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This Month in GSA Startups — February 2022

Jörn Menninger
Mar 15
14 min read

Updated: Sep 21

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 February 2022 DACH startup news roundup covers early-year developments across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland — tracking funding momentum, notable deals, and ecosystem signals as the market shows its first signs of the correction ahead.

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.

  • We recorded this new episode on Tuesday, February 22nd, 2022.

  • We start out with mega-deal in Gaming: ESL Gaming is sold for 1bn US$, Munich-based Fintechsystems is sold for 120 mn € and Aachen-based Next Ego may accomplish THE turnaround of the whole year, coming out of insolvency, they are looking to list via SPAC, valued at 1.

  • This show was made possible by Hessen Trade and Invest with their brand Invest-in-Hessen.

  • ESL Gaming, based in Cologne, is sold for 1 bn US$ to Savvy Gaming Group, backed by Saudi SWF https://buff.



New Blog

This Month in GSA Startups — February 2022 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.



We recorded this new episode on Tuesday, February 22nd, 2022. Today we bring you everything from a new Switzerland-based unicorn to a new take on quick delivery — pardon the pun.


We start out with mega-deal in Gaming: ESL Gaming is sold for 1bn US$, Munich-based Fintechsystems is sold for 120 mn € and Aachen-based Next Ego may accomplish THE turnaround of the whole year, coming out of insolvency, they are looking to list via SPAC, valued at 1.5 bn €. Switzerland has a new unicorn, congratulations to Scandit, Gorillas wants to buy a french competitor and is thinking about a SPAC deal. Also, we have a large update on neobanks in Germany, and they are not all doing well.


Let’s talk startups:


The Video News will go live on Thursday, February 24th, 2022, at 16.00 CET



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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: https://techstartups.sounder.fm/



Top News


Megadeal in eSports


Takeover worth 120 mn Euros

Swedish Tink buys Munich-based Fintecsystems, an open banking service provider, for around 120 mn € Open-Banking-Anbieter Tink übernimmt Fintecsystems | FAZ


From Insolvency to 1.5 bn in half a year?

Aachen, Germany-based, electric car manufacturer Next Ego leaves insolvency protection and plans to list with a SPAC deal in H1 2022 for an expected 1.5 bn Euros Nach Insolvenz: E-Autohersteller Next Ego plant Börsennotierung


A new Switzerland based unicorn

Scandit raises 150 mn US$ at unicorn valuation. The company provides scanner software, used at FedEx, Carrefour, and German dm drugstore chain Scandit holt sich 131 Millionen von Investoren – und steigt zum Einhorn auf - Business Insider


Gorillas in the news


NeoBank Update

N26 in the news. We just have some articles collected here.

Berlin-based neobank Vivid raises 100 mn Euro Venture Capital from investors "Source Link dead 2026-09-14"

Not all neobanks are doing well. Hamburg-based neobank Remagine has to file for insolvency. They first wanted to be a bank for entrepreneurs, and then pivoted to a green bank. The investors don’t seem to have bought that Millionenschweres FinTech Remagine steht vor dem Aus - deutsche-startups.de

Some data on the clients of Berlin-based neobroker unicorn Trade Republic emerged. DIW-Studie zu Neobroker: Wer nutzt Trade Republic? | FAZ

  • 84% of the users are male

  • 47% are new to the stock market

  • of which 50% are 18–26 years old

  • Of the total 70% aim to invest long term

  • 56% are not in it for the thrill

  • In total, the users invest 60% in equities, 26% in ETFs, and only 2% in derivatives

  • The median return for the users was 7.1% (2019 to summer 2021)


Germany and Telegram


Housekeeping — Time to Brag

Guys, it is again time to say thank you to our audience, we are now a global Top 400 Business Podcast according to Chartable! :-)

A little hint here: Our website is doing pretty bad. It will soon be replaced and we are currently moving our content to medium. So you will soon find all of our show notes and blog posts on medium.com/startuprad-io

Also, we have a hint at an event. The EU-Startups Summit will take place this year on May 12–13th in Barcelona. They say “At this exclusive in-person event we’ll be showcasing many of Europe’s hottest startups and coming together to learn from some of the most successful European entrepreneurs of our time.” There is also a special 20% discount code for our audience using “STARTUPRADIO20”. Note: If you listen to this via one of our network partners, you are also free to use the code :-)


Ecosystem

And the politicians said there will be money:

Our audience already knows about the 10 bn startup program of the German federal government from our interview in summer 2021. Now there are new programs on the horizon:

Hamburg-based Brightpoint Capital is in the process of raising Europe’s largest privately managed umbrella venture capital fund, with a goal of 500 mn Euros. Start-up-Finanzierung: Millionen für deutsche Wagniskapitalgeber

Cherry Ventures from Berlin raised a new crypto fund of 30 mn Euros, after a 300 mn € fund last month. Apparently, there is someone pretty busy raising funds from LPs Yaak bekommt 7,3 Millionen - Dance übernimmt Rollich - Cherry Ventures legt Krypto-Fonds auf - deutsche-startups.de

EIF Venture Capital Survey 2021 (link opens PDF) eif_working_paper_2021_74.pdf - European Investment Fund working paper

Digital euro bill due early 2023 Digital euro bill due early 2023 – POLITICO writes Bjarke Smith-Meyer at Politico. This would be quite an acceleration compared with the former timelines, moving it closer by many years.

