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This Month in German, Swiss, and Austrian (GSA) Startups — May 2022

Updated: 1 day ago

Picutre via Pixabay: A cart track in May in Germany

What Is This About?

The May 2022 DACH startup news roundup covers mid-spring developments across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland — including funding updates, notable deals, and ecosystem trends as the market begins showing early signs of the correction that would define the rest of 2022.

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 news episode on Thursday, May 19th, 2022.

  • As always: All news not yet included here will be published in our next news episode in June.

  • We will also slightly change our publication schedule in the summer — as we have done before.

  • We also partner with Artic 15 you get a discount with our code in the show notes at www.


This Month in German, Swiss, and Austrian (GSA) Startups — May 2022 Startuprad.io brings you independent coverage of the key developments shaping the startup and venture capital landscape across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Picutre via Pixabay: A cart track in May in Germany

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.


We recorded this news episode on Thursday, May 19th, 2022. The next news will go live on June 30th. Keep in mind, that we will have a summer break afterward and be back for you with another news episode on Labor Day September 5th, 2022. In this episode, we will wrap up July, and August.


As always: All news not yet included here will be published in our next news episode in June.


We will also slightly change our publication schedule in the summer — as we have done before. For July and August, we will only post a new episode every other week (July 14th, 28th, and August 11th, as well as August 25th). We will be back to normal at the start of September.


We also partner with Artic 15 you get a discount with our code in the show notes at www.medium.com/startuprad-io


  • Artic15 startupradio


Our Highlights:

We can proudly announce unicorn No 29 Taxfix, No 30 Onefootball and on the downside, RaisinDS loses its unicorn valuation. Really bad news for car sharing: BMW and Mercedes pull the plug on their joint venture. Our 2018 guest ProGlove is sold in a 500 m € deal (525 m US$) and Orderbird is sold in a 100 m € deal (105 m US$). Other unicorns are currently on the hunt for new capital and feel the heat of the current funding environment.

Let’s talk startups:


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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 Interview is set to go live on May 26th, 2022



The Audio Interview

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Top News


New Unicorn #29 Taxfix

We just wrapped up the April news with two new unicorns and soon there was the next one: Tax app Taxfix becomes a unicorn with a 220 m US$ funding round https://buff.ly/3vpftiWRelated:Taxes may be boring, but they are important. So Taxfix becomes yet another unicorn, but the first one in Germany dealing with tax filings https://buff.ly/3LtsptL


New Unicorn #30 Onefootball

Berlin-based Onefootball becomes Germany’s 30th unicorn with their most recent 300 m US$ fundraising https://buff.ly/3KyKG7N


Back at 29 Unicorns with RaisinDS

Germany has lost a unicorn. Not due to insolvency or takeover, but due to a down-round, a funding round where the valuation of the overall startup went down.

Here is the article: Berlin-based fintech Raisin loses unicorn valuation due to slowing growth https://buff.ly/3wrM4FG Don’t worry, this is only hurtful for the feelings. They can bounce back anytime.


This is a Pretty Bad Sign For Carsharing in Germany

BMW and Mercedes pull the plug and sell their 2018 merged car-sharing joint venture called “Share Now” to competitor Stellantis. How can one make car-sharing profitable, if two of the most experienced car producers can not? https://buff.ly/3KJ2vRu


ProGlove Sold for 500 m Euros And Looking to Be the Next Team Viewer

Our 2018 Guest ProGlove Makes ”Monster Exit” at around 500 m € — Plans to Be The Next Teamviewer https://buff.ly/3sJTGB2 by

Related

Valued in the neighborhood of €500 million, Munich’s ProGlove acquired by Nordic Capitalhttps://buff.ly/3LyaXU5


Orderbird Sold in 100 m Euro Deal

100 m Euro deal: Hospitality startup Orderbird completely sold to new Italian owners https://buff.ly/3FO00wJ


Some Capital Seeking Unicorns Already Feel the New Market Realities

According to a recent press report the current fundraising of Trade Republic, N26, and Gorillas is not going as planned. There is fear of “Flat Rounds” without a higher valuation https://buff.ly/3FOG7FH


Housekeeping & Time to Brag

You may have noticed our partnership with DEEP Ecosystems? They are an analytics company tracking startup activity in more than 120 cities across Europe. Normally you need to be a member to get your hands on the data. Now you can get quarterly updates exclusively with us. We call it “The Pulse of European Startup Ecosystem” and it will also be available as a new sub-podcast. The release of the next update and the sub-podcast will be in calendar week 27 (the week starts June 6th, which is a public holiday in Germany).


