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This Month in German, Swiss, and Austrian (GSA) Startups — March 2024 | German Startup News

Updated: Jun 11


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New Blog

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!

Welcome to our March 2024 wrap-up with vital news from the startup and tech entrepreneurship scenes in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in 30 minutes or less 🙂.


Our startup news is recorded with Chris in New York City and Joe in Frankfurt. Recording date is March 25th 2024 and all news not included will be in our next news to be released on April 25th 2024.


Happy Easter!

Today we publish on Holy Thursday (Gründonnerstag) in Germany. Note that the Friday before and Monday after Easter are public holidays. Many people will take off around the holidays. So don’t expect your calls to be returned promptly during this time.


A Seismic Shift in the Regional Startup Scene


You are witnessing a seismic shift in the GSA startup scene with us here and today. The headlines of our startup news used to be dominated by fintech funding. Now we have more than 7 billion € investments in green startups (battery, renewable energy) vs. “only” around 150 million in fintech funding in different forms. This is surely a foretaste of what’s to come.


German Startup News Highlights:

The European energy landscape is witnessing significant developments with key investments across sectors.

Northvolt’s Gigafactory in Northern Germany, backed by €900 million in subsidies and a €4.5 billion investment, aims to produce 1 million car batteries annually, driving electric vehicle adoption and job creation.

Enpal secured €1.1 billion in refinancing commitments, while Sunfire raised over €500 million, bolstering Europe’s green hydrogen economy.

ENVIRIA secured $200 million in capital from BlackRock, signaling confidence in the solar sector.

Solaris Bank secured €96 million in funding but faced a €6.5 million fine from BaFin, reflecting fintech regulatory challenges.

Magic gained traction with open AI’s and Tesla’s former Andrej Karpathy as investor, and Bitpanda established a €50 million VC fund for blockchain startups. However, the startup community grapples with stress, with nearly half considering quitting, underscoring the toll of rapid innovation.


Let’s talk startups:


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Our Enablers


This recording is supported by HTAI and the Enterprise Europe Network Hessen

This recording was made possible by HTAI and the Enterprise Europe Network Hessen. These organizations have made tremendous contributions to helping startup businesses succeed and thrive, providing a range of services from helping to find grants to ongoing partnerships. By taking advantage of these resources, startup companies can network and develop innovative strategies for success on the international stage. The dedicated support of HTAI and the Enterprise Europe Network Hessen is paramount in providing startup businesses with the tools for lasting success. Look for our dedicated sub-podcast in partnership with them: Tech Startups Germany on our https://linktr.ee/startupradio



The best way to identify investors and cooperation partners for early-stage startups. Sign up for early access here: https://startupraven.com/


Top News


Northvolt Groundbreaking Ceremony for their Gigafactory

Starts with the construction of their Gigafactory in the North of Germany. Even Chancellor Scholz attended the groundbreaking ceremony. 900 M € subsidies will be invested, 700 M from the state of Schleswig-Holstein and 200 M guaranteed. The Swedish company wants to produce up to 1 million car batteries a year, for electric vehicles, employing up to 3.000 people. The company itself will invest 4,5 BN Euros (4.88 BN US$). https://buff.ly/494IMrO


Enpal Secures 1.1 BN €

Enpal secures € 1.1 billion in refinancing commitments for German residential solar and heat pump securitizations https://buff.ly/492MKRD


Sunfire Raises 500 M € in Funding

Sunfire, a Dresden, Germany-based electrolyzer manufacturer, secured more than EUR 500m in funding. https://buff.ly/4a4vlti

From another source: Sunfire raises over €500M to boost European’s green hydrogen economy https://buff.ly/49749Zt


200 M Euros for Frankfurt-based ENVIRIA

Germany’s Leading Commercial and Industrial Solar Company — Secures Capital Commitment of Over USD 200 Million From BlackRock https://buff.ly/4cvaKzO

From another source: German renewables firm Enviria secures $200 mln Blackrock capital commitment https://buff.ly/4cu4rwE


Good News and Bad News for Solaris Bank


Solaris Raises €96M in Funding https://buff.ly/3ITlVVi The funding was led by Softbank International and other existing investors. The funding is for the expansion of the ADAC credit card program. ADAC is Germany’s and Europe’s largest automobile association, with more than 21 M members, best known for their yellow cars providing roadside assistance.

