Startup News and Tech News from Germany, Austria and Switzerland – Details, episodes & analysis

Welcome to the Summer 2024 Startup News Wrap-Up from Startuprad.io! In this special Labor Day episode, we cover the most crucial updates from the vibrant startup ecosystems in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, investor, or tech enthusiast, this episode is packed with insights into the latest trends, funding rounds, and ecosystem developments shaping the future of innovation in the DACH region.

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🔍 Episode Highlights:

• Helsing’s €450M Series C Funding: Munich-based defense AI startup Helsing has soared to a €4.9B valuation with its recent funding. Discover how this positions Helsing as a leader in European security tech and what it means for the future of AI in defense.

• Lilium’s Strategic Dilemma: Explore the challenges faced by air taxi pioneer Lilium, including uncertainties over state aid that could lead to a sale and relocation. Learn how this could impact air mobility and the German startup scene.

• Grover’s €50M Funding Amid Market Challenges: Berlin-based tech rental company Grover raised €50M as it navigates economic headwinds. Find out how Grover is pivoting toward sustainable growth and what this means for the tech rental industry.

• CatalYm & osapiens: We discuss CatalYm’s €150M Series D funding for cancer immunotherapy and osapiens' €110M investment to expand its global ESG platform. These stories highlight the growing investor confidence in Europe’s deep-tech and biotech sectors.

• ECB’s Digital Euro Progress Report: Get updated on the European Central Bank’s first report on the digital euro, marking a significant step in developing Europe’s central bank digital currency (CBDC).

🇩🇪🇦🇹🇨🇭 Local Startup News:

• Germany: The AI startup sector in Germany is booming, with a 35% increase in 2024. We explore the opportunities and challenges in this thriving industry.

• Austria: Vienna-based HR tech startup Speedinvest Heroes (HROs) has filed for bankruptcy, highlighting the challenges in Austria's HR tech sector.

• Switzerland: Swiss startups raised CHF 1.1B in H1 2024, with biotech leading the charge. Despite a 9.5% decline, early-stage investments in AI and energy are showing strong growth.

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#Hashtags: #StartupNews #GermanStartups #SwissStartups #AustrianStartups #TechTrends #FundingNews #AIInnovation #DeepTech #VentureCapital #EuropeanStartups

In this must-listen episode of Startuprad.io, we bring you an insightful conversation with Nobel Laureate and former U.S. Secretary of Energy, Professor Steven Chu. As a leading authority in renewable energy, nuclear power, and innovative startups, Chu shares his expert insights on the challenges and opportunities in the evolving energy landscape. This episode is a deep dive into the future of energy, covering everything from small modular reactors to the critical role of energy storage technologies.

1. Nuclear Energy Challenges
   Professor Chu explores the difficulties of constructing large nuclear reactors, emphasizing budgetary constraints and project delays.

2. The Potential of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs)
   Chu advocates for SMRs as a safer, more scalable alternative to traditional nuclear reactors. He explains how SMRs can benefit from mass production techniques, similar to those in the automotive industry, to drive down costs and enhance safety.

3. Geopolitical Impact of Nuclear Energy
   In light of current global tensions, Chu highlights the strategic importance of nuclear energy in reducing dependence on foreign energy sources, particularly Russian gas.

4. Germany’s Nuclear Phase-Out
   The episode examines Germany’s decision to phase out nuclear power and its potential repercussions on energy-intensive industries. Chu offers his perspective on whether reactivating nuclear plants or adopting new technologies could support Germany’s future energy needs.

5. Comparing U.S. and European Green Startups
   Chu compares the progress of green startups in the U.S. and Europe, highlighting the success of solar energy in Germany and the challenges faced by U.S. companies despite recent policy efforts like the Inflation Reduction Act.

6. Importance of Energy Storage
   As renewable energy sources like solar and wind continue to grow, Chu emphasizes the crucial role of advanced energy storage technologies. He discusses current limitations and explores potential solutions to support higher percentages of renewable energy in the grid.

7. Personal Energy Choices
   Chu shares his own energy consumption decisions, including the potential installation of solar panels and the maintenance of an older, fuel-efficient car. These personal insights offer a relatable perspective on sustainable living and energy efficiency.

8. Success Strategies for Energy Startups
   Chu discusses the importance of large investments and strategic collaboration between startups and established companies. He provides actionable advice for energy startups looking to scale their operations and significantly impact carbon emissions.

If you found this episode insightful, please follow Startuprad.io on Spotify, leave a rating, and share this episode with your network. Don’t forget to hit the notification bell so you never miss an update on our latest episodes.