Ecosystem

  • After a red-hot 2021, global venture investment cools in Q1’22, even as the global unicorn club reaches a new high https://buff.ly/39e8vVp

  • Funding To EU Startups Slows Sharply After Brisk Start In 2022 on Crunchbase . This is a bit at odds with our data from the DEEP Ecosystem, but we will discuss it during their podcast recording https://buff.ly/3sqzi7N

  • Have a look at our next episode with DEEP Ecosystems coming out on June 7th

  • Berlin-based and Berlin (City) owned IBB Ventures invested in 2021 15 m Euros in Berlin-based startups, creating 75 m Euros in private investments in turn https://buff.ly/3kpgO30

  • Demand for electric rental cars by Germans on vacation or business is pretty low. According to a car rental platform from Germany, their electrically powered car bookings only make up 0,22% of their volume https://buff.ly/3LEcVDg


Hubs

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. This time Chris is channeling his inner geography teacher and has his own order :-)


Frankfurt


Hamburg

  • We have talked about the opportunities the new German law allows for remotely driven cars. Now Hamburg-based Vay wants to start with them still in 2022 in Hamburg-Bergedorf https://buff.ly/3FUZVaz

  • Here is the podcast on the legal framework https://buff.ly/3wtjfqQ

  • Dutch RV rental startup Campspace buys Hamburg based competitor Pop-Up Camps https://buff.ly/3KmzlYt

  • RABOT CHARGE is a startup, which allows charging electric cars at the best time with the lowest possible price. They raise more than 1 m € Pre-Seed funding https://buff.ly/3MN3xNM


Munich

  • Private-Equity fund Thomas H. Lee Partners (THL), BMW i Ventures, and Telekom Innovation Pool (TIP) invest 130m US$ in Munich-based startup Kinexon https://buff.ly/3vO4IWz

  • US-based investor Coatue, entrepreneur Lip-Bu Tan and existing investors invest 30 m US$ in Munich-based Twaice. The company offers software to analyze batteries https://buff.ly/3vj7zI3

  • 200 founders and 48 business angels join forces to raise 160 m € venture capital fund 10x, headquartered in Munich for early-stage investments https://buff.ly/3kHdy3j

  • 202 million Euro: Final Closing for Cipio Partners Fund VIII — Munich Startup https://buff.ly/38uIGR2

  • Earlybird VC closes €350M fund for Western European startups — TechCrunch https://buff.ly/3wnO815

  • Munich-based Rencore raises EUR 3,75 m Serie-A funding for their offering in the Cloud Collaboration Governance market https://buff.ly/3wxs2Za

  • The state of Bavaria invests EUR 2 m in TUM Venture Labs — Munich Startup https://buff.ly/39xekNO


Dresden


Cologne

  • Cologne-based ai startup Automaited raises 4 m Euros venture capital for its automation of copy & paste jobs https://buff.ly/3MHXoCP


Landshut

  • Molten Ventures, Mubadala Capital and existing investors Earlybird Venture Capital, Senovo and New Forge 40 m Euro in HiveMQ a startup from Landshut, Germany helping to connect IoT devices to the cloud https://buff.ly/3Fx6wHL


Austria

  • Early Bitpanda Investor Speedinvest Defies Tech Jitters With New Seed Fund https://buff.ly/3yKVKfR

  • German neobroker Scalable Capital enters the Austrian market, with a large portfolio of tradable assets including cryptos https://buff.ly/3vZ3wRE and therefore directly attacking Bitpanda on their home turf

  • Neoh an Austrian household name for chocolate bars, also a scale-up raises one million euros in revenue-based financing from Tauros Capital https://buff.ly/3lF8Mnz

  • Storyblok is a Linz, Austria-based software scale-up. They just raised EUR 43 m for their headless CMS https://buff.ly/3lsb09m


Switzerland


General News / Tech News / Companies News Section

Social Freezing and Family Planning are now Startup topics …


Fintechs

  • Former factoring startup Finiata is bought by polish shareholder Manta Ray Ventures. Finata started out as a factoring startup but increasingly turned itself into a credit provider in Poland for SMEs reports Deutsche-Startups exclusively https://buff.ly/3FbVp7f a little hint here: Have a look at our interview with Billie. They are also pivoting to BNPL from factoring. It seems factoring is not the place to be for fintechs right now

  • PE Firm Moonfare Picks Singapore Over Hong Kong as Asia Hub https://buff.ly/3M54D7U


Maybe the last news on Zooplus for some time

  • Zooplus an online pet supplies store has been taken private in a furious battle of private equity houses (we talked about it in our news). Now, after the buyout, the founder leaves the company https://buff.ly/3vCnG3m

  • Zooplus will soon be taken private. Now they publish their 2021 results headline revenue +16% to 2,09 bn Euros https://buff.ly/3OWJnmH