Bafin fines German fintech Solaris SE €6.5M for late filing systematic anti money laundry reports https://buff.ly/3Pwtm8K Direkt to BaFin: https://buff.ly/3Vyyugp


Austrian AI Startup Magic Gets Famous Investor on Board


Andrej Karpathy was a founding member of OpenAI, and head of AI for Tesla. He left there to focus on other projects. One of them seems to invest on the Vienna-based AI startup Magic https://buff.ly/3PwYntq


Bitpanda Set Up their Own VC Fund


Bitpanda announce that they have set up their own first VC fund together with other investors totalling 50 M Euros, to invest in 250k — 2M in startups in the digital assets, blockchain and crypto space: https://buff.ly/49V8j85

Bitpanda also liquidates a subsidiary: BP 22 Pfandleihe GmbH, their pawn shop: https://buff.ly/3veWGdd


Founders are Feeling the Stress


49% of founders say they’re considering quitting their startup this year https://buff.ly/4aq1UBG Startup founders tell Sifted they’re “overworked”, “exhausted” and “broken”


Housekeeping & Time to Brag — Celebrating one Million Inventory in a Quarter!


Starturpad.io has reached a massive milestone. We have surpassed more than 1 Million inventory in Q4 2023. Thank you to all of you who made this possible! Our hosting service changed their setup and enabled us to look up all the statistics and it turned out we had 1.071.970 downloads in October, November, and December last year. It really feels AMAZING!


Looking to Cooperate With Us?


Ecosystem


Global


Europe

  • UnternehmerTUM tops ranking of Europe’s leading startup hubs https://buff.ly/43sSB1w Learn more in our interview:

  • Top 100 Next Unicorns: 14 “Soonicorns” on the list are from Germany https://buff.ly/3x7tKUW 22 from the UK, and France has 21 on the list, Austria only one. In total 16 countries had entries on the list. Switzerland was not mentioned.

From Germany, those startups are:


Germany

  • Good news on the economic indicators: ifo Business Climate Index rises (March 2024): Sentiment in German companies has improved noticeably https://buff.ly/4csZlAz

  • Are you curious about what kind of startups the investors are funding in Berlin? According to a Deal Room analysis, startups are receiving investments, from largest to smallest: Energy, Fintech, Food, Health, Real Estate, Marketing, Travel and more … https://buff.ly/4a433iy

  • Invest subsidy: German Ministry of Economic Affairs cuts support for Business Angels https://buff.ly/3PxjSKA

  • Deputy Chancellor Robert Habeck dissolves Startup Advisory Board, sparking criticism from the opposition https://buff.ly/3TvruhD


Hubs

Here we want to highlight some hidden gems and cities of general startup interest.


Frankfurt — Rhein/Main


Heidelberg

  • Biotech Affimed (NASDAQ listed) is on the hunt for a new CEO to navigate through crucial times. With significant clinical trial data on the horizon, the recent departure of the CEO and a 1:10 stock split, the journey ahead is filled with anticipation. Stay tuned for updates: https://buff.ly/3x6c3oV


Cologne


Stuttgart

  • Assemblio, a Stuttgart, Germany-based provider of a software platform to plan assembly and generate automatic assistance systems for production, raised €2.1M in Seed funding. https://buff.ly/3Twabgs


Ostfildern (Just 10 KM South-East of Stuttgart)

  • ProteinDistillery, an Ostfildern, Germany-based plant-based food company, raised €15M in Seed funding. https://buff.ly/4cpI9fn


Hamburg


Osnabrück


Essen

  • Greenlyte Carbon Technologies, an Essen, Germany-based direct air capture startup, raised €10.5M in Pre-Series A funding. https://buff.ly/3vpr9oY


Austria

  • Fretello, the startup, undergoes restructuring with Berthold Baurek-Karlic stepping in as the new Interim CEO https://buff.ly/3TKHuOk

  • Keep in mind the news from Magic and Bitpanda from before.

  • Zizoo: Vienna-based yacht scaleup rescued through acquisition after bankruptcy https://buff.ly/499WDgx

  • Solas Capital commits up to 30 million euros in energy projects for the scale-up neeom https://buff.ly/43sIiue


Switzerland

  • Edtech Avallain acquires AI toolset TeacherMatic https://buff.ly/4cmXQ6O

  • Biotech food startup Cultivated Biosciences bags €4.6M to improve dairy-free products: Here’s how — BeBeez International https://buff.ly/3INZ2mh

  • Aktiia, a Neuchâtel, Switzerland-based HealthTech company providing optical blood pressure monitoring devices, raised USD 30M in funding https://buff.ly/3IQ8MMW

  • Validation Cloud, a Zug, Switzerland-based Web3 technology company, raised $5.8M in Inaugural funding https://buff.ly/3VBk0wa

