€1.3B Raised, 1 Fintech Crashes: April 2025 DACH Startup News Breakdown

Music. Hello and welcome to our regular startup news from the startup and tech entrepreneurship scenes in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Welcome to StartupRate.io. Our startup news today is recorded with me, Chris, not in New York City, but in a hotel room in Hamburg, Germany, and Joe is joining from Frankfurt. Hey, guys.

Hello uh today's day is april 25th 2025 um and that's also our cutoff date as always all news not included will be in our next news start up wrap up to be published on may 29th uh accession of christ a holiday in many german states and the day we celebrate in germany father's day, So if you are in Germany, that's a day when a lot of fathers walk around the countryside drunk. We need you to cut our news today seriously short so you have a brief news overview.

We will have news pieces in our blog post on startupraid.io slash blog that we simply cannot cover here. Otherwise, the news would stretch for more than one hour. My estimate was even one and a half hours. So, yeah, let's get to it. And you are taking the lead with highlights. Yes, I do. And for everybody, now is the time to pause this and get a snack and a drink because this is going to be long and intense. It's our highlights.

March 2025 saw a remarkable surge in the DAX startup ecosystem with nearly 1.3 billion US dollars in disclosed startup funding rounds and over 5 billion US dollars in new venture fund announcements. Little disclaimer, they are not all from the DAX region, but they do also invest here. From Ambers raising $250 million for global AI health expansion to Noctua's 92 million round for sovereign AI. Germany, Austria, and Switzerland continue to punch above their weight in innovation.

Other major wins include Berlin's N8N, raising 55 million to rival Zapier, and Munich's Marvel Fusion securing 50 million for nuclear innovation. Cross-border deals like Lyft's $175 million acquisition of FreeNow further demonstrate the growing international relevance of the region's scale-ups. At the time, venture capital activity is clearly rebounding across the Dach region. We'll also have some news about that.

First Momentum Ventures unveiled a $100 million deep tech fund, while global players like Oakley Capital, 4.5 billion, Revent,

100 million, and Compass, 150 million. Are backing the next generation of founders. This trend reflects shifting investor focus towards long-term value in an eye, climate tech, health tech, and infrastructure resilience. Challenges remain as seen in scrutiny of new broker trade republic and a wave of insolvencies. But the overall outlook underscores the strategic trend in venture capital, entrepreneurship, and early-stage technology leadership. Leadership, I'm sorry.

Startup Radio continues to be trusted media voice in the involving landscape. In March alone, the podcast network achieved top ranking in Apple Podcasts, business news and entrepreneurship categories across more than 20 countries. Sub-podcasts like Blockchain Germany, Top 70, Web3 Podcasts, and Fintech Germany, Deep Tech Germany, Tech Startups Germany, and Our Startup News Podcast made it in the top 100 VC podcasts globally.

All recognized by millionpodcast.com. They confirm Startup Radio's reach and relevance among startup founders, VC and innovation executives across Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the world. If you're serious about staying informed and ahead, this is the voice of the dark startup scene you can't afford to miss. As always, we have a little bit on the customs upcoming holidays in late spring, early summer. We do have a lot here in Germany. Most of them are public holidays in most states.

So depending on where your partner, where your company is that you're doing business with, they may not apply. This year, three of them are on Thursdays, including May 1st, Europe White Labor Day, and Session of Christ, May 29th. Also Father's Day, as Chris already hinted, Corpus Christi, June 19th. And you should not expect people to pick up the phone on the Friday following that, because many people would take long weekends. There's also with Monday on June 9th. So plan accordingly.

I'm actually looking forward to four long weekends in the coming month. Note for the next upcoming public holiday is only reunification day on October 3rd. This year, a Friday. Um... Chris, as always, you want to do top news, right? Yes. After, in every episode, we talk about the many holidays and vacation days that the Germans get. We can also talk about, yeah, the top news.

And this month, for example, we have a VC investment rebound, where we see that despite ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, venture capital investment in German startups is actually on the rise, according to a recent report in Handelsblatt. The article highlights a surprising resurgence in both early and late stage funding, signaling renewed investor confidence in the country's ecosystem.

So overall, suggesting that founders with scalable models and AI driven solutions are still attracting capital in Germany, even amid what is a more cautious global funding environment. We also see that Berlin-based new broker Trade Republic is facing a growing backlash after a series of repeated app outages during trading hours, even. So users were unable to access their accounts or execute trades.

