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Startup News Germany — Summer 2023 (July/ August) | Startupradio Episode #393

Jörn Menninger
Mar 15
14 min read

Updated: 2 days ago


What Is This About?

The summer 2023 DACH startup roundup covers July and August developments across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland — including notable funding rounds, founder exits, and ecosystem shifts that shaped Q3 of the year in the German-speaking startup world.


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 our summer 2023 wrap-up with vital news from the startup scenes in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in 30 minutes or less 🙂.

  • This time we wrap up July and August.

  • This summer has been a bit different and there has been a lot of news, so we focus more on the most recent ones and we have cut a lot of news here.

  • For everybody in the US who celebrates it: Happy Labor Day!




Welcome to our summer 2023 wrap-up with vital news from the startup scenes in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in 30 minutes or less 🙂.

This time we wrap up July and August. We came up with the summer news because the September news has always been very long, overcrowded, and covered 3 months. That was a bit too much of a break and too much news in one piece. So we looked to wrap up summer and since the US is an important market and Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer it seems like a good fit.

This summer has been a bit different and there has been a lot of news, so we focus more on the most recent ones and we have cut a lot of news here.

For everybody in the US who celebrates it: Happy Labor Day!


We follow our top-down structure in the news.


Our startup news wrap-up for summer 2023 by Startuprad.io with Chris who just got back from New York City and Joe from Frankfurt. We recorded this news episode on August 30th, 2023. All news not yet included here will be published in our next news episode. Find all links to the quoted news on our Medium blog link below.


Note: We will be back on our weekly publication from today, until Christmas. Our next news will be regular September news, to be published on September 28th.


Our Highlights:

Binance has not — yet — gotten permission to operate in Germany from BaFin, Nextwind raises 750 m US$, Bitpanda surpasses 1 M customers in Germany and Germany sets a new record in new founders. We also shared that SAP wants to invest in Aleph Alpha, they confirmed this and two more.

Germany’s law for legalizing cannabis falls short of the expectations of cannabis entrepreneurs. Europe dominates climate fintech funding and the overall fintech funding shows a sign of life. Bafin also stops mini VC investments — trashing the business model of some fintechs — AND we found newly closed VC funds in excess of 2.8 bn US$ that are open to European founders.


Let’s talk startups:


The Video Podcast Will Go Live on Monday, September 4th, 2023



Tune in to our Internet Radio Station here:

Tune in to learn why 100,000 startup enthusiasts tune in each month!



Our Enablers


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




Top News


Du kommst hier ned rein 🙂 Is the usual saying in Frankfurt if a Bouncer won’t let you in a Club

Fintech blog Finance Forward reports German finance oversight BaFin signals no license for Binance for Germany Finanzaufsicht Bafin verwehrt Binance die Lizenz - FinanceFWD So they can neither advertise nor expand in Germany. To be clear, this is not a final NO, but rather a “Binance keeps trying, but BaFin signaled a No”


750 M US$ for Wind Energy

Wind Energy in Germany: StartUp Nextwind raises 750 M US$ Venture Capital investors include Sandbrook Capital, Canadian funds Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments), and Imco Windkraft: Berliner Start-Up Nextwind sammelt 750 Millionen Dollar ein - Handelsblatt


Bitpanda — The Austrian Unicorn

Surpasses 1 million customers in Germany alone Bitpanda knackt Eine-Million-Kunden-Marke in Deutschland - Handelsblatt it is not sure how many of them are really active, but that is always a tough question, even for the startups. But the question is important, since one only makes money with active users.


Germany Sets a New Record in Founders

Despite the current economic situation, Germany has the highest share of founders in 24 years!!! Deutschland gruendet! Hoechste Gruendungsquote seit 24 Jahren - Gruendermetropole Berlin According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Germany had a larger than 9% founder quota, meaning people from 18–64 who (co) founded a new business within the last 3,5 years (Young Entrepreneurs). The highest value since 1999 when the monitoring started.Immigrants are especially willing to start new businesses. The founder quota of immigrants in Germany is 20% compared to 1,7% of non-immigrants.The founder quota of women (7,1%) is overall lower than the one for men (11%).


SAP Invests in AI Startups

We have shared before that German software giant SAP is rumored to be interested in investing in Aleph Alpha, now they confirmed the investment in three AI startups SAP beteiligt sich an KI-Start-ups Aleph Alpha, Cohere und Anthropic - manager magazin This is quite a new strategy for SAP, in the past they wrote their own code. Now they intend to work with partnerships


Housekeeping & Time to Brag

There is much more reason to be here than just to keep you up to date and entertain you. We inspire entrepreneurs. I just talked to Alexander the founder of AwesomeQA. Our podcast was his major inspiration to quit his job and start his AI startup. Now they have raised 2,8 mn US$ in an oversubscribed seed round for their Web3 customer support solution! https://awesome-qa.notion.site/Press-release-3167f9b705d64e2b986108c24a96a689 Ain’t that cool Chris?


Publication Schedule:

We will get back to our regular weekly publication schedule from today until Christmas. This year is the first where we will not be publishing the fintech review on the 25th of December, but before the holidays — due to popular demand. Expect our last piece for the year to drop on December 21st. We will take a break around the holidays and be back in January 2024.


Business Culture in Germany:

Note that Germany has its only federal holiday in the fall on October 3rd and therefore this year many people will take off October 2nd and have a 4-day weekend (including Joe). If you are planning a business trip in early October in Germany, keep that in mind.


