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Welcome to our May 2023 wrap-up with important news from the startup scenes in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in 30 minutes or less 🙂.
We follow our top-down structure in the news: First, the top news, then we look with a bird's eye view at the startup ecosystem in the German language countries, dig deeper by looking at exciting startup cities and end with general news. And for those serious about startups, there is even a collection called: "Stay Ahead of the Curve," where we share in-depth reads, articles, studies, and podcasts.
Our next news episode will be published on June 29th, and then we are - for the news - in summer break.
Our Highlights:Germany is now officially in a recession, but one with barely any unemployment. Also, we still track many startups going out of business, BUT the overall picture is improving. The German VC and PE Barometer - which captures the mood of many German investors - is showing an uptick. This shows especially in the massive amount of new funds raised; they promise a bright future for startups! We tracked at least 3,4 bn Euros of newly raised funds, which will be invested entirely or partially in startups in Europe and GSA. Look at our medium blog; we have more information on what the investors are looking for and how to pitch them. We also have investments and exits worth at least 5,4 bn Euros and news in this episode, including WeFox, Tier Mobility, Infarm, Blinkist, Bitpanda, Aleph Alpha, Sono Motors, and many more.
Let's talk startups:
Find all links and the other news here: https://medium.com/startuprad-io/this-month-in-german-swiss-and-austrian-gsa-startups-may-2023-episode-385-87fd564d483a
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Our EnablersThis recording is supported by HTAI and the Enterprise Europe Network HessenLook for our dedicated sub-podcast in partnership with them: Tech Startups Germany on our https://linktr.ee/startupradio

Startupraven.comThe best way to identify investors and cooperation partners for early-stage startups. Sign up for early access here: https://startupraven.com/

Top NewsDeal or No Deal?Getir is in talks to take over German grocery app rival Flink | Financial Times
But then: Flink's sale to Getir fell through. Now Flink is raising 150 M € from investors, including grocery giant Rewe and Doordash

Tier Mobility to Merge with CompetitorEuropean e-scooter giant Tier Mobility maps route to merger

Will Infarm Be Soon Outfarm?Infarm keeps shrinking and is leaving Europe, reports Handelsblatt. The greenhouse startup reportedly has only 80 employees in Europe left and will get an investment at an unknown valuation for their relocation - likely to the Middle East with low energy prices

Blinkist Makes a Large Exit!Berlin-based startup Blinkist is sold to Australian education startup Go1 for an undisclosed amount, reported to be "hundreds of millions." Blinkist offers short wrap-ups of nonfiction books as text or audio

Large Drops in Valuations are Not Only for...

Executive SummaryIn this episode, Joe interviews Lukas, co-founder of Minds Medical, and Ingo, senior partner of SYNPULSE. The story follows the pivot of Minds Medical from a healthcare-focused AI startup serving hospitals to its services for fintech/insurtech companies during the COVID-19 pandemic. They also discuss the challenges of extracting structured data from unstructured medical documents and the potential applications of this technology in the insurance industry. The conversation highlights the joint offering of intelligent document processing for the insurance industry and the acquisition process between the two companies.
When Corona hit, all hospitals stopped picking up the phone. So we had to focus all our energy on the insurance product.Lukas Naab, Founder Minds MedicalFollow Us!If you are listening to our content for the 2nd time please consider following us on social media.
https://linktr.ee/startupradio
With SYNPULSE8 we are now building a product for the global insurance market.Lukas Naab, Founder Minds MedicalOur Enabler StartupravenA 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/
Our Enabler HTAI and the Enterprise Europe Network Hessen 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. Learn more here: https://www.htai.de/ and https://www.een-hessen.de/ 

We discovered for example that one large hospital in Germany has more than 200 different forms just to discharge patients. [And there are more than 1.800 different hospitals in Germany]. This amount of unstructured data requires machine learning and AI to be useful. Lukas Naab, Founder Minds MedicalThe FounderLukas is the founder and CEO of Frankfurt-based AI startup Minds Medical. Since the acquisition of Minds Medical he is in the new company the principal product owner for SYNPULSE8. During the outbreak of corona, hospitals had many other things to do and just stopped picking up the phone, all at the same time. So Minds Medical had to focus completely on their insurance product. They eventually decided to join forces with SYNPULSE since they already had a joint offering for disability insurance providers.
The StartupMinds Medical was acquired by SYNPULSE, now known as

Executive SummaryLearn how to acquire competitive advantages in your eCommerce ventures with a buy & build strategy, unlock potential growth and add new capabilities: In this episode, Joe, interviews Peter, the founder of an AI startup called Pythia. Peter discusses his company’s buy-and-build strategy for acquiring e-commerce startups, which involves integrating them into their standardized processes and assigning brand managers or CEOs to oversee them. He also talks about the challenges facing companies in the current market, including rising prices, tighter financing, and more restrictive customers. Peter’s company is looking for profitable e-commerce companies with solid earnings and adjusted earnings, and they plan to continue buying until late 2027, with the goal of reaching €80 million in revenue and €20 million in profit. 
There has been a kind of Bermuda triangle created by external forces for e-commerce companies recently. Financing becomes more expensive, inflation increases production prices and consumers are more restrictive with their purchases Peter Hart — Founder and CEO DIPQ and PythiaHappy Father’s DayAt the day of the publication of this interview, we celebrate in Germany Father’s Day. In Germany, the day is always celebrated on a Thursday, Ascension Day, also a public holiday in Germany, which gives fathers time to celebrate.
Happy Father’s Day!
Note: Mother’s Day is always celebrated on the second Sunday in May in Germany, where we do not publish, so no Mother’s Day episodes exist. Sorry to all mothers, and belated happy Mother’s Day as well! 
Over the last 12 months, we looked at the demand for consumer products and made a buy or build decision, which always ended up to be a buying decision, due to the lower multiples. Peter Hart — Founder and CEO DIPQ and PythiaFollow Us on Social Media!If you are listening to our content for the 2nd time please consider following us on social media: https://linktr.ee/startupradio