Some bad news here: More than one-third of Europe’s top VC firms are yet to hire a female partner More than one-third of Europe’s top VC firms are yet to hire a female partner | Sifted


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.


Frankfurt


Mainz


Darmstadt

TU Darmstadt wants to become a startup investor with the program “IP for shares”, it has been already tested for a fusion energy startup Wissen gegen Anteile: TU Darmstadt will Startup-Investor werden - Business Insider


Walldorf

SAP buys fintech Taulia and becomes a competitor of banks like Deutsche Bank Wie sich SAP zum Rivalen der Deutschen Bank aufschwingt | FinanceFWD


Heidelberg

KKR and other investors have channeled approx. 800 mn Euros (900 mn US$) in Unzer, formerly Heidelpay, a payment app from Heidelberg, Germany Die riesigen Fundings der Payment-Hoffnung Unzer | FinanceFWD


Dresden

Wandelbots Raises $84M in Series C Funding — FinSMEs Wandelbots Raises $84M in Series C Funding - FinSMEs


Munich


Austria


Switzerland

  • Swiss-based “Russian Elon Musk ‘’ builds a cargo drone with a speed of 19,000 km/h called Jungfrau (Virgin). Such a drone would make transatlantic freight delivery much faster and cheaper, but could also have military applications (Original Source Removed - Here would be a link to the source) This is not a perfect example, since such a drone would need time to speed up and slow down, but if they would fly all time at max speed, the drone could deliver a parcel from Frankfurt to New York City in 20 minutes.

  • UBS has brokered 300 mn CHF in swiss startups so far "Pro Jahr ermöglichen wir Finanzierungen für rund 15 Startups"

  • Revival Healthcare Capital, 415 Capital, and existing investors invest 90 mn US$ in Lausanne, Switzerland-based Distalmotion for the development of their robot surgeon Distalmotion sammelt 90 Millionen ein - bioniq übernimmt Loewi - WeddyPlace kauft WonderWed - deutsche-startups.de


General News / Companies News Section


Fintech, today very heavily leaning towards US Banks …


A very very few and very selected fundraisings:


HR announcements


Togetherness or so …

  • Amelie was once a shooting star of the Berlin startup scene. They had a female co-founder who understood to make the online shop for sex toys classy. First they were sold to Pro7Sat1, a group of TV stations in Germany, very active in the German startup scene. Then they were sold in October last year to the dutch EQOM group. Now there is bad news. According to recent press reports, approx. 30% of the headcount will be cut by the new owners Was hinter den Massenentlassungen bei Amorelie steckt - Business Insider

  • A new take on quick delivery: That is a new one: Finish quick delivery startup Wolt broadens its delivery to now include sex toys, to be delivered within 35 minutes in Hamburg "Source Link dead 2026-09-14"


Other News

Bird.com sold for 2.5 mn US$ Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It’s a bird.com domain name sale! MessageBird outbids micro-mobility company Bird Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It's a bird.com domain name sale! MessageBird outbids micromobility company Bird - Tech.eu reports Tech.eu crazy how much people spent for a simple URL.

How Zewdi, Berlin’s First Black-Owned Travel Agency, Highlights Black German History — Travel Noire How Zewdi, Berlin's First Black-Owned Travel Agency, Highlights Black German History - Travel Noire

Biotech billionaire and SAP co-founder Dietmar Hopp digs deeper to back one of the drug developers in his portfolio Biotech billionaire Dietmar Hopp digs deeper to back one of the drug developers in his portfolio

German deep tech Vara on track to accelerate breast cancer screening German deep tech Vara on track to accelerate breast cancer screening - Tech.eu

Home24 surprises markets with stagnating revenues and dumps forecast, the takeover of the brick and mortar retailer should be completed in Q2 2022 Home24: Online-Möbelhändler meldet stagnierenden Umsatz und kassiert Prognose - IT-Times

Normally they are headquartered in New York City, but since they are a large investor in the German-speaking startup scene here they are: Tiger Global Raised $11 Billion for New Venture Fund, Exceeding Target Tiger Global Raised $11 Billion for New Venture Fund, Exceeding Target — The Information


Stay ahead of the curve


What Happened in GSA Startups in February 2022?

