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This Month in German, Swiss, and Austrian (GSA) Startups — Summer 2022 Wrap-Up

Jörn Menninger
Mar 15
42 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 2022 DACH startup news wrap-up covers July and August developments across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland — including mid-year funding trends, notable deals, ecosystem milestones, and the stories that defined the startup landscape during the summer months.

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, Swiss, and Austrian (GSA) Startups in Summer 2022 by Startuprad.

  • This is a new format to wrap up July and August.

  • Nonetheless, this recording will be a bit longer than usual.

  • As always: All news not yet included here will be published in our next news episode in our regular September warp-up.


Via Pixabay

New Blog


This Month in German, Swiss, and Austrian (GSA) Startups — Summer 2022 Wrap-Up 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, Swiss, and Austrian (GSA) Startups in Summer 2022 by Startuprad.io. I am joined again by my co-founder and co-host Chris from New York City.


This is a new format to wrap up July and August. We used to mash all of July, August, and September in the September Episode, but it tended to be very looooooooong or we had to leave out a lot. So Chris and I came up with the idea of a stand-alone summer wrap-up. Since the US are still the single biggest market for us, we decided to publish the episode on Labor Day, the US’ unofficial end of summer and federal holiday. Let us know if you like the idea.


Nonetheless, this recording will be a bit longer than usual. Best pause here and get a snack and drink.


As always: All news not yet included here will be published in our next news episode in our regular September warp-up.


You can keep up to date with our Google Calendar for all publications:


Our Highlights

Startups in GSA did better than expected. We had a few insolvency filings, but also amazing fundraisings like Celonis 1 bn US$ combination of equity and debt funding. Insuftech Wefox raises 400 m. One can already see the signs of a downturn, M&A activity going up, as well as the news about insolvencies or job cuts/ hiring freezes. But — according to a Bikcom survey — 8 out of 10 startups are still hiring. Deal time our recent guest Qonto buys former guest Penta and there was more in a B2B neobank deal week. Even Allianz had to learn, that one can not buy fintech success and there is more news on Wirecard.

We will also bombard you with funding data on Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, as well as global numbers. Keep in mind you can read all our news on our blog www.medium.com/startuprad-io

Let’s talk startups:




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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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Top News


Celonis Secures 1 bn US$ Funding

Celonis remains a success story with a 400 million Series D extension and a 600 mn US$ credit facility, at a valuation of nearly 13 bn US$. They are cementing their spot as Germany’s most valuable startup as well as its only decacorn Wefox closes USD 400 million Series D round – Venturelab. They do process mining and help to identify unrealized efficiencies. Right now, they’re helping with supply chain issues, for example.


Despite Market Conditions, WeFox Closes 400 m US$ Funding

Wefox, the Berlin-based insurtech, closes USD 400 million Series D round at 4.5 bn Dollar valuation Wefox closes USD 400 million Series D round – Venturelab


One former guest has to file for insolvency


Neobrokers Facing Headwinds


B2B Neobanks Had a pretty big Deal Week

Qonto Announces Plan to Acquire Penta Qonto Announces Plan to Acquire Penta as we have predicted two weeks before https://medium.com/startuprad-io/french-neobank-unicorn-qonto-in-advanced-talks-to-buy-berlin-based-neobank-penta-1f2fa9cf106a we have extensive coverage of Penta from the past linked in the article, as well as an interview with Qonto’s head of Germany. Also Kontist was selling itself at a pretty hefty discount https://medium.com/startuprad-io/qonto-confirms-buying-penta-creating-germanys-no-1-b2b-neobank-264ad25e339f


Viability of the Quick Delivery Business Model still Questioned


The Job Cuts Kept Coming — Even During Summer

Current market conditions lead to a halving of open positions at German unicorn startups Offene Stellen: Jobs bei Startup-Unicorns halbiert – Lichtblicke - Business Insider here are some other examples, including hiring freezes at established tech companies like SAP


But startups are still looking for talent

8 out of 10 startups in Germany are looking to hire employees, according to a recent survey by association Bitkom Startups suchen wieder verstärkt nach neuen Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeitern - IT-Times


You Can’t Buy Fintech Success

Heymoney is insurance giant Allianz’s take on a multi-banking app. They even hired two experienced entrepreneurs, but now pull the plug on the project Gescheiterter Fintech-Angriff der Allianz: Heymoney wird eingestellt | FinanceFWD


More Sad Wirecard News


Housekeeping & Time to Brag

The year is already half over, so we dug into the analytics of our hosting service. In the first half of 2022, Startuprad.io’s podcasts were downloaded and heard in 109 countries across the world! Thank you, everybody!

We reached the Global Top 20 Entrepreneurship Podcast on Apple (All) and Global Top 100 Business Podcast on Apple (All) for the first time. We are only made aware of this since we use a new analytics service, called Podder.

With this and our other services we could take a snapshot: Trending around the world mid of August:

Startuprad.io: Apple’s Entrepreneurship Podcast Charts in Germany, Ukraine, and Croatia

Fintech Germany: Apple’s Business and Entrepreneurship Podcast Charts in Mauritius

Deep Tech Germany: Apple’s Entrepreneurship Podcast Charts in UK and Belarus

PLUS

Apple’s Global Entrepreneurship and Business Podcast Charts

PLUS

Chartable’s Podcast Charts Global, Global Tech, Global Business, Global News, USA, India, France

We are really growing strong and we are very happy for your support!

What we published:

Samsung Buys IP of German Startup Cynora for 300 m $ — All Employees Are Fired https://medium.com/startuprad-io/samsung-buys-ip-of-german-startup-cynora-for-300-m-all-employees-are-fired-288d7dea4e16 one of the strongest performing blog posts this summer


Ecosystem

We start out with two questions from legendary VC Hunter Walk: These Two Questions Are All You Need To Understand The Next Few Years of Venture & Startups These Two Questions Are All You Need To Understand The Next Few Years of Venture & Startups | by Hunter Walk | Medium

  • Is it a Tech Recession or a General Recession

  • Will there be one category winner or multiple (5b+) winners?