Just a bit of Bragging

ALSO: Our internet radio station startup.radio has surpassed 100,000 listeners in 30 days ending August 18th! Thank you everyone.


Ecosystem


Relevant News from the World

  • Lean times hit the vertical farming business Lean times hit the vertical farming business - BBC Energy costs are just too high in vertical farming to become profitable and some spent most of their money developing their own technology, which is expensive and may not be competitive.


Relevant news from Europe and the EU


Focus on GSA


Hubs

Here we want to highlight some hidden gems and cities of general startup interest. Berlin and Munich are so large they are excluded here. You will find their news in the respective sections.


Frankfurt / Rhein-Main-Area


Sulzbach, Saarland


Aachen


Metzingen


Austria


Switzerland


General News / Tech News / Companies News Section


A little note here. Since we aim to inform you about the startup world in GSA, SMEs, and large enterprises are also active in the markets. Therefore we include some news of them here as well, where we believe they have an impact on our relevant segment of the GSA economy:


New VC Funds, If You’re Looking for Money


Our show notes will have more information on where to pitch these investors: medium.com/startuprad-io. Note here that we include all funds we find (mail or comment if you know about more) that are not excluding investing in GSA startups one way or another:


Fintech News


General News


Schumpeters Schöpferische Zerstörung ⇒ Creative Destruction Still Ongoing: Chris


Schumpeter was one of the most influential economists of the 20th century and coined the term creative destruction in German Schöpferische Zerstörung as well as Entrepreneur. Learn more about him here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Schumpeter.


We introduced this section towards the end of Corona and it is still going strong.


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


Stay Ahead of the Curve



  • Germany set a new record in startup founders — the highest share in 24 years with over 9% founder quota (ages 18-64), according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, showing ecosystem resilience despite economic headwinds.

  • Nextwind raised a massive $750 million for wind energy in Germany, backed by Sandbrook Capital, PSP Investments, and Imco — one of the largest cleantech fundraises in the DACH region for 2023.

  • Austrian unicorn Bitpanda surpassed 1 million customers in Germany alone, demonstrating strong cross-border fintech growth within the DACH region despite uncertainty around active user metrics.

  • BaFin continued to signal resistance to Binance's licensing efforts in Germany, maintaining its cautious approach to crypto exchange regulation even as traditional banks embrace digital assets.

  • SAP announced investments in AI startups, signaling corporate Germany's growing appetite for artificial intelligence and its integration into enterprise software ecosystems.

Featured Entities

Startups & Companies

  • Nextwind — Wind energy startup, raised $750M from Sandbrook Capital, PSP Investments, Imco

  • Bitpanda — Austrian crypto/fintech unicorn, 1M+ customers in Germany

  • Binance — Crypto exchange, BaFin licensing challenges in Germany

  • SAP — Enterprise software giant investing in AI startups


Cities & Regions

  • Frankfurt / Rhein-Main area, Berlin, Munich — German hub coverage

  • Berlin, Berlin

  • Munich, Bavaria

  • Austria — Bitpanda ecosystem

  • Swiss startups also covered


Regulators & Institutions

  • BaFin — German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, Binance regulation

  • HTAI / Enterprise Europe Network Hessen — Recording enablers


Relationship Map

  • Nextwind → Sandbrook Capital + PSP Investments + Imco → $750M wind energy investment

  • Bitpanda (Austria) → German market expansion → 1M+ customer milestone

  • BaFin → Binance → Regulatory friction → German crypto licensing landscape

  • SAP → AI startup investments → Corporate-startup collaboration trend


Related Articles


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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What were the biggest startup funding rounds in Germany in summer 2023?

The headline deal was Nextwind's massive $750 million raise for wind energy in Germany, backed by Sandbrook Capital, PSP Investments, and Imco. SAP also announced investments in AI startups, and Austrian unicorn Bitpanda surpassed 1 million customers in Germany. The summer period saw continued activity despite broader economic uncertainty.


Is Bitpanda available in Germany and how many users does it have?

Yes, Bitpanda — an Austrian crypto and fintech unicorn — is active in Germany and surpassed 1 million customers in the German market alone as of summer 2023. However, the exact number of active users (vs. registered accounts) remains unclear, which is a common measurement challenge across fintech platforms.


What happened with Binance and BaFin in Germany?

As of summer 2023, Binance continued to face regulatory challenges with BaFin (Germany's Federal Financial Supervisory Authority). While it was not a final rejection, BaFin signaled ongoing resistance to Binance's licensing application. The situation highlights Germany's cautious approach to crypto exchange regulation, even as traditional banks like Deutsche Bank move into digital asset services.


How is the German startup founder rate trending?

Germany set a new 24-year record for startup founders in 2023, with over 9% of people aged 18-64 having co-founded a new business within the last 3.5 years, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. This demonstrates strong entrepreneurial momentum despite macroeconomic headwinds and a challenging funding environment.


Is SAP investing in AI startups?

Yes, SAP announced investments in AI startups during summer 2023 as part of its strategy to integrate artificial intelligence into its enterprise software ecosystem. This aligns with a broader trend of German corporates increasing their involvement with startups through corporate venture capital and strategic partnerships.


Want to reach the DACH startup ecosystem? Become a partner and connect with founders, investors, and operators across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

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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