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Join us for a deep dive into the startup world of Germany in 2023! We'll recap the latest trends in startup valuations and investments, featuring top Berlin, Hamburg, and other German startups. Learn about the innovative ideas and entrepreneurs driving the German startup scene forward. Don't miss out on this valuable information for investors and aspiring entrepreneurs alike!

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A startup's journey can be a tough one, but it doesn't have ́to feel like you're alone on your quest! Invest in others' success with us by joining our community of entrepreneurs who are building amazing things every day - no matter how big or small their ideas may seem at first glance. The best way to find investors and cooperation partners for early-stage startups. Sign up here: https://startupraven.com/

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We are talking about #Startupscene #germanstartuppodcast #germanstartups #startups #innovation #entrepreneur #entrepreneurship #businessnews #insolvencies #earlystageinvestment #seed #seedfunding #preseedfunding #laterstagefunding #valuation #privateequity #venturecapital #fundraising #deeptech #biotechnology #AI #europeanstartupodcast #europeanstartup #startupeurope #ecosystem #ecosystems #scalablestartups #jobcreation #marketcapitalization #dealvolume #europeanperspective #cleantechnology #cleantech #fundingslump #biotechcompanies #entrepreneurinterviews #startupradio

Dear Esteemed Listeners,

As the holiday season wraps us in its joyful embrace, I wanted to take a moment to extend my heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of you who has been a part of our incredible journey here at Startuprad.io.

This time of year is not just about the twinkling lights and merry melodies; it's about cherishing connections, celebrating accomplishments, and embracing the spirit of togetherness. Your unwavering support, insightful feedback, and enthusiasm have been the driving force behind our podcast's success.

As we reflect on the year gone by, I'm filled with immense gratitude for the enriching conversations, the wisdom shared by our remarkable guests, and the vibrant community that surrounds us. Your engagement fuels our passion to continue bringing you thought-provoking insights and valuable content.

May this season fill your hearts with warmth, your homes with laughter, and your lives with endless joy. Here's to a new year brimming with innovation, inspiration, and boundless opportunities.

Thank you for being an integral part of our journey. From the entire team at Startuprad.io, I wish you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas and a joyous holiday season.

Warm regards,

Joe Menninger Host, Startuprad.io

The background music is Borrtex 04 Happy Holidays published under Creative Commons License

As we step into the holiday season, we at Startuprad.io are excited to bring you exclusive insights from our recent Fintech Review 2023 for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Our latest episode featured prominent voices in the Fintech industry, offering valuable perspectives on the current landscape and the Fintech Outlook 2024. We talk all things digital finance, banking, and capital markets. Tune in to learn more.

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Ever since Joe ventured into podcasting, Fintech has ignited tremendous interest. In 2014, he initiated the annual Fintech reviews, initially in German. For several years, Startuprad.io has proudly presented this review as the crowning piece of each year. Lately, there's been a request to shift the publication from December 25th to an earlier date, ensuring you can tune in during your Christmas travels. We're thrilled to accommodate this request, especially for our German investors eager to delve into the thriving Fintech scenes of Hamburg, Berlin, and Munich, along with the broader spectrum of German startups.

Here are some of the highlights from the episode:

- Kimmo Soramäki, CEO of FAN.FI, shares positive news for the upcoming year and discusses the optimization of liquidity for banks and businesses, as well as the challenges posed by the rise in digital payment fraud. - Paolo Sironi, an esteemed author and thought leader, delves into the rise of generative AI and its impact on the banking relationship, emphasizing the importance of digitalization, personalization, and simplification in communication for understanding the value proposition.

- Luca Frignani, CEO of Exaloan, provides valuable insights into the challenges and successes in the Fintech lending space in 2023, while also predicting a convergence of Fintech lending, tokenization, and the digital asset ecosystem in 2024.

- Ivan Maryasin, CEO of Monite, reflects on the shift of startups towards becoming real businesses and the impact of high interest rates on incumbents and startups.

We invite you to tune in to the episode for an in-depth discussion on Fintech, banking, InsurTech, embedded finance, and CBDC, offering you a comprehensive understanding of the industry's current state and future potential.