We also see some grim news for the German Economy on the horizon and here, there is not yet the news of the potential natural gas shortfall in the fall fully included:

German consumers are spending less than they used to. Retail revenues took a dive by 8,8% in June, the largest for 28 years. This does not look good for all retailers, but especially offline retailers Einzelhandel: Größter Umsatzeinbruch seit 1994


Switzerland


Austria


Germany


Ecosystem H1 / Q2 Funding Numbers


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


Darmstadt


Offenburg

A city of a bit over 60.000 people, pretty close to Strasbourg

Offenburg, Germany-base aI startup Conversion Maker raises 4 m Euros venture capital KI-Start-up Conversion Maker erhält weitere 4 Mio. Euro - StartingUp: Das Gründermagazin


Koblenz

Close to Cologne, and they have a population of just a bit over 100.000

NBA legend LeBron James invests in 30 mn US$ private equity investment round in #Koblenz-based Canyon Bicycles, to fund US expansion LeBron James steigt beim deutschen Fahrrad-Konzern Canyon ein


Hamburg

Hamburg-based startup Suena raises 1,2 m Euros for their AI tool, which will help trade electricity Suena sammelt 1,2 Millionen Euro ein | Startbase


Kaiserslautern (known also as K-Town)

Our 2021 interview guest Lubis EDA just raised their seed funding. They are working on a game-changing technology for developing semiconductors learn more here: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6950161931638865920/


Munich

Munich has been fairing well during corona. Their insolvencies declined in 2021 by 13,9% to only 334 according to a recent report by Munich Startups Jahreswirtschaftsbericht: Corona-Insolvenzwelle ist ausgeblieben | Munich Startup Platform


Switzerland


Austria


General News / Tech News / Companies News Section

Investors — New Funds Are Still Raised


A very selected and very few fundraisings


Fintech News


Some Tesla News — related to Germany


General News

We will be back on September 29th with our September Wrap-Up!


Stay ahead of the curve


Automated Transcript


00:00:00.000 → 00:00:16.080Music.


00:00:15.928 → 00:00:28.228And Alive events hello and welcome to this month in German Swiss and Austrian startup news it’s our summer 22


00:00:28.099 → 00:00:32.171wrap-up with which fills us with a bit of nostalgia.


00:00:32.285 → 00:00:44.630Because apparently someone is already over even though it’s still hard today I have the honor to start the show my name is Christian I’m sitting in New York and I am joined by my co-founder.


00:00:44.915 → 00:00:52.426And co-host Joe before we start we have to congratulate you for having had your second.


00:00:52.495 → 00:00:57.863Baby well actually my wife had I was just holding hands.


00:00:57.932 → 00:01:07.540Having said all this let’s get started because we are having a new format here right now to wrap up July and August we used to mash up all of July August September.


00:01:07.601 → 00:01:16.804Into one episode in September that tended to get very very long or we had to leave a lot out so this time we’re trying something new.


00:01:16.963 → 00:01:20.648We came up with the idea of a standalone summer wrap-up00:01:20.609 → 00:01:32.342especially since the US are still the biggest market for us we decided to publish the episode on Labor Day the u.s. is unofficial end of summer and a Federal holiday so yeah


00:01:32.267 → 00:01:43.207if if you want to let us know if you like the idea nonetheless the recording will be a bit longer than usual because so much stuff has happened and yeah


00:01:43.069 → 00:01:48.438so grab one of those last fancy drinks with summer drinks with little umbrellas.


00:01:48.705 → 00:02:02.004And let’s get started we recorded the episode on Wednesday August the 24th 2022 Germany is experiencing and inflation Spike which is


00:02:01.884 → 00:02:10.340true for a lot of countries these days dying up funding and private markets for some most.


00:02:10.382 → 00:02:22.376Non-profitable startups as well as preparing for a potentially very cold Winters so Germany has a huge discussion going on about Rising energy and especially gas prices related a lot to the.


00:02:22.814 → 00:02:35.097Ukraine war and Germany being very energy dependent on Russia and yeah in preparation for that from what I hear or read from here is that Germany is even considering to Ben.


00:02:35.337 → 00:02:44.036Having store Windows lit at night or public buildings at night just as a sign of saving energy.


00:02:44.663 → 00:02:51.490As always all news not yet included here will be published in our next news episodes in our regular September


00:02:51.478 → 00:02:58.223wrap-up and you can keep up to date with our Google Calendar for all Publications.


00:02:59.949 → 00:03:08.540This as a tiny bit of housekeeping and now let’s get to business and let’s give us a little overview.


00:03:08.870 → 00:03:23.475About the episodes and tell us about the upcoming highlights Jill he has of course our highlights startups in G’s a did better than expected with a few insolvency filings but also Mel’s you time tracing like solonius who raised.


00:03:23.535 → 00:03:29.9471 billion US dollar published just a few days ago a combination of equity and debt funding.


00:03:30.160 → 00:03:38.445Intertek we FOX also rated 400 million one can already see the signs of a downturn m&a activity is going up


00:03:38.308 → 00:03:48.249as well as the news about insolvency or job cuts and hiring freezes but according to a bit come survey which is the German Association for


00:03:48.129 → 00:03:52.552um telecommunications and electronics.


00:03:52.729 → 00:04:02.202So they found eight Alpha out of 10 startups in Germany are still hiring deal time our recent guest Contour by its former guess


00:04:02.046 → 00:04:12.420Penta and there was more in P to be near back deal week we blogged about it and even aliens the German Insurance jugging out had to learn


00:04:12.408 → 00:04:17.200one cannot buy fintech success and there is more news on


00:04:17.170 → 00:04:27.688why are caught we will also bombard you with finding data in Germany Austria and Switzerland as well as Global numbers please keep in mind you can read everything.


00:04:27.748 → 00:04:36.807With a little bit patience find all the numbers on our medium block medium forward slash startuprad.io or.