February 2022 was dominated by a $1 billion gaming mega-deal: Cologne-based ESL Gaming was sold to Saudi SWF-backed Savvy Gaming Group. Swedish Tink acquired Munich's Fintecsystems (open banking) for ~€120M. Aachen-based electric car maker Next Ego emerged from insolvency aiming for a €1.5B listing. Swiss barcode scanner company Scandit raised $150M to reach unicorn status, and Gorillas was reportedly considering a SPAC IPO.

Introduction

Recorded February 22nd, 2022, this monthly wrap-up leads with gaming's biggest deal: Cologne-based ESL Gaming sold for $1 billion to Savvy Gaming Group, backed by the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund. The open banking space saw Swedish Tink acquire Munich-based Fintecsystems for approximately €120 million. In electric mobility, Aachen-based Next Ego left insolvency protection and announced plans to list at an ambitious €1.5 billion valuation in just half a year. Switzerland contributed a new unicorn as Scandit — whose scanner software is used by FedEx and Carrefour — raised $150 million. Gorillas added to the delivery drama by reportedly considering a SPAC IPO. The episode was enabled by Hessen Trade and Invest.

The February 2022 DACH wrap-up captured an ecosystem still generating major deals despite early signs of market cooling. ESL Gaming's $1 billion sale to Saudi-backed Savvy Gaming Group was the headline — one of the largest exits from a German company. Tink's €120M acquisition of Munich's Fintecsystems consolidated the open banking sector. Next Ego's audacious move from insolvency to planned €1.5B listing raised eyebrows. Scandit's Swiss unicorn milestone and Gorillas' SPAC IPO considerations rounded out a month of significant activity. Hessen Trade and Invest enabled the coverage.

  • ESL Gaming (Cologne) sold for $1 billion to Saudi SWF-backed Savvy Gaming Group — one of the largest German gaming exits.

  • Swedish Tink acquired Munich-based Fintecsystems for ~€120M, consolidating the European open banking sector.

  • Aachen-based electric car maker Next Ego emerged from insolvency aiming for a €1.5B listing within half a year.

  • Swiss barcode scanner company Scandit reached unicorn status with a $150M raise — used by FedEx and Carrefour.

  • Gorillas was reportedly considering a SPAC IPO as an alternative path to public markets.

Entities Referenced in This Episode

Startups & Companies

  • ESL Gaming (Cologne) — Sold for $1B to Savvy Gaming Group

  • Savvy Gaming Group — Saudi SWF-backed acquirer of ESL Gaming

  • Fintecsystems (Munich) — Open banking provider, acquired by Tink for ~€120M

  • Tink (Sweden) — Acquired Fintecsystems

  • Next Ego (Aachen) — Electric car manufacturer, from insolvency to planned €1.5B listing

  • Scandit (Switzerland) — Barcode scanner software unicorn, $150M raise, used by FedEx/Carrefour

  • Gorillas — Considering SPAC IPO

Organizations

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

Topics

  • Esports mega-deal, open banking M&A, electric vehicle insolvency recovery, Swiss unicorn, SPAC IPO, Saudi investment in gaming

Relationship Map

  • Savvy Gaming Group (Saudi SWF) → acquired → ESL Gaming (Cologne) for $1B

  • Tink (Sweden) → acquired → Fintecsystems (Munich) for ~€120M

  • Next Ego (Aachen) → left insolvency → plans €1.5B listing

  • Scandit (Switzerland) → raised $150M → unicorn status (FedEx/Carrefour as users)

  • Gorillas → reportedly considering → SPAC IPO

Quote Highlights

  • Gorillas is considering a SPAC IPO and is set to acquire French rapid delivery startup Frichti.

  • N26 continues to lose leadership members with COO Adrienne Gormley departing, while planning to launch crypto offerings in Germany soon.

  • The February 2022 DACH startup news roundup covers early-year developments across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland — tracking funding momentum and key moves.

  • N26 indirectly discloses revenues and premium customer numbers, with 45% of revenues coming from premium account fees.

Related Episodes on Startuprad.io

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Who bought ESL Gaming?

Savvy Gaming Group, backed by the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund, acquired Cologne-based ESL Gaming for $1 billion in February 2022. It was one of the largest exits from the German tech/gaming ecosystem.

What happened to Fintecsystems?

Munich-based Fintecsystems, an open banking service provider, was acquired by Swedish company Tink for approximately €120 million. The deal consolidated the European open banking sector.

What is Scandit?

Scandit is a Switzerland-based company providing barcode scanner software used by major enterprises including FedEx and Carrefour. The company reached unicorn status in February 2022 with a $150 million fundraise.

What was Next Ego?

Next Ego was an Aachen-based electric car manufacturer that left insolvency protection and announced ambitious plans to list at a €1.5 billion valuation within half a year — a remarkable turnaround timeline if achieved.

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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If your company wants to reach founders, investors, and operators across the DACH startup ecosystem, Startuprad.io works with a select number of partners on high-trust visibility and thought-leadership formats. Explore partnership options here: Partner with Startuprad.io

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