exciting Commerce

Discopeter is a robot, from now on delivering burgers in Berlin Discoeat liefert mit Peter Pane Burger per Roboter aus - Business Insider


Stay ahead of the curve



What Happened in German Startups Summer 2021?

The summer of 2021 was scorching for German startups. July 29th was a monster funding day: Berlin-based Contentful raised $175M at a $3B valuation to become a headless CMS unicorn. BioNTech surpassed $100 billion in market capitalization on August 4th, reshuffling Germany's billionaire rankings. The Wirecard scandal continued with prosecutors investigating suspicious share dealings. Startuprad.io had charted in 58 countries for over 3,900 cumulative chart days.

Introduction

Recorded September 28th, 2021, this extended summer wrap-up covers July, August, and September in one longer-than-usual episode. The summer was described as hot for startups but not so much for temperatures. July 29th stood out as a monster funding day — Berlin-based Contentful, a headless CMS platform, raised $175M at a $3B valuation to join the unicorn club. BioNTech crossed the extraordinary $100B market cap threshold on August 4th, fundamentally changing the ranking of Germany's billionaires. The Wirecard scandal continued to generate headlines with prosecutors investigating suspicious share dealings by former supervisory board members. A companion unicorn tracker episode was also released.

Summer 2021 was a peak period for the German startup ecosystem. Contentful's $175M raise at $3B valuation added another unicorn to Berlin's growing roster in the high-demand headless CMS space. BioNTech's crossing of $100B market cap was a historic milestone — its COVID vaccine success reshuffled Germany's billionaire rankings as the main investors saw extraordinary returns. The Wirecard scandal's ongoing investigation continued to serve as a cautionary tale. Startuprad.io itself celebrated charting in 58 countries for 3,900+ cumulative days, demonstrating its growing global reach.

  • July 29th, 2021 was a monster funding day: Contentful raised $175M at $3B valuation, becoming a headless CMS unicorn.

  • BioNTech surpassed $100 billion market cap on August 4th, reshuffling Germany's billionaire rankings.

  • The Wirecard scandal continued with prosecutors investigating suspicious share dealings by former supervisory board members.

  • Startuprad.io celebrated charting in 58 countries for over 3,900 cumulative chart days.

  • This was an extended summer wrap-up covering July, August, and September 2021 in a single longer episode.

Entities Referenced in This Episode

Startups & Companies

  • Contentful (Berlin) — Headless CMS, $175M at $3B valuation, unicorn

  • BioNTech — Crossed $100B market cap (Aug 4, 2021), COVID vaccine maker

  • Wirecard — Ongoing criminal investigation into former supervisory board

People

  • Jörn "Joe" Menninger — Startuprad.io host

Topics

  • Monster funding day, headless CMS unicorn, BioNTech $100B milestone, Wirecard criminal probe, podcast global reach, summer startup news

Relationship Map

  • Contentful (Berlin) → raised $175M → $3B valuation → unicorn (July 29, 2021)

  • BioNTech → crossed $100B market cap → August 4, 2021

  • BioNTech success → reshuffled → Germany's billionaire rankings

  • Wirecard → prosecutors → investigating suspicious share dealings

  • Startuprad.io → charted in → 58 countries, 3,900+ days

Quote Highlights

  • The summer of 2021 was the peak of what would become Germany's biggest startup funding year ever, marked by a unicorn boom and record deals.

  • July 29th was a monster funding day for the German startup scene with multiple major rounds closing on the same day.

  • German biotech shooting star BioNTech crossed a magic threshold, surpassing 100 billion US dollars in market capitalization on NASDAQ.

  • The Wirecard scandal continued to unfold with especially questionable transactions involving letterbox companies and inflated acquisition prices.

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.

Subscribe to the Podcast

What is Contentful?

Contentful is a Berlin-based headless CMS (content management system) that became a unicorn on July 29th, 2021 by raising $175 million at a $3 billion valuation. Headless CMS platforms separate content management from content delivery, enabling companies to publish across multiple channels from a single platform.

When did BioNTech cross $100 billion market cap?

BioNTech surpassed $100 billion in market capitalization on August 4th, 2021, driven by its COVID-19 vaccine success. This milestone reshuffled Germany's billionaire rankings as the company's main investors saw extraordinary wealth creation.

What was the Wirecard scandal?

The Wirecard scandal involved the collapse of the German payment processing company after revelations that €1.9 billion was missing from its accounts. In summer 2021, prosecutors continued investigating suspicious share dealings by former supervisory board members.

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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Quarterly startup roundups like this one showcase the breadth and momentum of the DACH ecosystem. If your company wants to reach founders, investors, and operators across the German-speaking startup landscape, Startuprad.io works with a select number of partners on high-trust visibility formats. Explore partnership options here: Partner with Startuprad.io

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