00:04:37.335 → 00:04:49.896/ IO in there you can find everything we have link here down in our show notes don’t miss out on our radio station and unlink tree you can find all options to subscribe again.


00:04:50.452 → 00:04:57.359This podcast was made possible by the generous support of invest in Harrison with which


00:04:57.257 → 00:05:11.421we run a dedicated sub podcast for startups in Harrison and startuprad.io calm the best way to identify investors and cooperation partners for early-stage startups you can sign up there for Early Access Chris,


00:05:11.427 → 00:05:15.598I did little bit highlights can you bring us some top news and yeah,


00:05:15.604 → 00:05:30.263so probably one of the biggest success stories in German startup in the German startup scene or funding scene in general is solonius and Salone has secured another 1 billion US dollars in funding.


00:05:30.647 → 00:05:38.995With a 400 million series D extension and a 600 million credit facility at a valuation of now around 13.


00:05:39.019 → 00:05:48.429Billion US Dollars cementing their spot at Germany’s most valuable startup as well as Germany’s only de corn so far


00:05:48.300 → 00:05:51.328and but I do have to admit that I still have a


00:05:51.181 → 00:06:03.139bit of a hard time to explain what they actually do so they are basically looking at your business processes and due process mining in order to help identify unrealized efficiencies what they do example


00:06:03.010 → 00:06:17.110now as the press release stated about the new funding is that they are helping with supply chain issues to make your business run more smoothly and Chris do you know what’s also impressive about them they raced in total 2.4


00:06:16.999 → 00:06:26.590billion US dollars in funding so they not even doubled their funding with this 1 billion US dollar but still a lot of money


00:06:26.488 → 00:06:40.066and it’s and it also goes a bit again to since we always try to provide a bit of context about Germany and the German startup Scene It goes back I think to this idea of that German with the fact that Germany very often is not


00:06:39.874 → 00:06:47.529probably like the sexiest startup market and coming up with Lego the new Facebook or let’s have like I don’t know let’s have


00:06:47.418 → 00:07:00.240flying cars and all this stuff but rather something that works something that makes money something like sap being like the business software that everybody uses and it might not be flashy but it might make money.


00:07:00.408 → 00:07:10.251So yeah moving onto we Fox which is a berlin-based intertek which also was able to get quite some money.


00:07:10.329 → 00:07:18.848Despite the market conditions they close the 400 million u.s. dollar series D round and I know also valued at four


00:07:18.710 → 00:07:27.634point at much more than just the billion dollars precisely at 4.5 billion dollars bit sadder news is that


00:07:27.496 → 00:07:37.222one former guest of ours had to file for insolvency the crypto startup Nuri has had a streak of bad luck first they had to announce that.


00:07:37.282 → 00:07:39.616I need to cut almost 20% of.


00:07:39.694 → 00:07:50.293Head count then millions of their clients money was Frozen with Celsius and now a block claimed it all hit during fundraising and might eventually follow


00:07:50.218 → 00:07:54.578by an insolvency filing and.


00:07:54.827 → 00:08:04.787Dotty insolvency administrator says there are parties interested in buying the company so we will see how this will all develop in the very volatile crypto mark.


00:08:04.892 → 00:08:12.096Talking about developing on to actual bank talking about developing here in New Brokers that


00:08:12.084 → 00:08:17.066and the quick delivery startups was the sorry pardon my language hot shit unless


00:08:17.009 → 00:08:26.392few years and now a new broker is close to the edge no good news from the SEC report on the poster child of all new brokers.


00:08:26.425 → 00:08:31.433The Robin Hood almost imploded during Game Stop name stuck


00:08:31.322 → 00:08:44.478chaos right TechCrunch unfortunately there’s no report for Germany mentioning for example trade Republic but we know they also stopped with the traits one of the reasons very simplified.


00:08:45.177 → 00:08:49.258All the trading goes through a few loopholes where you have to post collateral


00:08:49.219 → 00:08:56.586and then has to be cash High valued stuff and that was something they had to come up with in order to get trades done.


00:08:58.401 → 00:09:04.841Backman feeds ft x a seeking a path to buy Robin Hood right Bloomberg and


00:09:04.793 → 00:09:10.836what does this mean for big Panda try to Republican scalable capital and and 26 and we.


00:09:11.283 → 00:09:20.568We do not know yet if they’re looking for a strategic buyer or an IP oh yeah B2B new Banks had a pretty big deal with we


00:09:20.430 → 00:09:26.050talked about contour and unzipped plans to acquire Penta as we have predicted two weeks before


00:09:25.903 → 00:09:40.886admittedly relying on another podcast but we found it very another block but we found it very likely we had extensive coverage of Penta in the past LinkedIn the articular as well as an interview with controls head of Germany also contest


00:09:40.847 → 00:09:51.670with selling itself at the very Hefty discount price they’re officially headquartered the parent company in Denmark body exclusively operated in Germany.


00:09:52.316 → 00:09:53.651Again.


00:09:53.783 → 00:10:06.731Quick deliver viability of quick delivery business models is still questioned or is now questioned after only one year ago rule us has to close shop in Belgium


00:10:06.683 → 00:10:12.421and gorillas wants to save itself with advertising from consumers.


00:10:12.661 → 00:10:20.730And food Giants around the world the producer of the product and they deliver every day then there’s more.


00:10:21.843 → 00:10:33.018Signs of the current economic environment for startups means they munich-based quick delivery start up arrives delivers tech gadgets and lifestyle product they just have to shut down


00:10:32.970 → 00:10:39.463two of the five locations in Germany gorillas also closed there.


00:10:39.605 → 00:10:48.169Rider platform Street Fleet and laid off 100 plus writers they completely shut it down quick delivery service


00:10:48.067 → 00:10:56.694Croatia post from Hamburg changes its delivery model at home with the first news the river with electric cargo bikes and close a shop


00:10:56.592 → 00:11:04.382in Munich and Berlin and later frische post had to solve file for insolvency along with.


00:11:05.018 → 00:11:12.214Almost to exact same day with competitor get faster it looks like fish or post will be able to continue there’s.


