Welcome to This Month in German Startups by Startuprad.io – in a transatlantic news recording with Chris in New York City. This is the first news episode of 2021, but you can have a look at our 2020 review. 

 

Today we are wrapping up January 2021 for you. There is great news in the German startup scene, from two new unicorns to a much anticipated IPO of Auto1 (will be raising at least 1.5 bn Euros), Delivery Hero goes VC and there may be Amazon TV/Radio in Germany.

 

The link to Spotify will soon be here, after the publication 😉

 

 Housekeeping – Time to brag 

Just a bit of bragging today: Listen Up! Here’s Your Guide To European Tech And Startup Podcasts In English https://buff.ly/39S3qyR 

 

Top News

We have two new unicorns

  • Mambu – Germany’s newest Fintech Unicorn offers Banking Software as SaaS https://buff.ly/3oNEHC2 – Without them, no N26. They provide the software, which enables challenger banks like them.
  • Munich-based HR scaleup Personio lands €103.5 million Series D funding and a €1.4 billion valuation https://buff.ly/35QYn0p
    • Related: Start-Up Personio Joins Circle of Unicorns – Technical University of Munich – School of Management https://buff.ly/2YgKm7W 

 

Delivery Hero raises 1.2 bn in fresh capital

  • Delivery Hero raises 1.2 bn Euros (1.47 bn US$) in new funding, selling “in hours” 9.44 mn new shares for 132 Euros each https://buff.ly/394ZFFQ
    • Related:
    • Delivery Hero starts their own Corporate Venture Fund called DX Ventures with 50 m Euros https://buff.ly/2MPUt11 

 

Auto1 IPO

  • Auto1 IPO will be raising a minimum of 1.5 bn Euros (2.2 bn US$) https://buff.ly/3plC62n
  • Older articles related to this IPO – you can see the fundraising went up 500 million 
    • More details of the planned IPO of Auto1 Group emerge. They want to list in 2021 Q1 in Frankfurt in Prime Standard. Out of 1 bn € to be raised 250 m will pay back convertibles, 750 m will be invested in further growth https://buff.ly/38Hq0uz 
    • Used-car platform AUTO1 to float in Frankfurt, looking to raise 1 bn Euros from selling new shares, with a valuation of 6-8 bn Euros https://buff.ly/3bxbWWx  

 

Amazon TV or Radio Station in Germany?

Amazon has filed paperwork in Germany to get a broadcast license. The filing dates to November 2020 https://buff.ly/3bW0Mur 

 

Wirecard 

We keep you updated, just a small selection of news here. 

Keep in mind there is still an investigative committee ongoing.

  • Oliver Samwer from Rocket Internet gave a private loan to Markus Braun from Wirecard of 75 mn Euros (91 m US$), which he demanded back rather harshly, shortly before Wirecard filed for insolvency https://buff.ly/3bW2ITU
  • In Austria, an investigation against former Wirecard COO Marsalek is ongoing in potential bribery of an employee of Austrian constitution protection (like their NSA). He is supposed to have checked the solvency of porn site hosts for Mr. Marsalke https://buff.ly/39eVNDz 

 

Ecosystem 

  • Slack users in Germany were greeted in the new year with a big outage covering most of the first working day of the new year 2021 https://buff.ly/3972zd0 January 4th
  • Tech workers want to relocate to Germany more than any other country in the world https://buff.ly/2Jims8n 
  • Germany starts with the test of a countrywide patient file, called “E-Patientenakte.” The users can carry around all their medical files (x-rays, reports …) on their smartphone and grant their physician access https://buff.ly/3hHb3M4
  • Berlin remains the capital of German Venture Capital in 2020. EY tracked 314 financing rounds, out of a total of 743 they found. according to their data, VC funding declined in #Germany in 2020 by 15% to 5.3 bn Euros (6.45 bn US$) https://buff.ly/3oMxaDE
  • In the most recent fintech ranking #Frankfurt is losing position No 3 to Hamburg and now only scores at No 4 https://buff.ly/3o5IeKU 

 

Hubs 

Note: The order of news and cities is only due to the time when we discovered the news.