  • Argá Medtech, a Lausanne, Switzerland-based company providing a cardiac ablation system for treating cardiac arrhythmias, raised €54M in Series B funding https://buff.ly/3IOXfxf

  • Dutch revenue-based financing startup Levenue acquires Zurich fintech MidFunder https://buff.ly/3x3xqXD


General News / Tech News / Companies News Section

New Funds, in case you are looking for money (also only a selection):

  • Verdane, an Oslo, Norway-based growth investment firm, closed Verdane Edda III, at €1.1 Billion. Verdane will continue to invest thematically in European companies that help digitize and decarbonize the economy https://buff.ly/48wJKNm

  • Berlin-based World Fund will provide €300M to climate tech founders over the next few years, making its fund the largest climate-dedicated pool the continent has seen yet. https://buff.ly/3Tv0ezP

  • Alpine Space Ventures secured a whopping €10 million from NATO’s Innovation Fund, adding to their impressive €60 million from EIF last year. Learn more: https://buff.ly/3PABNQC

  • Berlin’s Web3 First Time Fund secures over €10 million in Second-Closing: A strong signal for the new content-driven VC generation https://buff.ly/3IOLWoT


Fintech News

  • Payment card: Trade Republic issues cease and desist declaration and adjusts advertising, after being sued by a consumer advocate group (Verbraucherzentrale) https://buff.ly/4a9g4az

  • WeFox CEO Julian Teicke steps down from his position https://buff.ly/496JMvp

  • Credit platform Smava — known for their annoying TV commercials — is looking for a buyer: https://buff.ly/3IRzFA9


General News


Schumpeters Schöpferische Zerstörung ⇒ Creative Destruction Still Ongoing:

  • Not really an insolvency, but still bad news and related to the insolvency from Sono Motors: Prosecutors investigate Sono Motors’ solar car pioneers over suspicion of deceiving state grants https://buff.ly/3TXxFNf

  • Finabro had to file for insolvency. No investor could be found and so the company will be liquidated https://buff.ly/3vpqVhw

  • ExpressSteuer: All employees now forced to leave — Founder resurfaces for the first time since filing for insolvency https://buff.ly/3TRz5sv

  • Thrasio started out as an Amazon shop aggregator, but now has to file for insolvency https://buff.ly/3Tsl1nF

  • Twinner, an automotive startup from Halle raised 92 M € in total, but has to shut down: https://buff.ly/3IV0nrn

  • Berlin based online advertising company Plista surprised all by shutting down. employees have been called in an all hands meeting and told the company will shut down immediately: https://buff.ly/3PALMW6


End on a High Note: Successful Fundraisings and Exits:

Keep in mind this is a small selection. The news here and their total value show how resilient the startup scene is. We included only selected fundraisings above 5 million Euros or USD. This month, there were so many announcements that we could not include ALL funds raised. We will only bring you highlights here.

  • Tubulis, a Munich, Germany-based oncology company, closed an upsized €128m ($138.8m) Series B2 financing https://buff.ly/3IMMCuO

  • Dryad Networks, a Berlin, Germany-based ultra-early wildfire detection technology company, announced the initial closing of €5.6M in convertible financing, with a total round size of up to €10M https://buff.ly/3PxI5k2

  • Daato secures 5 million euros in seed financing round https://buff.ly/490UK5K

  • Razor Group, a Berlin, Germany-based technology-driven e-commerce company, raised an undisclosed amount in Series D funding. https://buff.ly/4arGzIe

We will be back on April 25th with the next news episode and the next regular episode will go live next week.

Happy Easter to all of you who celebrate it! Happy Eid, only a few days left.



🧠 Looking for the bigger picture?

 

Dive deeper into this year’s most important developments across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in our full analysis: DACH Startup Ecosystem 2024: Trends, Funding & Breakthroughs – https://www.startuprad.io/post/dach-startup-ecosystem-2024-trends-funding-breakthroughs. It’s your go-to resource for startup trends, VC activity, and tech insights across the DACH region.

About the Author:

 

Jörn “Joe” Menninger is the founder and host of Startuprad.io -- one of Europe’s top startup podcasts that scored as a global Top 20 Podcast in Entrepreneurship. He’s been featured in Forbes, Tech.eu, Geektime, and more for his insights into startups, venture capital, and innovation. With over 15 years of experience in management consulting, digital strategy, and startup scouting, Joe works at the intersection of tech, entrepreneurship, and business transformation—helping founders, investors, and corporates turn bold ideas into real-world impact.