Totally Not The Last News of Wirecard

  • German court rules 2017 and 2018 balance sheets of Wirecard are void, so the liquidator can demand the payback of the years’ dividends https://buff.ly/3LQ1x7o


A very very few selected VC fundings

  • Bertelsmann is already a shareholder of the app economy company builder Applike Group, in which it invests additional 100 m Euro to develop digital business models https://buff.ly/3KLagX9

  • Proptech Gropyus raises additional 40 m Euros to keep developing smart and sustainable solutions for living https://buff.ly/3MbGfRO

  • Deepset raises $14M to help companies build NLP apps https://buff.ly/3Mxgyem

  • Noteworthy for other reasons than the total investment: German football player Mario Gomez invests in food startup of former cook for Germany’s national football team Organic Garden AG producing in a circular economy approach clean meat and vegetables https://buff.ly/3yGotCA


Other News


Stay ahead of the curve

Back on June 30th with the next news.

What Happened in GSA Startups in May 2022?

May 2022 saw Germany's unicorn count fluctuate dramatically: Taxfix became unicorn #29 shortly after the April wrap-up, then Onefootball became #30 with a $300M raise, but RaisinDS lost its unicorn status through a down-round — dropping the count back to 29. The carsharing sector also showed concerning signs. Arctic15 partnership and Hessen Trade and Invest sponsorship enabled the coverage.

Introduction

Recorded on May 19th, 2022, this monthly wrap-up captures a volatile period for German unicorns. Shortly after the April episode reported two new unicorns, tax app Taxfix reached unicorn status as #29. Then Berlin-based Onefootball became Germany's 30th unicorn with a $300 million fundraise. But the gains were short-lived: RaisinDS lost its unicorn valuation through a down-round due to slowing growth, dropping the count back to 29. The carsharing sector also showed worrying signs. Startuprad.io partnered with Arctic15 for this period.

Executive Summary

May 2022 was a month of unicorn volatility in Germany. Taxfix and Onefootball joined the unicorn club, but RaisinDS became the first notable down-round casualty, losing its unicorn status due to slowing growth. The net result was Germany holding at 29 unicorns. The carsharing sector showed concerning trends, and the broader market was beginning to shift. The episode was enabled by Hessen Trade and Invest and featured an Arctic15 conference partnership.

Key Takeaways

  • Tax app Taxfix became Germany's 29th unicorn shortly after the April news wrap-up.

  • Berlin-based Onefootball reached unicorn status as #30 with a $300 million fundraise.

  • RaisinDS lost its unicorn valuation through a down-round due to slowing growth, an early sign of the coming market correction.

  • The carsharing sector showed concerning signs in Germany during this period.

  • Startuprad.io partnered with Arctic15 conference with a discount code available in the show notes.

Atomic Answer

Entities Referenced in This Episode

Startups

  • Taxfix — Tax app, became Germany's unicorn #29

  • Onefootball — Berlin-based football/soccer platform, unicorn #30 ($300M raise)

  • RaisinDS — Berlin-based fintech, lost unicorn status via down-round

Organizations

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

  • Arctic15 — Conference partner

People

  • Jörn "Joe" Menninger — Startuprad.io host

Topics

  • German unicorns, down-round, tax tech, football tech, fintech valuation, carsharing decline, DACH startup news

Relationship Map

  • Taxfix → became → Germany's unicorn #29

  • Onefootball → became → Germany's unicorn #30 ($300M)

  • RaisinDS → lost unicorn status → via down-round (slowing growth)

  • Germany's unicorn count → fluctuated → 29 → 30 → back to 29

Quote Highlights

  • Taxfix becomes Germany's newest unicorn with a $220M funding round, while Onefootball joins the club at $300M — bringing the count to 30 German unicorns.

  • Germany loses a unicorn as RaisinDS faces a down-round, with its valuation dropping due to slowing growth in the fintech space.

  • BMW and Mercedes exit carsharing by selling their joint venture Share Now to Stellantis — raising questions about the viability of carsharing in Germany.

  • ProGlove, a 2018 Startuprad.io guest, makes a monster exit at around €500M with plans to become the next TeamViewer.

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 in May 2022?

Germany's unicorn count fluctuated in May 2022: Taxfix became #29, Onefootball became #30 with a $300M raise, but RaisinDS lost its unicorn status through a down-round, bringing the count back to 29 by month's end.

What happened to RaisinDS?

Berlin-based fintech RaisinDS (formerly Raisin) lost its unicorn valuation due to a down-round caused by slowing growth. This made it one of the first notable German startups to experience a valuation reduction as the market began to turn.

What is Onefootball?

Onefootball is a Berlin-based football (soccer) media and technology platform that became Germany's 30th unicorn with a $300 million fundraise in May 2022.

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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