Here is our blog post: https://medium.com/startuprad-io/fintech-review-2023-predictions-and-outlook-for-germany-austria-and-switzerland-1f147e768a87

In this interview we are talking about Kimmo Soramäki, Jörn "Joe" Menninger, Ivan Maryasin, Paolo Sironi, Luca Frignani, Embedded finance, Digital payments, Liquidity optimization, Rising interest rates, Fraud in digital payments, Generative AI, Open banking, Neobanks, Digital wallet usage, Fintech lending, Tokenization, Digital asset ecosystem, Risk management, Startups, Unit economics, Talent migration, Incumbents, Financial services shift, Banking relationship, Digital connectivity, Consumer priorities, Institutional investors, Economic proof

Welcome to our December 2023 wrap-up with vital news from the startup and tech entrepreneurship scenes in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in 30 minutes or less 🙂. Our startup news is recorded with Chris in New York City and Joe in Frankfurt. The recording date is December 19th, 2023 and all news not included will be in our next news to be released on January 25th, 2024. Note: We will take a holiday break until January 18th, 2023, when you can expect the first publication in the new year.

Aleph Alpha's AI models get bad press. Escooter Tier lays of one-fifth of the workforce. Solarisbank also fires employees, and so does the Austrian scale-up neoom. Sport Alliance gets 100 M US$ funding and Hugo Boss chips into a sustainable fashion fund. Trade Republic is now a fully licensed bank and Instafreight has to file for insolvency. In total, we have more than 30 M US$ new VC investments in Austria, more than 25 M US$ investments in Switzerland, and more than 400 M US$ investments in Germany, vs only three insolvencies. Yes at the core we are very positive :-). It feels better, at least a bit. Let's talk startups:

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Here is our blog post: https://medium.com/startuprad-io/this-month-in-german-swiss-and-austrian-gsa-startups-december-2023-startuprad-io-e-409-f30d787f0c1f

In this episode of Startuprad.io, host Jörn "Joe" Menninger and guest Thomas Kösters, MD at DEEP Ecosystems, discuss the potential of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) as a hidden gem for AI startups. They highlight the region's strong economic leaders and growing AI scene in cities like Warsaw, Bucharest, and Prague. While CEE is not heavily represented in AI startup locations, it shows promise in reaching the top 15 European rankings for AI startup investments. They also delve into AI investments and trends in Europe, including machine learning, big data, and natural language processing.  The episode ends with a call for listener suggestions for future topics of analysis.

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• What factors contribute to the success of AI startups in cities like Bucharest, Budapest, Warsaw, and Tallinn in Central Eastern Europe?

• How do economic leaders like Poland, Bucharest, and Prague drive the growth of startup and AI scenes in Central and Eastern Europe?

• What are the main challenges for Central and Eastern European AI startups when it comes to attracting investment and building successful ecosystems?

• How do multinational teams and collaboration across borders contribute to the success of startups in Central and Eastern Europe?

• What are the key trends in AI investments in Europe, and how do they compare to global trends in AI investment?

• What opportunities and obstacles do AI startups face when expanding or near-shoring their teams to countries like Croatia, Serbia, Greece, and Poland?

• Why is Berlin rated as the top destination for starting an AI company, and how does it compare to other popular locations like London?

• Given the potential of Central and Eastern Europe as a growing hub for AI startups, what strategies can be employed to further develop and promote the region's AI ecosystem?

• ...

The European startup scene is changing fast. There are new players, old ones fading away, and even more to come in their place- all vying for a piece of this growing pie! To avoid getting left behind, you need regular updates on what's going on so that our entrepreneurs can stay one step ahead when building or investing in companies here: https://deepecosystems.com/

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https://medium.com/startuprad-io/the-cee-ai-scene-exploring-investment-growth-and-key-entrepreneurial-hubs-16245f4403ae

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

AI startup Aleph Alpha raises half a billion dollars, CMBlu raises 100 mn € for energy storage, WeFox gets 55 M US$ from Deutsche and Unicredit, and Vanguard pulls the plug on their German robo advisor. It seems that Sono Motors has found an investor to keep going at least until the end of 2024 and the German subsidiary of WeWork also has to file for insolvency.

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This recording is supported by HTAI and the Enterprise Europe Network Hessen. Look for our dedicated sub-podcast in partnership with them: Tech Startups Germany on our https://linktr.ee/startupradio

Heidelberg-based Aleph Alpha raises a total investment of more than half a billion US Dollars from a consortium of industry leaders and new investors for their AI for Enterprises and Governments.

German Energy scale-up CMBlu offers „warehouses for energy", with batteries storing up to gigawatt hours. They now raised 100 million Euros, with Strabag being the sole investor, one of Europe's largest construction companies, based in Vienna.