Follow his work on LinkedIn


Stay Ahead of the Curve


Feedback

We are always looking for ways to make the show better. Please take this opportunity and share your feedback with us! We would love to hear from YOU!!!


The Hosts


The news are co-hosted by Jörn “Joe” Menninger, startup scout, founder, and host of Startuprad.io. And Christian “Chris’ ‘ Fahrenbach, co-founder Startuprad.io, freelance reporter, lecturer, author and blogger . Reach out to them:




Chris on LinkedIn



Automated Transcript


Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:00:20]:

Hello, and welcome, everybody. This is Joe from StartupRadio dot o bringing you another episode in this month in German, Swiss, and Austrian Startupradio for March 2024. I would like to welcome my cohost and cofounder, Chris, from New York City. As always, how are you doing, Chris?


Christian "Chris" Fahrenbach | Co-Founder Startuprad.io [00:00:38]:

I'm very well. Sun is shining, but also there's construction in front of my building. It started at 7 AM even on a Sunday yesterday, but we will get through it.


Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:00:49]:

We'll get through it. Totally. As always, we try to get you a news wrap up of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland Startupradio technology news in 30 minutes or less. And our recording date is March 25th, and our next news will be published on April 25th. Happy Easter. The publication day is holy Thursday or as we call it in Germany, kuhldonastag. The Friday before Easter and the Monday after Easter are public holidays, so shops will be closed. And many people will take off either the week before or after easel Easter, so don't expect the people to get back to you in form of emails or calls pretty soon.


Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:01:33]:

We do have pretty big news. We do believe we see a seismic shift in the regional start up scene. You are witnessing a seismic shift in the GSA start up scene with us here and today. The headlines of our start up news used to be dominated by Fintech fundings. Now we have more than €7,000,000,000. Yes. 1,000,000,000 with a b, investments in green tech startups like battery and renewable energy versus only, and I put this in air quotes, of a 150,000,000 in Fintech funding in different forms. So this is surely a foretaste of what's to come.


Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:02:14]:

Actually, getting pretty excited thinking about it. I'll highlight. The European energy landscape is witnessing significant development with key investments across sectors. Northwell Gigafactory in Northern Germany, backed by 900,000,000 in subsidies and 4,500,000,000, yes, with a b, aims to produce 1,000,000 car batteries annually, driving electric vehicle adoption and job creation. NPower secures 1,100,000,000 refinancing commitments, while Sunfire raises over 500,000,000 bolstering Europe's green hydrogen economy. Enveria secures 200,000,000 in capital from BlackRock, signaling confidence in the solar sector. Solaris Bank secures 96 1,000,000 in funding but faces 6,500,000 fines from BaFin, reflecting Fintech Regulatory Challenges. And Magic, an AI startup from Austria, gained faction with OpenAI's and Tesla's former Andrei Karpovski as investor, BigPanda establishes a 50,000,000,000 VC fund for blockchain startups, of course.


Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:03:34]:

However, the Startupradio community grapples with stress with nearly half considering quitting, underscoring the toll of rapid innovation. As we said, our podcast will go live audio and video on March 28th. If you are a member of our YouTube channel, you can get early access. We will be available on all the usual suspects, including our Internet radio station Startupradio, and you can get our content straight into your inbox or cell phone with our Substack newsletter or our Telegram radio Startupradio channel. You can find all the channels, all the LinkedIns. Everything we have there, including our TikTok account on linkfeeforward/startupradio, link in the show notes. Let's get to our enablers. This recording is supported by Essen Trade and Invest and the Enterprise Europe Network.


Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:04:30]:

This recording was made possible by HTAI and Enterprise Europe Network, Essen. These organizations have made tremendous contributions to helping start up businesses succeed and thrive, providing a range of services from helping to find grants to ongoing partnerships. By taking advantage of these resources, start up companies can network and develop innovative strategies for success on the international stage. The dedicated support of HTII and the Enterprise in Europe Network, Hessen, is paramount in providing StartupRadio businesses with the tools for lasting success. Look for our dedicated sub podcast in partnership with them, Tech Startups Germany, or, again, on our linktree, and, of course, Startupradio, the best way to identify investors and corporation partners for early stage StartupRadio up for early access here. And Menninger over to Chris for the top news.