00:11:12.994 → 00:11:23.944Nope statement from get faster the reason for friendship post-filing for insolvency was reported later they were in the process of of being acquired but.


00:11:24.085 → 00:11:26.941Deal fell through as the buyer pulled out.


00:11:27.650 → 00:11:39.437In Germany you say yes happens he claimed click on done campus that Tzu translated a little bit first we had no luck and then there was bad luck delivery here on Clover targeted.


00:11:39.695 → 00:11:49.447In EU antitrust inspection and then the you antitrust Authority authorities even searched delivery hero headquarters.


00:11:49.732 → 00:12:00.664So they’re there in a questionable Market position margins going down profits going down and then the market authorities also searched your headquarter that is not really good.


00:12:00.940 → 00:12:09.711Place to be now and I mean we we spoke about it quite often on the on the podcast already and I think I mean with all these things is this idea of like.


00:12:09.762 → 00:12:10.972For every.


00:12:11.482 → 00:12:22.386A problem for every solution and it seems kind of just like retro engineer that this is something that people urgently need even with something like arrived who claims to like


00:12:22.240 → 00:12:26.735bring you your favorite scented candles within 30 minutes I mean


00:12:26.714 → 00:12:37.429it’s nice but how many how many scented candles do people want to have delivered on a regular basis and how much are they willing to pay for a price premium for me and maybe once won a year.


00:12:37.795 → 00:12:52.733Maybe maybe you should treat yourself a bit more and two more scented candles and also to support the startup scene but yeah I mean with all of these and also there’s a lot of like criticism going on I spoke about how here in my New York neighborhood.


00:12:52.847 → 00:13:01.672Those super fast delivery startups close down one after the other and they also had to face a lot of criticism for having what is called the dark stores.


00:13:01.759 → 00:13:10.251So the store fronts which are part of the community part of the city all of a sudden became private places because you were not allowed to walk into the supermarket.


00:13:10.339 → 00:13:18.669So there were also politicians especially on the more Progressive side who said no we need those spaces to be like public spaces and you can’t


00:13:18.540 → 00:13:21.441put up a warehouse in the middle of the city.


00:13:21.519 → 00:13:30.633Yeah I think there’s a lot of lot of question marks still around this business model and we will see how it goes quite a marks good.


00:13:30.783 → 00:13:41.102Good thing question marks job Cuts kept coming even during summer the current market conditions led to a halfing of open positions.


00:13:41.153 → 00:13:43.677At the German unicorn startups


00:13:43.548 → 00:13:57.657and here are some examples including a hiring freeze as established tech company sap we just talked about them office software company lenders joints bigger names and cut 15% of the team


00:13:57.583 → 00:14:01.916Austrian crypto unicorn bit Panda Cuts more than 25%.


00:14:02.030 → 00:14:11.782Of its head count and we’ll really struck me with a realistic clock for a platform Mac marklar we seen as unique on candidate in Berlin.


00:14:11.887 → 00:14:22.711But they first celebrated with their employees using the hashtag one team to post photos and then after this they were announced to fire twelve percent of the workforce.


00:14:23.257 → 00:14:32.523Not ready nice also Emison aggregator unicorn seller X had laid off staff as a wave.


00:14:32.646 → 00:14:37.231Of layoffs continues to sweep the industry but


00:14:37.039 → 00:14:45.513it’s not all bad news as we said eight out of 10 startups in Germany are still looking to hire employees according to a recent survey of Bitcoin.


00:14:45.556 → 00:14:49.646I would bet it’s the people who are very hard to combine like


00:14:49.418 → 00:15:00.889we product managers experienced coders and stuff like that I just recently talked to a person who is in charge of headhunting for several companies and they


00:15:00.769 → 00:15:10.000I thought there was a big opportunity to get a crane encoders to Germany because the company broke down they had something like 2,000 coders guess how much he got.


00:15:10.087 → 00:15:10.801Two.


00:15:10.897 → 00:15:20.586They were all swept out it it’s incredible this Market if you already have the skills you can’t buy fintech success even.


00:15:20.655 → 00:15:30.480If you are an insurance bugging out he money is Insurance giant aliens take on a multi banking app


00:15:30.378 → 00:15:41.427by the way I think they almost all disappeared they even hired two experienced entrepreneurs but now they pulled the plug on the project and the last top news again turned out at all


00:15:41.271 → 00:15:50.915why card why caught apparently for each client details to secure 900 million investment from SoftBank reported the financial times.


00:15:51.299 → 00:15:54.822Let’s go a little bit to my most favorite stuff


00:15:54.720 → 00:16:09.163housekeeping and time to brag it can is all we can tell you how awesome we are this year’s already half a word so we duck into the analytics of our hosting service in the first half of 2022 our podcasts were downloaded and



00:16:26.318 → 00:16:26.906pain


00:16:26.849 → 00:16:40.427Apple for the first time that we know of we only made aware of this since we use a non new analytic service called Potter and in August we apparently did pretty good we would training around the world.


00:16:40.947 → 00:16:50.069Our podcast was in Apple’s entrepreneurship podcast charts in Germany Ukraine and Croatia fintech Germany was in


00:16:50.030 → 00:16:58.081The apis Business and Entrepreneurship podcasts in Mauritius yes surprised the hell out of me is well deep Tech with


00:16:58.060 → 00:17:03.518detector mini was an apples entrepreneurship podcast charts in the UK and Belarus Plus


00:17:03.506 → 00:17:12.340Global entrepreneurship and business podcasts as we said before plus Charter bills podcast chart global global tag


00:17:12.257 → 00:17:25.502Global business global news with a India and France guys with very very happy for you support thank you very much and we published a lot of stuff including the new bacteria week and also some zing


00:17:25.436 → 00:17:30.705Samsung B IP of during startup 0ne for 300 million u.s. dollar


00:17:30.612 → 00:17:40.095all employees are fired and that was one of the strongest performing blocks this summer Chris I talked enough can you take over their care system.