We have found several reports about this at Berzer Online, the Bavarian Public Broadcast, the BR and FAZ, all highlighting our user frustration over the platform's instability with many retail investors now considering alternative brokers. The disruptions often occurring during peak market times have sparked calls for compensation and raised concerns over Trade Republic's infrastructure resilience, especially as other competitors ramp up reliability in response.

Also, multiple users have reported disappearing balances from their accounts, prompting an internal investigation and mounting even more public information. According to Business Insider, the platform is now under potential regulatory scrutiny as the fintech community and watchdogs raise alarms over financial irregularities.

These issues are not only damaging the company's reputation, but also undermining user trust in the broader near broker segment, especially in Germany's heavily regulated financial environment. And I think also, especially in what still is a very cautious investing environment anyway, because, I mean, for decades, we've now been talking about how comparatively low the interest of Germans in investing in stocks is overall.

Solaris Bank is facing internal turmoil as co-founder Andreas Bittner files a lawsuit against SBI's acquisition, accusing the Japanese investor of orchestrating a corporate raid, quote unquote. This case sheds light on growing foreign influence in German fintech and raises concerns about governance in startup bank hybrids. More about that can be found in Manager magazine. Amboss, a Berlin-based chat GPT for doctors, has raised 240 million euros.

So to expand its AI-driven clinical decision support platform globally, I was very tempted to say, well, okay, everything with the label AI on it still can attract a lot of money.

But actually, I mean, if you look into the AI field, it still seems to me, at least from the outside, that And Med.ai is actually one of the few fields where use cases actually surpass large language models and where it's more than just predictive rambling and where actually they are looking for patterns and improved the way of diagnosing illness, for example. So Ambos, the health tech startup, plans to enter new markets and prepare for potential IPO reports, trending topics, and silicon canals.

Lyft has acquired FreeNow, a German mobility startup, for 175 million euros. There's less money in the market than there used to be, but not that little. Marking a pivotal move in the global ride-sharing landscape, Lyft, as always, or since forever, fighting Uber's market dominance. But this acquisition strengthens Lyft's foothold in Europe, allowing the US-based mobility platform to tap into Freenow's established user base across major European cities.

Heiser online reports that the deal positions live to better compete with regional players too and expand its multimodal transportation offerings in those areas. Key urban markets. First Momentum Ventures, based in Karlsruhe, Germany, launched a 100 million euro deep tech fund to invest in academic spin-outs and highly technical founders.

Target sectors include AI, biotech and hardware. This positions the firm as a major early stage player and Europe's innovation economy rights sifted. And here we have to add in this disclaimer, I can do it. You are working as a startup scout for First Momentum, So full disclosure here. Noxtua, a Berlin-based AI startup, secured $92 million to develop sovereign language, large language models, LLMs, for legal and governmental use, emphasizing GDPR compliance and explainability.

The round was led by European institutions. N8N, the Berlin-based startup revolutionizing AI-powered workflow automation has closed 55 million Euro Series B to accelerate its fair code automation platform. They want to use the funding to expand the engineering and go-to-market teams, enabling the company to meet more global demand from developers and businesses seeking scalable open source alternatives to legacy automation tools.

And 8n is known for a developer-centric approach and flexibility across systems. And they are now trying to position themselves as a serious Zapier competitor in the enterprise and small and medium-sized business markets. Marvel Fusion, a Munich-based nuclear energy startup, raised 50 million euros to accelerate its laser-based fusion technology. The run includes investments from Siemens Energy, indicating growing corporate interest in clean fusion alternatives, right, Finsmes and Handelsblatt.

And an overall look at the German economy as we do it regularly here. Here, it's, well, if not grim, at least dark-ish. Germany's economic outlook remains subdued in the spring of 2025 with the federal government projecting now just like a zero growth for the year. They released that yesterday. The still governing economy minister, Mr. Economy Minister, Robert Harbeck, attributed the slowdown to continued geopolitical instability, high energy transition costs and subdued investment activity.

Up to last week, the projection was 0.3 percent GDP growth. So that has gotten worse. We've seen it also with the International Monetary Fund also lowering their expectations for the overall year. Most of all, Donald Trump is being blamed with his tariff policies. And the latest EFO Business Climate Index also showed only a slight uptick in April, indicating that while industrial producers are cautiously optimistic, service sectors and small and medium-sized enterprise remain wary.