Christian "Chris" Fahrenbach | Co-Founder Startuprad.io [00:05:29]:

Yes. Exactly. And, I mean, the in headline form, you were already talking about them. Probably the biggest and even the freshest story right of today is the one about North wall Vault. They had their groundbreaking ceremony for a Gigafactory of, electrical batteries in Germany, and that whole topic is so important in German politics that even the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, himself attended attended the groundbreaking ceremony today. Germany was fighting over this factory of Nordwold with, the US, but in the end, Germany won out because the German government secured more subsidies for it. €900,000,000, in subsidies will will be invested, 700,000,000 coming from the state of Schlisselstheim, which is the northernmost state in Germany and 200,000,000 guaranteed. It is traditionally a region where there's not a lot of high-tech Joe, so everyone there is also very keen on it.


Christian "Chris" Fahrenbach | Co-Founder Startuprad.io [00:06:31]:

But I think it's still, nevertheless, an interesting decision, especially given the fact that, for example, the Giga factory or in close to Berlin with Tesla has issues, and there's a huge discussion going on. So the Swedish company wants to produce up to 1,000,000 car batteries a year there. For electric vehicles, they want to employ up to 3,000 people that they say, and the company itself wants to invest an additional €4,500,000,000 that's around 49 €4,900,000,000 US dollars right now. Then, other top stories right now. NPAAL secures €1,100,000,000 That's in refinancing commitments for a German residential solar and heat pump securitizations. Sun Fire raises €500,000,000 in funding. They are based in Dresden and are an electrolyzer manufacturer. They got 500,000,000 in funding, and, we got 2 different sources about this.


Christian "Chris" Fahrenbach | Co-Founder Startuprad.io [00:07:30]:

And their goal is basically to boost European's green hydrogen economy. Enviria, in your hometown Frankfurt, is one of Germany's leading commercial and industrial solar companies as well. They secured a capital commitment of over $200,000,000 from BlackRock, so very famous investor there. We have also several sources about this if you are interested in some in-depth information in our show notes. There is we found news about Zulares Bank, good and bad news, to be, honest. Zulares raised €96,000,000 in funding, led by SoftBank International and other existing vendor investors. Fundings for the expansion of the ADAC credit card program or, as the Germans obviously say, ADAC. German ADAC in Germany is what triple a is in the US.


Christian "Chris" Fahrenbach | Co-Founder Startuprad.io [00:08:29]:

It's Germany's and Europe's largest automobile association. They have more than 21,000,000 members. They are best known for yellow cars providing roadside assistance. And, fun fact also is that their membership magazine is actually the most printed magazine say it again.


Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:08:56]:

Still physically printed.


Christian "Chris" Fahrenbach | Co-Founder Startuprad.io [00:08:58]:

Still physically printed. So it is the most it is the biggest magazine. It's also probably the most unread magazine in Germany. I have no idea. And a BaFin but also BaFin finds German Fintechs allows €6,500,000 for late filing, systematic anti money laundry, reports, and, we have more articles about that in our show notes as well. Looking at Austria, where, the AI Startupradio gets a famous investor on board, namely Andre Capati, one of the founding members of OpenAI and head of AI for Tesla. He left there to focus on other projects, and one now seems to be, the investment in the Vienna based AI StartupRadio. Bitpanda set up its own VC fund.


Christian "Chris" Fahrenbach | Co-Founder Startuprad.io [00:09:52]:

They announced that they have set their own first VC fund together with other investors totaling €50,000,000 to invest around €250,000 to €2,000,000 in start ups in the digital assets, blockchain, and crypto space. Bitf Panda also liquidated a subsidiary, Basically, they're pawnshop. Pawn, p a w n.


Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:10:19]:

Just just to make sure. Right?


Christian "Chris" Fahrenbach | Co-Founder Startuprad.io [00:10:21]:

Yeah. Founders are feeling stressed. That's probably I mean, it's not a money, issue, but we found this interesting survey where 49% of founders said that they are considering quitting their start up this year because they tell Ziff that they Joe overworked, exhausted and just plain broken. You know what's not broken? Our numbers.


Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:10:47]:

Ah, housekeeping and time to brag. Yes. We reached a massive milestone. Thanks to all the people out here. We have surpassed more than 1,000,000 confirmed downloads in just q 4 2023. Thank you for all the people who made it possible. We just came we just got the numbers together because our hosting service changed their setup and enabled us to dig a little bit deeper into statistics, and it turned out we had 1,000,071,970 downloads in October, November, December last year. That really feels amazing, Chris.


Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:11:25]:

I have to say it. If you're looking to cooperate with us, go down here in the show notes. There is a link to our Action Food storefront. Chris, handing over back to you with the ecosystem.