00:17:40.317 → 00:17:47.890And keep in mind you’re still you still challenge for keeping your black belt in geography so


00:17:47.888 → 00:18:02.321well it will be coming up but first of all let’s take a bit of a step back and have a look at the ecosystem with some inspiring articles that we found one is that we start out with two questions from legendary.


00:18:02.435 → 00:18:04.554Venture capitalists Hunter walk.


00:18:04.749 → 00:18:19.002Claiming that these two questions are what you need to understand the next few years of venture and startups number one is it a tech reception or general recession number two will there be one category winner of multiple.


00:18:19.071 → 00:18:27.842Five billion plus winners in our show notes you can get more in depth of these encouraging questions


00:18:27.822 → 00:18:37.349we also see some Grim news for the German economy on the horizon and here there are not yet the news of the potential natural gas shortfall in the fall fully included.


00:18:37.409 → 00:18:45.181German consumers are spending less money than they used to retire revenues took a dive by around nine percent in June.


00:18:45.205 → 00:18:54.867It’s the largest day for 28 years it does not look good for all retailers but especially offline retailers are struggling a bit


00:18:54.819 → 00:19:02.600I guess it’s a bit of yeah part of what happened and what also had to do partly with the


00:19:02.489 → 00:19:10.918many subsidies or money being handed out during the pandemic which I guess LED in a couple of countries to the fact that there was much more,


00:19:10.933 → 00:19:21.424money in the market which then leads to the inflation and so on and so on and inflation being a psychological phenomenon that’s hitting nearly many countries well well well it’s.


00:19:21.880 → 00:19:30.795You come yeah it’s a long story anyway Swiss startups raised 2.6 billion Swiss Francs which is also.


00:19:31.045 → 00:19:33.496Roughly the same amount of money in euros and.


00:19:33.646 → 00:19:42.588Dollars in venture capital in the first half of 22 the government is discussing government-backed fund to support Innovative Swiss Tech startup.


00:19:43.747 → 00:19:58.702We have an article about this in the show notes and Venture Capital investments in Austrian startups also show no sign of slowing they raised 881 million euros in venture capital in the first half of twenty to sixty seven percent


00:19:58.510 → 00:20:05.076increase versus the first half of 21 but they have been more smaller Investments made.


00:20:05.460 → 00:20:18.255The startups in the first half of 22 I’m not beating the single largest VC funding from the record you have 21 despite 300 million euros funding for goal student.


00:20:20.008 → 00:20:34.081Bringing our Focus back to Germany couple of news here the Venture Capital investments in Germany dip by 20% in money in the first half of 22 and 7% in numbers but it was still the second.


00:20:34.204 → 00:20:43.633Best half year on record and then something very specific so to Germany which turned out to be a very like


00:20:43.468 → 00:20:55.021beloved idea of the German government the 9 Euro ticket in order to explain that for foreign listeners in Germany in June July and August you could.


00:20:55.531 → 00:21:04.653Basically by a flat rate for buses and local trains for 9 Euro for the whole country I did it it was awesome.


00:21:05.586 → 00:21:11.621People loved it obviously people love it and it also makes sense in terms of.


00:21:11.735 → 00:21:21.028The environment and yeah so the the whole thing also LED


00:21:20.962 → 00:21:34.117to the fact that the not covered long-distance buses grew a big headache buses departing the same day have full at most so this is one of the


00:21:34.079 → 00:21:36.593collateral damages there as well.


00:21:37.103 → 00:21:49.403Amazon had 56% of the German e-commerce Market in 21 translating to more than 47 billion euros in revenues and up from six percent from five years ago


00:21:49.364 → 00:21:50.880so it’s really like.


00:21:50.904 → 00:22:00.386Crazy the EU wants to set up its own satellite Network for fast internet connections now Germany push the initiative to include start-up as well.


00:22:00.887 → 00:22:04.068Germany moves to legalize cannabis expected


00:22:03.930 → 00:22:11.648to create a domino effect we’ve talked about it in an interview already you can find the link in the show notes


00:22:11.510 → 00:22:21.037and German white hat hackers at cows Computer Club hack the video It Doesn’t from Six National International providers as a result of German Regulators stop


00:22:20.989 → 00:22:24.800video identification for certain activities.


00:22:25.211 → 00:22:39.699Moving on to companies who were able to collect some money yes or companies who could like the dot data about collecting money most of the time we now


00:22:39.579 → 00:22:47.675relying here in this special part of the ecosystem funding numbers on CB insights and competitors.


00:22:47.717 → 00:22:57.929Funding to cybersecurity startups dipped a little bit defined Global fintech funding sees lowest level since Q for 2020


00:22:57.791 → 00:23:07.003the state of venture capital report Global funding declined by more than 20 percent for a straight quarter tiger leads


00:23:06.901 → 00:23:07.930a shift.


00:23:08.188 → 00:23:18.490And shifting lineup of most active investors and Venture Capital sees a Slowdown But Here Comes the good news at the end why 230.


00:23:18.559 → 00:23:28.176Building US dollars of dry power sit on the side that means to be seized have to invest at one point 230,


00:23:28.182 → 00:23:31.552Berlin US dollars.


00:23:32.440 → 00:23:38.205Next section talk about Hops and deserving cities and entrepreneurs who will never get any English


00:23:38.067 → 00:23:44.164coverage and first up of course my home turf Frankfurt I’m also something I wrote


00:23:44.035 → 00:23:54.301as rhyme and feces so to say my hobby project yes I’m sitting here and filling out the Excel sheets I know I have said live a startups in the greater right man area have raised in.


00:23:54.352 → 00:24:02.889The first half of twenty twenty two more funding than in all of 2021 that’s a good news we’ve tracked 28 deals with 407


00:24:02.778 → 00:24:12.161million Euros which would be approximately half of what all of Austria raised we also fought 20 Investments over 20


00:24:12.149 → 00:24:21.38920 and 20 21 the state of hessen made in there Corona a program valued at only eight point eight


00:24:21.341 → 00:24:32.128million years in companies we classified as startups and Frankfurt based note energy raises 7 million euros in series a funding.