Our EnablersThis recording is supported by HTAI and the Enterprise Europe Network Hessen: https://www.een-hessen.de/
The best way to identify investors and cooperation partners for early-stage startups. Sign up for early access here: https://startupraven.com/

We usually look at Shopify stores. If they are not, we move them over time to Shopify.Peter Hart — Founder and CEO DIPQ and Pythia 
The FounderPeter Hart is a young and exceptional entrepreneur. He appeared in Germany’s version of Shark Tank and got a deal for 200.000 Euros as a 25-year-old. Currently, he is not even 35 and already runs 12 brands simultaneously. You can learn more about how he achieves this in the Starting Y interview in the links on the blog post.
He started with a body aftershave brand called Dr. Severin and then went on to develop the software he used to forecast consumer trend tools into the AI startup Pythia. With this, he built and bought several consumer brands and now logically continues this approach by buying up profitable e-commerce shops with Dipq (no website).
Currently there are not many investors active. For all of our acquisitions we have been the

The Startuprad.io podcast and YouTube blog covers the German-speaking startup scene and in this episode, Joe interviews Paulina Jänsch, co-founding partner at Leanox Impact Capital. Paulina discusses her seven-step approach to evaluating startups and fundraising as storytelling, emphasizing the importance of a financial model that reflects the startup's value drivers. She also talks about Leanox Impact Capital's investment criteria, which focus on impact innovation and solving environmental or social problems. The company invests in early-stage startups in Europe, with a focus on industry-agnostic but always impact-driven ventures, and prioritizes investing in female founders and LPs.

Learn about how refurbed, an innovative startup, could be the next Austrian unicorn. Learn more about their goal of providing pre-owned gadgets & tech at reasonable prices! Refurbed originally started as a marketplace where large companies can sell their refurbished electronics so that they don’t need to throw them away, think laptops and cell phones that are replaced. Now they offer a much wider range of products, from hand-picked refurbishers. Learn more in our interview.

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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/

Welcome to our April 2023 wrap-up with important news from the startup scenes in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in 30 minutes or less 🙂.
Our Highlights:Considerable funding made headlines last month. We have more than 600 M euros in funding in our highlights alone. A potential large exit: Software AG, the Darmstadt-based listed software company, is close to a 2.4 bn US$ exit with an offer from Silverlake Partners. Also, Berlin-based Blinkist may be close to a 200 M € exit. Hundreds of millions of raised funds were announced by Enpal (via ABS), Isar Aerospace, IntegrityNext, Razor Group, and Tado. Also, SAP is close to investing in Germany’s hottest AI startup Aleph Alpha from Heidelberg. Diverging picture in Airtaxi space: Lilium is looking for new investors; Volocopter builds the taxis and expects them to fly in less than 500 days at the Paris Olympics.
Let’s talk startups:
Top NewsSoftware AG Close to a Multi-Billion AcquisitionPrivate-equity firm Silver Lake Partners, based in Menlo Park, is close to buying Germany’s Software AG in $2.42 billion deal. The offer is already public, reported Reuters. Shares of listed Software AG jumped 53% at the announcement. The investor already knows the company: In February 2022, Silver Lake had invested 344 million euros in the software developer’s convertible bond, which upon conversion would represent nearly 9% of issued Software AG shares.
Enpal Raises More Than 300 M€Enpal raises up to €356 million via Securitization of Solar Receivables with first German residential solar ABS. ABS are asset-backed securities, that means if Enpal can not pay interest or pay back the final sum, the investors have the collateral (assets) backing the security
Blinkist Close to 200 M € ExitReports blog Deutsche-Startups, with an offer from an — yet unnamed — American company. The blog, with its founder Alexander Hüsing is usually pretty well informed and has been right before.
Isar Aerospace Closes €155 Million FundingIsar Aerospace closes €155 million Series C funding round, ignition sequence start, all engine running. Investors are 7-Industries Holding, Bayern Kapital via its Scale Up Fund Bavaria, Earlybird Venture Capital, HV Capital, Lakestar, Lombard Odier Investment Managers, Porsche Automobil Holding SE (Porsche SE), UVC Partners, and Vsquared Ventures
100 m € for IntegrityNextThe company has been bootstrapped for seven years, but now IntegrityNext takes €100 million from EQT Growth fund.
Razor Group Raises 88 M US$Berlin-based Razor Group, an e-commerce aggregator, closes Series C at $88M at $1.2B valuation, acquires Stryze to consolidate.
Tado Raises Money, As IPO Plans FalterSmart thermostat startup Tado wanted to IPO but then came Corona and Ukraine. They originally wanted to explore a sale or IPO after their 2021 fundraising, but the SPAC deal faltered and they needed to adapt. So they raised 46.9 M US$. Their existing investors already include Siemens, Amazon, and EON.
SAP To Invest In AI Startup Aleph AlphaGerman press reports that the software giant SAP is about to invest in German ChatGPT competitor Aleph Alpha, which also claims to have eliminated fake news from its software. As yet, the valuation and investment are not known.
Related: Heidelberg-based startup, a competitor of ChatGPT, claims to have eliminated fake news from its tool Luminous
Airtaxi Lilium is Looking for New Money, and Volocopter is Planning to FlyAirtaxi Lilium: 0 Euro revenue, 253 mn € losses. They are looking for new investors. Volocopter on the other hand, wants to start operating their drones as taxis ASAP. They also pledged to operate their air taxis in Paris, during the Olympic Games, in less than 500 days.
Related: Volocopter starts production — founders magazin
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