Christian "Chris" Fahrenbach | Co-Founder Startuprad.io [00:11:38]:

Yeah. And these are stories that have an influence on the German start up market or on the start up market in general. We found a couple of stories even of global relevance that are interesting to us. For example, one statistics one statistic around energy start ups where, it is said that mega as mega rounds become rarer, energy start ups are powering up. It's an, in-depth article from TechCrunch where they, basically look at what you also said in the beginning, that the green tech sector is getting bigger and bigger. And, StartupRadio general are still buying fewer startups. Sounds a bit incestuous in the whole scene, but, nevertheless, also a global statistics about, the investments in start ups. Moving on to Europe, narrowing our focus a bit, Unterneema TUM, Unterneema, TUM, tops the ranking of Europe's leading start ups start up hubs.


Christian "Chris" Fahrenbach | Co-Founder Startuprad.io [00:12:45]:

It's, based in Munich, and TUM is the Technical University of Munich.


Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:12:51]:

Learn more now interview?


Christian "Chris" Fahrenbach | Co-Founder Startuprad.io [00:12:54]:

Exactly. And, famous also in Germany because, it was set up by, Susanne Klatten, which is probably I don't know. Sometimes, I think she was even ranked as being the richest person in Germany. And she is the heiress of, BMW. Yes. Or the BMW founders or she has stakes in there, whatever. Like, she's she's loaded, let's say. And we found a list of the top 100 next unicorns.


Christian "Chris" Fahrenbach | Co-Founder Startuprad.io [00:13:25]:

Fourteen of those so called Sunicorns on the list are from Germany, 22 from the UK, 21 are from France. Austria, only 1. In total, 16 countries had entries on the list. So it's just a European list, but, nevertheless, Switzerland was not mentioned. From Germany, those start ups are Ambos, AnyDesk, Augs Money, Avi Medical, Camunda, Distribution, Localiz Moonfair, OViva, PriceFX, Spryker, Uberall, Xentral. We had an interview with them recently. You can find that, on our Medium website, Urban Sports Club, and from Austria, it's Plan Radar. In Switzerland, as I said, there are no entries on that list of soon to be unicorns, but Switzerland is usually more biotech oriented, and those StartupRadio were not included on the list anyway.


Christian "Chris" Fahrenbach | Co-Founder Startuprad.io [00:14:23]:

Narrowing the focus even more, what is happening in the German ecosystem for Startupradio? There's good news on economic indicators, the e4businessclimateindex, which is basically asking for the sentiment of, of overall industries and the economic sentiment, overall industries, and that, business climate index rose in March 2024, so sentiment in German companies has improved notice noticeably in the past couple of weeks or months. And in case you're curious about what kind of start ups the investors are funding in Berlin, There's a new new sorry. There's a new deal room analysis about this. Start ups are receiving investments from largest to smallest in energy, fintech oh, now it gives me because the Apple okay. If you're just listening to this, the problem is we are, since we're also doing the video, and I gave a thumbs up because I was counting the one, and so Apple is adding the


Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:15:28]:

Emojis. Mhmm.


Christian "Chris" Fahrenbach | Co-Founder Startuprad.io [00:15:30]:

The emojis. Okay. So, Startupradio receiving investments are in the fields of energy, Fintech, food, health, real estate, marketing, travel. And then there's a bit of a, the numbers fall off the cliff a bit. The German Ministry of Economic Affairs cuts its support for Business Angels, and deputy chancellor Robert Habeck dissolves his Startupradio advisory board and sparking criticism from opposition parties in Germany. That's all in the German ecosystem. Let's have a look at some of the Startupradio hubs in Germany and some of the cities where start up activity is happening.


Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:16:12]:

Yes. Of course. We always start with my Joe turf, Frankfurt and Main. They win the bid to EU's new anti anti money laundry authority, and Emma Matrads and Emma Matrads has grown in 2023 to €962,000,000 in revenue plus 10%. Of course, you can learn more in our interview with them. Going a little bit south to Heidelberg, Biotech affirmed, listed on Nasdaq, is on the hunt for a new CEO to navigate through crucial times with significant clinical trial data on the horizon. They are in cancer treatment. The recent departure of the CEO and a 1 to 10 stock split, The journey ahead is filled with anticipation.


Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:16:58]:

Stay tuned for updates. Talking about cologne here. DeepL to open 1st US office as adoption of the market stores, and X Technology, cologne based Fintech that operates the automotive payment management platform, Beitalde, raises 22,000,000 viewers in series b funding. Stuttgart, Assembleo, provider of software platform to to plan, assembly, and generate automatic assistance systems for production raises 2,100,000 in seed funding. Ostville then, just 10 kilometers south of southeast of Stuttgart, a plant based food company raised 15,000,000 years in sea Menninger, and you have a trivia story to Australia then?