00:24:32.675 → 00:24:42.526We go little bit to the South to darmstadt Hornet Security based in Hanover Hanover Germany acquires cyber security training expert


00:24:42.442 → 00:24:48.656it sealed based in the upshot we talked to those guys in our interview


00:24:48.501 → 00:24:55.642and the Drone startup yes we also covered them win copter is looking for sites to set up a factory since.


00:24:55.729 → 00:25:04.356This is expensive they’re also looking for new funding of course you can learn more in the interview with the CEO we did some time back


00:25:04.308 → 00:25:06.463often booked an addict.


00:25:06.622 → 00:25:14.547Not geography here but I tried to give you some perspective a city with a bit over 60,000 people pretty close to Strasburg


00:25:14.418 → 00:25:26.241Vai startup conversion maker raises 4 million euros in Venture Capital the city of Copeland’s close to: and I have a population of about 100,000 people not too far from Frankfort as well


00:25:26.121 → 00:25:29.284NBA legend LeBron James invest.


00:25:29.866 → 00:25:41.644Amongst others in 30 million u.s. dollars private Equity investment round in Copeland’s based Canyon Bicycles to fund the u.s. expansion and I headed over to the.


00:25:41.731 → 00:25:44.885Black belt in geography Christian.


00:25:45.359 → 00:25:56.858And moving to the north to Hamburg where we see that startups winner raised 1.2 million euros for their new AI tool which will help trade of electricity.


00:25:57.134 → 00:26:06.229And Hamburg based Postmates clone ringu raised five million euros and funding in in hopes of being.


00:26:06.370 → 00:26:13.071Valuable competitor there Kaiserslautern also known as a K-Town because of.


00:26:13.176 → 00:26:17.338Still being a city I think with a lot of US soldiers,


00:26:17.353 → 00:26:29.005in it and around it our 2021 interview guests lupus Eda just raise their seed funding they’re working on a game-changing technology for developing semiconductors.


00:26:29.038 → 00:26:29.950Um


00:26:29.956 → 00:26:44.858you can learn more in the show notes the main reason sorry Chris the main reason for the for lots of American soldiers is a the abbes Ramstein and the military Hospital in Landstuhl which are very important installations in Europe for the US military go ahead.


00:26:44.882 → 00:26:49.251Munich that is a city people know.


00:26:49.347 → 00:27:01.062Has been faring well during Corona their insolvency has declined in 2021 by nearly 14 percent only 334 companies according to a recent report.


00:27:01.095 → 00:27:02.574It by Munich startups.


00:27:02.661 → 00:27:11.171So I think in that case it does not just include startups but also like your little Mom and Pop shop but still the economy in Munich being relatively healthy.


00:27:11.276 → 00:27:20.570Moving on to Switzerland as we always say we are focusing on all German language markets and in Switzerland we see that metaphysics.


00:27:20.630 → 00:27:27.177With AK is an immersive technology startup from lausanne Switzerland lausanne also fun fact


00:27:27.003 → 00:27:38.871the hosting city of the very first ever European Song Contest in 1956 now metaphysics Race 2 million u.s. dollars in Venture Capital to bring their solution into the metaverse.


00:27:39.283 → 00:27:47.180Swiss fintech yokoi is competing against other startups managing corporate spending like mosque few and Spenders.


00:27:47.385 → 00:27:56.948But spend desk but argue it’s not a winner-takes-all market and divestitures seem to agree so far they are rumored to be valued at 500 million dollars


00:27:56.945 → 00:28:03.384Swiss startup type V has Type Y is receives a 500


00:28:03.373 → 00:28:11.540thousand US dollars from y combinator to continue developing the AI powered smartphone keyboard for consumers so


00:28:11.475 → 00:28:20.633very much looking forward to that and the biotech startup Tropic bioscience bioscience has raises 35 million u.s. dollars led by Blue


00:28:20.594 → 00:28:23.342Verizon and in


00:28:23.340 → 00:28:36.666Austria keep in mind the news from the ecosystem and funding on the job cuts at Big Panda and the Stalls of Veen proud of Vienna bit highly going skiing Bahasa is a newly set of venture capital fund owned by the city of Vienna


00:28:36.573 → 00:28:44.768they aim to invest 50 million euros in the city’s startup scene which sounds like a very profound.


00:28:45.368 → 00:28:50.943Profound steak lsf 2030 is a new life signed.


00:28:51.013 → 00:28:58.037Site life science fund raised in to roll Austria Austria they looking at 50 to 80 million euros.


00:28:58.169 → 00:29:07.796And opal wunderkind was an edge attack an early start up in Vienna their building of dreaming robot toys for children ended for now in an insolvency though.


00:29:08.432 → 00:29:17.284Vienna based mental health startup stress coach exits to boston-based kga ink and.


00:29:17.497 → 00:29:25.782Yeah I mean stress coach make a guess of what it offers my guess is those little balls that you need to screw.


00:29:26.112 → 00:29:29.995In order to stay calm.


00:29:30.749 → 00:29:44.642Which lets me move on to more General news Tech News company new section even more investors and new funds are still raised the German federal government and crazy done child for Vida of poke FW unveiled the new Venture Tech


00:29:44.621 → 00:29:53.419growth financing depth fund for growth stage tech companies with 12 125.


00:29:53.614 → 00:30:02.241Megan Jarreau tickets jointly by private investors we have more about the strategy behind it also in the show notes.


00:30:02.635 → 00:30:11.064Einstein Industries Ventures and new Venture Capital fund aiming to raise 300 million euros and invest them in European space startups exciting.


00:30:11.385 → 00:30:22.695Hi Lehman Brothers exited their daily deal to Google Now they want to convert their family office into an impact Venture Capital fund aiming at 500 million euros for the first.


00:30:23.556 → 00:30:34.839Form a VC fund managers for June fund and Atlantic Labs food are raising two new funds for their new VC in Berlin one seed and one growth aiming for 220 million euros


00:30:34.746 → 00:30:43.661we already mentioned starts of in the city of Vienna is initiative X Ange is a VC with French roots or.