Deutsche Bank and UniCredit back $4.5 billion insurance startup Wefox with $55 million in fresh funds. WeFox is an online insurance broker and it did not raise equity, so their valuation stayed the same.

Sono Motors was once hailed as a new hope for the German startup scene, listing early in the US in November 2021. The company wanted to increase the reach of electro-cars by adding solar cells but ran into many problems while developing electro-cars. In the end, they had to file for insolvency but are now restarting with tech that allows the retrofitting of solar panels for fossil fuel busses. Sono Motors filed a 6-K form with the SEC saying that the company secured its survival for 2024, apparently most of the 250 employees can find further employment. Read more in our blog post: Sono Motors Finds Investor https://buff.ly/3Rjuo9t

Vanguard's German robo advisor costs millions and scores only 4 mn assets under management (AuM) at the end of 2022. A disaster according to FinanceFWD. To put this in perspective: Scalable Capital had 11 months after launch more than 100 mn AuM

WeWork's German subsidiary filed for insolvency - the company had issues everywhere.

https://medium.com/startuprad-io/this-month-in-german-swiss-and-austrian-gsa-startups-november-2023-startuprad-io-e-405-99d9efb6f3ff

Mentioned in this...

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Welcome to our October 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 October 2023 in our 400th episode!

Our startup news are recorded with Chris today in Germany and Joe in Frankfurt. The recording date is October 25th and all news not included will be in our next news to be released on November 30th.

This time we made more cuts to our news here. We hope you like the lighter version of it. If you think we cut too much, feel free to let us know.

For everyone who celebrates it: Happy Halloween AAAAAAAAAAAAAAND Happy Thanksgiving!

BioNTech is a very special case in Germany, but now one of their former Senior Vice Presidents (Katalin Karikó, has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine 2023 for her research in mRNA). Two German companies IPOed (yes, no startups, but still a good sign). Solar startup Nexwafe starts 120 M € funding, Black Semiconductor from Aachen is looking to raise 500 M €, and there is bad news about the former unicorn Infarm.

Let's talk startups:

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

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BioNTech is a very special case in the German startup world. During corona, they have been assumed to be responsible for 0.5% of GDP growth of all of Germany, one of the five largest economies in the world. Now they have another very unique distinction: A former Senior Vice President (2013–2022) of the company Katalin Karikó, has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine 2023 for her research in mRNA. Congratulations to her, being the 13th woman to have won a Nobel prize in medicine, she is sharing the prize with Drew Weissman.

Freiburg, Germany-based solar startup Nexwafe starts new funding, aiming for 120 m € in Venture Capital at a valuation of up to 500 M €

Aachen, Germany-based chip startup Black Semiconductor about to close large funding of 500 M €, with up to 70% of government funding. The founders are looking to develop a new way to connect elements on semiconductors but may need up to 7 years for the...

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Executive Summary

Welcome to Startuprad.io, the podcast that brings you the latest insights and stories from the world of startups. In today's episode, we have a special guest, Christian Noske, a Partner at NGP Capital in Berlin. Christian joins our host, Jörn "Joe" Menninger, to discuss their recent research on the startup ecosystem in the DACH region, which encompasses Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. They delve into the findings of NGP Capital's analysis, which explores the impact of COVID-19 on venture funding in the region and highlights some surprising facts about the different countries. Tune in to discover why Switzerland has emerged as a strong force in the startup scene, how Germany's diverse ecosystem mitigated the decline in funding, and the reasons behind France's larger drop in startup funding. If you want to uncover the hidden gems and thriving startups beyond the well-known hubs, this episode is a must-listen. Stay tuned for an in-depth conversation on the startup landscape in the DACH region with Christian Noske of NGP Capital.

Find all blog posts with all the links on our blog https://medium.com/startuprad-io/from-berlin-to-zurich-ngp-capitals-research-on-vc-funding-in-the-dach-region-startuprad-io-36553faace33

The Investor

Christian is a Partner at NGP Capital in Berlin. In a recent study, Christian and his team examined the post-COVID landscape in their core region, which includes Switzerland, Austria, and Germany. They found that each region had its own unique characteristics. Germany, being the largest country, was not surprising in terms of its size and activity in various sectors. However, Switzerland was a pleasant surprise, as, despite its smaller size, it had managed to build a thriving ecosystem and was demonstrating significant growth in venture funding, new creation, and deep tech software. The findings were quite astonishing and revealed the diverse and dynamic nature of the region's entrepreneurial and innovation landscape.

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Topics Discussed in this Episode:

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