Christian "Chris" Fahrenbach | Co-Founder Startuprad.io [00:17:52]:

Yes. I do. Since I lived in Stuttgart for, more than 14 years, I say I'd say 12 years, I was sometimes covering AUSFELEN. And the fun fact about AUSFELEN is that in the history of space of people going to space. There has only been one single person who came from the country of Afghanistan and became a cosmonaut because he was on a Soviet Union mission, and he was on one of the last missions of the Soviet Union in the late eighties. And that person coming from Afghanistan now lives in this German suburb town of Osterholm. I met him. I covered him in his living room.


Christian "Chris" Fahrenbach | Co-Founder Startuprad.io [00:18:39]:

There's a huge, poster of his mission and the special stamp that the postal service in Afghanistan issued in his name. And, I mean, it was also really weird because he's living this, like, small town German life, and, there was a sadness about him too. But I asked him if, whether he considers himself a hero, and he looked at me and he said, Christian, a real man can never talk of himself as being a hero.


Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:19:10]:

Wise words. Going a little bit to the north in Hamburg. Hamburg's Nobel Cup Startupradio raises €25,000,000 and HayFlow, a tool which we also knew, use raises 16,000,000 in series a funding. Osnapruck, New Taste, euros 21,000,000 in funding for restaurant discovery. And in the city of Essen, Greenlight Carbon Technologies, light with an y, an Essen, Germany based direct air capture StartupRadio 10,500,000 in 3 series a funding. I wouldn't be able to tell what those guys are doing or what pre series a is, but Menninger over to Chris here.


Christian "Chris" Fahrenbach | Co-Founder Startuprad.io [00:19:56]:

Yes. And I, take a look at Austria. First up, there is Fretello, which is a, start up that teaches you how to play the guitar. They are undergoing a restructuring with Berthold Baurik Kalic stepping in as the new interim CEO. You can keep in mind the news from Magic and Bitpanda before that we were talking about. Then also, zZoo, a Vienna based Yacht scale Yacht stick scale up, res is rescued through acquisition after bankruptcy, and Zola's Capital commits up to €30,000,000 in energy projects for the scale up NEOM, NEOM.


Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:20:38]:

And, Chris, have you ever wondered how big the acting scene in Vienna is? I mean, Austria is a landlocked country, and the the, the little river, the little river of, Diville, it's it's pretty tiny.


Christian "Chris" Fahrenbach | Co-Founder Startuprad.io [00:20:54]:

But there's also the Danube. Oh, yeah.


Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:20:57]:

Yeah. There's the Danube River, but also no big yachting there, I do believe.


Christian "Chris" Fahrenbach | Co-Founder Startuprad.io [00:21:01]:

No. But, very beautiful public pools in Vienna to swim in the in the Danube. So that's not very start up activity. That is, like, really old school. If you swim in a river in Austria, you feel as if you're right in the 1800, I think. Moving on to Switzerland, where the ed tech education tech, Evalian Evalain, a a a v a l l a I n, acquires the AI toolset, Teachermatic. Biotech food Startupradio Cultivated Biosciences bags €4,600,000 to improve their dairy free products. We have more information about how they did that in our show notes.


Christian "Chris" Fahrenbach | Co-Founder Startuprad.io [00:21:44]:

Akcea Akcea Akcea, I think, Neuchatel, Switzerland based health tech company providing optical blood pressure monitoring devices raised $30,000,000 in funding. Validation Cloud, based in Zug in Switzerland, is a web 3 technology company. They raised 5 point 5,800,000 dollars in inaugural funding. Aga MedTech, in Lausanne, so it's French, so maybe it's Arjat, Arjat MedTech. They, are providing cardiac ablation systems for, to treat cardiac arrhythmias. They raised €54,000,000 in Series B funding, so that's some serious money. And the Dutch revenue based financing Startupradio, Levenu Levenu. Oh, god.


Christian "Chris" Fahrenbach | Co-Founder Startuprad.io [00:22:35]:

These are all horrible. I can really make, like, a lot of enemies here. They acquired the Zurich Fintech Midfunder. Moving on to general news, tech news, company news, any kind of thing that got our interest in the last couple of weeks. First off, new funds in case you're looking for money. It's only a small selection, but we like talking about it because it also gives you hope that the money is out there. Verdana is an Oslo Norway based growth fund investment firm. They closed Verdana EDA3 at €1,100,000,000 Verdana will continue to invest thematically in European companies that help digitize and decarbonize the economy.