00:30:43.739 → 00:30:45.506Probably done is exons.


00:30:45.674 → 00:30:55.787And already they’re already having an office in Munich now they open an office in Berlin and raise 220 million euro fund to invest mostly in German startups.


00:30:56.405 → 00:31:01.936The headline VC closes over 950 million dollars to invest in early stage startups.


00:31:02.131 → 00:31:10.857French Musial II may have what you are looking for a new deep Tech fund for Europe startups as Alia alpha-2 closes at 77 million euros.


00:31:11.358 → 00:31:21.749Cafe Innovation launches what would surely be one of the largest multistage VC funds with 1 billion euros family-owned home appliances company for vac.


00:31:22.107 → 00:31:23.658Which.


00:31:23.961 → 00:31:35.946They I mean it’s a Dyson competitor I mean for vac is like it’s a proud German industrial story we will talk about one day they raised with their four vac Ventures the next fun totally.


00:31:35.970 → 00:31:38.404Totaling 150 million euros.


00:31:39.274 → 00:31:53.860And finally very few selected fundraisings for companies I will just like speed through it but in based marketing automation startuprad.io rocket naps 24 million dollars and buys a new york-based sale play.


00:31:54.029 → 00:32:02.233Despite current market conditions munich-based deep Tech startup sellers raises 25 million euros in series a funding.


00:32:02.806 → 00:32:10.551Berlin by Scott most lens 21 million 29 million euros to streamline payments for migrant workers.


00:32:11.151 → 00:32:22.200The berlin-based intro Tech element deleting white labor provider of digital Insurance Solutions is receiving an additional investment of 16 million euros from existing and new investors.


00:32:22.683 → 00:32:30.545Conversational chromers as a service platform Charles raises a series a funding of 20 million u.s. dollars to become Europe’s market leader.


00:32:30.884 → 00:32:42.617Satellite startup life e0 raises 19 million euros from investors and eib Andy you’ve research funding for their automatic recognition of dangerous to pipelines railroads and power lines.


00:32:43.046 → 00:32:47.244Um which sounds like an important Endeavor to be in.


00:32:47.268 → 00:32:56.192And gun Zilla games raises 46 million dollars to redefine the Battle Royale genre by letting players trade their in-game items.


00:32:56.216 → 00:32:57.633Off the Grid.


00:32:59.475 → 00:33:06.986I’m pretty sure you’re one of those people who has like a couple of very pricey virtual swords.


00:33:07.478 → 00:33:18.689I once became I once became a victim once became a victim of PayPal theft and all of a sudden on PayPal popped up that there was like it was a pretty substantial.


00:33:18.893 → 00:33:27.808Amount it was like 900 euros or something for a virtual Shield of apparently a character in one of those multi like online roleplay things.


00:33:28.120 → 00:33:39.835But then I was able to stop it by calling the bank and the bank lady she was really she was really in on the joke she was like sure let me refund you for your virtual.


00:33:40.165 → 00:33:48.648For your virtual things let me let me put the money bag and what else do you need today and she thought it was very funny so anyway.


00:33:49.024 → 00:33:59.073Fin Tech news and Tech news for me as UK German fintechs some up razor 624 million at eight point five billion valuation.00:33:59.115 → 00:34:05.132With its payment and business Tech now used by 4 million as a bees the investment was led by


00:34:05.066 → 00:34:12.342Bain Capital Tech opportunities with funds from BlackRock POV partner centerbridge Crestland fin capital


00:34:12.196 → 00:34:20.787enter on in this yet unclear if it was down round or not your new broker scalable Capital surpasses 10 billion years


00:34:20.640 → 00:34:30.176in the client assets under management German fintech a raisin dies by stop payment services from Bangkok service team from Bunkhouse lens


00:34:30.038 → 00:34:44.904in Munich raisin already owns a license Bank in Frankfurt you can learn more about the founder in our interview I did now raising funds shelving Germany’s largest fintech exit for now we also reported


00:34:44.811 → 00:34:53.537about this you can learn more of course in the interview + ID now group invests in European platform and points jean-marc.


00:34:53.651 → 00:34:58.281Quickly yet so sorry for buttering the name as vice president of engineering


00:34:58.170 → 00:35:09.102and eventually you Wendy buy now pay later hype is almost over Dutch bug enters the market and during the crypto boom bitch Max wanted to buy munich-based.


00:35:09.540 → 00:35:17.231Bank Bunkhouse fundal height now the bank is looking for a new buyer and some Tesla news related to Germany


00:35:17.093 → 00:35:28.961too many cameras in the test lab Berlin pulleys bends Tesla cars from their properties Tesla’s gigafactory in building stops delivering of model of wife for the time being


00:35:28.877 → 00:35:37.054and during some of the gigafactory closed down for approximately two weeks Chris you want to do some general news yet.


00:35:37.726 → 00:35:42.590Justin Corp one of the big.


00:35:42.668 → 00:35:54.149Giants and German industrial history invests in aging and malaria based kept on adding digital paper use and acid as a service solutions for industrial customers to their offering


00:35:54.029 → 00:36:00.360and I guess something that we’ve never spoken about on a podcast so far is


00:36:00.223 → 00:36:11.973Kenya based intro Tech startup it’s called M Tech started by in German entrepreneur named Ben took Hawkman and they have Warren Buffett already amongst their clients it’s a fascinating story.


00:36:12.403 → 00:36:21.858Germany’s 2022 content shift short lists five companies you can mod learn more about the shortlisted startups of the last year’s and our interviews with them.


00:36:22.359 → 00:36:28.808Salon do berries the shopping service salon and puts launched in the US market on hold


00:36:28.724 → 00:36:33.345Germany cannabis investment platform juicy fields.


00:36:33.432 → 00:36:44.670Is feared to be a scam the investors cannot access their accounts the founders disappeared and even the financial Watchdog in Germany Baffin warned already in March not to invest.