Frankfurt

  • Frankfurt-based provider of high performance computing Northern Data raises 52.5 mn Euros (64 m US$) #VentureCapital  https://buff.ly/2KOccFc
  • Frankfurt-based insurtech Clark raises 85 mn US$ (69 mn Euros) #VentureCapital, with lead investor Tencent (owner of Wechat) https://buff.ly/3nCyzeq we have an interview with the CEO for you here: XXX
  • Frankfurt: Developing towards an epicenter of the German games industry – Frankfurt Valley https://buff.ly/39iZKao 

Darmstadt

  • We interviewed the Darmstadt based robotics software startup Energy Robotics in June 2020, where they already talked about their intention to raise Venture Capital. Now they closed their 2 mn Euros VC round: Earlybird and several Business Angels like Paul Achleitner, Gerhard Roiss, Martin Klässner, and Andrej Henkler invest 2 m Euros Venture Capital in Energy Robotics https://buff.ly/3qhA43k
  • Merck KGaA snaps up German CDMO in boost to mRNA portfolio — including for Covid-19 https://buff.ly/2KauK2q 

 

Heidelberg/Walldorf

 

Munich

  • New unicorn Personio is from Munich
  • Munich-based Konux raises 80 m US$ #VentureCapital from Impact Investor Sanno Capital and Athos, The Family Office of Strüngmanns (Hexal), and existing investors (e.g. Alibaba). Konux builds intelligent sensors for Industry 4.0 https://buff.ly/3idMl6i
  • Munich fintech Fidor Bank (a German fintech pioneer) is split up and sold to two bidders, Ripplewood Advisors form New York and Steria Mummert from Paris https://buff.ly/2MFo6S
  • Pepsi backs #Munich-based scented air drinks startup “Air Up” https://buff.ly/3i9vTDT   

 

Hamburg

  • tecHHub is the new 35 m Euro Entrepreneurship Center in Hamburg to keep founders in the city. Until the project is completed the city is thinking about a makeshift container solution https://buff.ly/3hL7If3 

 

Freiburg

  • Insight Partners and existing investors invest 100 m US$ #VentureCapital in Freiburg-based Jedox, the company offers enterprise performance management software for company planning and analysis https://buff.ly/2MPUt11

 

Switzerland

  • Zurich-based Blue Horizon Ventures is a VC focused on sustainable food, now they close their first fund with 183 mn Euros (221 m US$) with more than 100 investors from 20 countries. https://buff.ly/3a7l69Z

 

Companies 

Food – Always a good topic to talk about

  • Dish Order: German grocery wholesaler Metro is partnering with Google to offer a competing offer to Lieferando. The clue for restaurants: There is no fee https://buff.ly/35TEEgv
  • German food giant Dr. Oetker had their own beverage delivery service Durstexpress. Then they bought Flaschenpost, doing the same reportedly for 1 bn €. Now they merge Durstexpress in Flaschenpost https://buff.ly/3qB3Jov?utm_source=linkedin

Fintech / Finance

New VC Funds

  • Ant Financial plans to start a fintech Venture Capital fund in Berlin  https://buff.ly/3qyAtic
  • 20 health insurer in Germany invest in Berlin-based VC Heal Capital’s 100 mn fund, to invest in health tech startups https://buff.ly/38XWmS3
  • Keep in mind the news of the Delivery Hero fund from before 

 

Selection of investments

  • Digital road freight forwarder Sennder raises $160M Series, plans European expansion – TechCrunch https://buff.ly/35Eu9gR 
  • Peter Thiels’ Valar fund joins other investors in a 21 mn Euros #VentureCapital round for credit card #fintech Moss from #Berlin. They were registered in summer 2019 and now valued at 100 mn Euro https://buff.ly/38F6rTQ 
  • Global Savings Group raises € 12 Million in their most recent financing round https://buff.ly/35aumID 

 

All Other News

  • Not even half of the German employees would recommend Tesla as an employer reports German tech blog t3n. Applicants post in forums and websites about chaos and arrogance https://buff.ly/35bZqrc?utm_source=-custom-by-source-0- 
  • Which startups have footballers invested in? https://buff.ly/3hcuWdG  Including investments of Mario Götze (Frankfurt-based Qualifyze), Philipp Lahm, and Matts Hummels
  • Elliott Stake Complicates Rocket Internet’s Plan to Delist https://buff.ly/2MjL1mu
  • Berlin-based #grocery delivery service (you still buy from a supermarket) named Gorillas raises 44 m US$ #VentureCapital https://buff.ly/2IPM7F0 

 

Stay ahead of the curve