Christian "Chris" Fahrenbach | Co-Founder Startuprad.io [00:23:20]:

We have the Berlin based World Fund, which will provide €300,000,000 to climate tech founders over the next few years, making its fund the largest climate dedicated pool the continent has seen yet. Alpine Space Ventures secured a whopping €10,000,000 from NATO's Innovation Fund, adding to their impressive €60,000,000 from EIF last year. And Berlin's Web3 First Time Fund secures over €10,000,000 in a second closing, a strong signal for the new content driven VC generation. Fintech?


Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:23:56]:

As we said, we are in the point of a seismic shift. Fintech news have been pretty pretty small. Admittedly, we also had to deselect a lot of stuff here in order to stay in 30 minutes. Payment cards, private public issues cease and desist declaration on adjusted on adjust advertising after being sued by consumer advocate group, Die Vergoget Zentaler. Wefox CEO Julian Teicher steps down from his position. Credit Platforms, Mava, known for their annoying TV commercials, is looking for a buyer. Chris, some general news?


Christian "Chris" Fahrenbach | Co-Founder Startuprad.io [00:24:30]:

Yes. Not really about Germany, but still concerning. Every time OpenAI cuts a check for training data, an unlaunched competitive Startupradio. We have an article that explains what that means. Zendesk is to acquire Berlin's Ultimate for AI customer support. Mahana Therapeutics acquires Berlin's CaraCare, expanding digital treatment for chronic conditions. Defense tech is all the rage, but investors have their guard up. An article looking into that industry.


Christian "Chris" Fahrenbach | Co-Founder Startuprad.io [00:25:02]:

Berlin based PowerData acquired by Conuti, a portfolio company of Nord Holding, and former employees accuse NPAUL of missing payments. One even takes legal action. Some of the issues there are further explained in our show notes as well. Creative destruction.


Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:25:18]:

Yeah. Not really insolvency, but still bad news and related to the insolvency of Sono Motors. Prosecutors investigate Sono Motors solar cell pioneers over suspicions of deceiving of deceiving for state grants. So meaning they they made false declarations to get those grants. FINA PO had to file for insolvency. No investor could be found, and so the company will be liquidated. All employees now forced to leave, found our reserve faces for the first time since filing for insolvency. Trazio started out as an Amazon shop aggregator, but now also, surprisingly, has to file for insolvency.


Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:26:02]:

Winner in automotive StartupRadio Halle raised 92,000,000 in total 92,000,000 euros in total, but asked to shut down. And burner based online advertising company, Plista, surprised all by shutting down. Employees have been called into an all hands meeting and told the company will shut down immediately according to the article we linked down here in the show notes.


Christian "Chris" Fahrenbach | Co-Founder Startuprad.io [00:26:27]:

Let's talk about more positive stuff, and let's end on a high note of, successful fundraising and exits. As always, keep in mind, this is only a small selection. The news here and their total value show how resilient the Startupradio in Europe or in, German language countries is. We included some selected fundraisings about €5,000,000 or US dollars. Especially this month, there were so many announcements that we could not include all funds raised. So a couple of highlights, very, lightning round. Tubules, Munich, Germany based oncology company, closed an upsized €128,000,000, nearly $140,000,000 Series B2 financing, D Riyadh Networks in Berlin, an ultra early wildfire detection technology company, announced their initial closing of €5,600,000 in convertible financing with a total round size of up to €10,000,000 Datour secures €5,000,000 in a seed financing round. They want to further develop its platform into a solution for ESG compliance and sustainability management.


Christian "Chris" Fahrenbach | Co-Founder Startuprad.io [00:27:44]:

And Raizer Group, a Berlin based technology driven ecommerce company, raised an undisclosed amount in a series d funding, and they are also an ecommerce company. That is all I got for now. We will be back on April 25th with the next news episode, and the next regular episode will go live next week. We say happy Easter to all of you, who celebrate that. Happy Eid. There's only a few days left for, the people participating in Ramadan or following Ramadan. And, we have some news for you to stay ahead of the curve. We are always looking for feedback.


Christian "Chris" Fahrenbach | Co-Founder Startuprad.io [00:28:30]:

There's a Google form if you want to. And apart from that, I can just say thank you very much for listening as always, and, goodbye from New York City.


Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:28:43]:

Goodbye, guys. Enjoy your holidays. Enjoy your breaks. Bye bye. Cheers. That's a wrap. Bye bye.


Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:28:55]:

That's all, folks. Find war news, streams, events, and interviews at www.startuprad.i0. Remember, Sherry is


Christian "Chris" Fahrenbach | Co-Founder Startuprad.io [00:29:10]:

caring.


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