00:36:44.739 → 00:36:47.271So dried fields.


00:36:47.413 → 00:37:02.152Rather than juicy Fields foodtag the vertical farming set up in farm is a unicorn but apparently only makes millions in revenues now their revenue in the first part of 22 shrank by 3.6% but Rose in the first half


00:37:02.077 → 00:37:09.291by 33 percent it’s still not a good sign for unicorn in the current environment.


00:37:10.071 → 00:37:20.418That’s it and we call it a special episode for a reason because it’s a bit longer than we usually do we will be back September 29th with our September wrap-up.


00:37:20.685 → 00:37:26.737Which here now Google doc was initially called a walk up so I think we do a walk up and a wrap-up


00:37:26.690 → 00:37:34.308at the same time we still have some more inspiration in our stay ahead of the curve section in the show notes


00:37:34.170 → 00:37:46.110talking about strategic investors being overrated software-as-a-service MMA is who multiplied and the dreaded down rounds share a shaving billions of startup valuations.


00:37:46.360 → 00:37:58.615But apart from that I still hope that you can all enjoy the last days of summer the first days of fall enjoy what a new season brings embrace all the feelings that it brings with you and


00:37:58.603 → 00:38:05.879maybe go by a scented candle or two and of course send us ideas what award Pub could be.


00:38:06.237 → 00:38:14.512We are open to your suggestions Chris was a pleasure as always talking to you by from Frankfurt hi guys live from New York.


00:38:17.840 → 00:38:44.501Music.



What Happened in GSA Startups in Summer 2022?

The summer 2022 wrap-up (July and August combined) featured Celonis securing $1 billion in funding ($400M Series D extension plus $600M credit facility), WeFox closing a $400M Series D at $4.5B valuation despite challenging market conditions, crypto startup Nuri filing for insolvency after cutting 20% of staff, and neobrokers facing significant headwinds from SEC regulatory pressure.

Introduction

This special summer 2022 wrap-up combines July and August into a single extended episode. The period was marked by contrasting fortunes in the DACH startup ecosystem. Celonis continued its growth story by securing $1 billion in total funding through a $400 million Series D extension and $600 million credit facility. WeFox demonstrated resilience by closing a $400 million Series D at a $4.5 billion valuation despite deteriorating market conditions. Meanwhile, crypto startup Nuri filed for insolvency after cutting nearly 20% of staff, and neobrokers faced growing regulatory headwinds from the SEC. The episode was enabled by Hessen Trade and Invest.

Summer 2022 captured the diverging trajectories in the DACH startup ecosystem. On the positive side, Celonis secured a massive $1 billion in combined funding and WeFox closed a $400 million Series D defying market pessimism. On the challenging side, crypto startup Nuri became one of the first notable DACH startup insolvencies of the downturn, and neobrokers faced intensifying regulatory scrutiny from the SEC. This new combined July-August format resulted in a longer-than-usual recording reflecting the volume of summer developments.

  • Celonis secured $1 billion in funding through a $400M Series D extension and $600M credit facility, cementing its position as a German tech success story.

  • WeFox closed a $400M Series D at $4.5 billion valuation despite challenging market conditions, showing resilience in the insurtech sector.

  • Crypto startup Nuri filed for insolvency after first cutting nearly 20% of its workforce, reflecting the deepening crypto winter.

  • Neobrokers faced significant headwinds from SEC regulatory pressure, creating uncertainty for European fintech companies in the brokerage space.

  • This was a new combined July-August format for the monthly wrap-up, reflecting the summer publishing schedule.

Entities Referenced in This Episode

Startups & Companies

  • Celonis — Munich-based process mining company, secured $1B total funding

  • WeFox — Berlin insurtech, $400M Series D at $4.5B valuation

  • Nuri — German crypto startup, filed for insolvency after 20% staff cuts

Organizations

  • SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) — Creating regulatory headwinds for neobrokers

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

People

  • Jörn "Joe" Menninger — Startuprad.io host

Topics

  • Mega-rounds, insurtech funding, crypto insolvency, neobroker regulation, DACH startup news, process mining

Relationship Map

  • Celonis → secured → $1B ($400M Series D extension + $600M credit)

  • WeFox → closed → $400M Series D at $4.5B valuation

  • Nuri → filed → insolvency (after 20% staff cuts, crypto winter)

  • SEC → created headwinds for → European neobrokers

Quote Highlights

  • On Celonis: Munich-based process mining company secured $1 billion in total funding through a $400M Series D extension and $600M credit facility.

  • On WeFox: Berlin insurtech closed a $400M Series D at a $4.5 billion valuation.

  • On Nuri: German crypto startup filed for insolvency after cutting 20% of staff amid the crypto winter.

  • On neobrokers: SEC creating regulatory headwinds; Robin Hood nearly imploded during GameStop; FTX/Sam Bankman-Fried seeking to buy Robin Hood.

  • On Joe: Congratulated for having his second baby — "Well actually my wife had it, I was just holding hands."

  • On new format: Summer wrap-up now separate from September episode to avoid overly long episodes.

Related Episodes on Startuprad.io

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How much funding did Celonis raise in summer 2022?

Celonis secured $1 billion in total funding consisting of a $400 million Series D extension and a $600 million credit facility. This made it one of the largest funding events in the DACH startup ecosystem during the summer.

What happened to WeFox in 2022?

Berlin-based insurtech WeFox closed a $400 million Series D round at a $4.5 billion valuation during summer 2022, despite increasingly challenging market conditions for startup fundraising.

Why did Nuri go bankrupt?

German crypto startup Nuri filed for insolvency during summer 2022 after first cutting nearly 20% of its workforce. The insolvency was part of the broader crypto winter that hit European fintech companies particularly hard.

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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From insurtech and fintech to unicorn milestones and ecosystem shifts, the DACH startup landscape never stands still. Startuprad.io partners with a select number of companies seeking high-trust visibility among founders, investors, and operators. Explore partnership options here: Partner with Startuprad.io

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