Credit Reform Spring report confirms that although order volumes are stabilizing, many Mittelstand companies are postponing investments due to interest rate uncertainty and general low confidence. So together, all of these indicators, they highlight a pretty fragile and uneven recovery across Germany's key economic systems. And as always, with the insecurity coming from the Ukraine war, from the war in Gaza, but most of all from the US, adding to the trouble.

Now up to you. Housekeeping. Bragging. All of it. Housekeeping. Yeah, just a tiny bit. I'm getting daily emails on where we are scoring with all the StartupRate.io podcasts. And I actually just took a snapshot with more than 20 countries where we are charting as of early this week. Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Moldova, Egypt, Netherlands, Turkey, South Korea, Luxembourg, and Saudi Arabia. Plus, we have also been named a Top 70 Web 3 podcast with our Blockchain Germany by a Million podcast.

And in the Top 100 Global Venture Capital podcasts, made it FinTech Germany, Deep Tech Germany, Tech Startups Germany, and our Startup News podcast, StartupBite.io, did not qualify because they are listed on other lists. Let's talk a little bit about the ecosystem. system. In the world, startup investor activity surged in Q1 2025. With SoftBank Y Combinator leading global deal volume, according to Crunchbase, early stage funding focused heavily on AI, fintech and health tech.

Let's look a little bit more into Europe. AI startup founders in Europe are being recognized as key operators to watch with SIFT profiling 10 entrepreneurs driving innovation in synthetic media, health tech and enterprise automation. These leaders are setting the tone for AI's next phase of growth. European missile defense, supported by German defense startups, could see AI-backed radar and tracking integration amid rising tensions with Russia.

NTV highlights the evolving geopolitical stakes and funding needs. EOFintech regulations are intensifying, prompting startups to strengthen compliance frameworks. International Banker reports that stricter KYC, Know Your Customer, and Anti-Money Laundry, AML, standards are reshaping digital finance across Europe. Chris, handing over to Germany's ecosystem news. Yes, let's zoom in a bit. We did not include the March EFU index in the last news, so we now have two for you.

EFU Business Climate Index, I was just talking about it. A key indicator of German economic sentiment showed only a slight improvement in March 2025, and the business outlook for April 2025 also reveals a continued positive trend among German businesses. Expectations are improving, especially among industrial producers, despite all the ongoing geopolitical uncertainty.

German household wealth increased nominally in 24, but inflation adjusted figures show real purchasing power declined, says a Bundesbank study, so a German central bank. Wealth inequality in Germany also remains unchanged. So Germany being a relatively low. Wealth, like, distributes wealth relatively equal compared to other countries, but the indifferences are, the differences are bigger, I think, than a lot of Germans would actually believe of the country themselves.

Female founders are still underrepresented, according to the Female Founders Monitor 2025. The report covered by Starting Up reveals a slight increase in women-led startups, but it stresses also the need for more systemic support and funding and leadership. And I think adding to that, as we always see, it's not only a gender problem. I think it's also usually a problem in terms of the background.

Are there enough migrants in the startup community? Are there enough people who experience poverty in their socialization? So, So yeah, usually the startup scene is catering to white males in Germany, as in many other countries. In Switzerland, we don't see anything new, but in Austria, we see the Tesla subscription declines in Vienna affects multiple local startups with user fatigue and Elon Musk polarizing moves cited as causes.

Their standard, an renowned Austrian newspaper reports a downward trend in urban e-mobility. Moving on from the countries to our general news section, where we have the tech news and the company's news section, we have organized this in several verticals, and we start with VC news and new funds in case you're looking for money. As always, this is only a selection. We also had to cut it short.

In the show notes, there's more of these. But we start with private equity growth continuing as Oakley Capital closes its flagship fund six at 4.5 billion euros, hitting the fund's hard cap. My Juncker Group reports that the London-based PE firm will target technology, consumer and education companies across Europe. The Duffney Fund's closing secures €215 million for its third fund, aiming to back European startups with a strong tech and design edge.

TechCrunch profiles the firm's ongoing investment strategy in our show notes. Compass VC Fund 2 raises €150 million, focusing on early-stage tech startups with sustainability goals. The Berlin-based venture capital firm aims to scale impact-driven companies, writes StartBase. Revenz, 100 million euro impact fund, is targeting startups focused on climate and social impact. Blending AI with mission-driven business models, as they say.

Based in Berlin, the VC firm is seeking planet-positive returns from its new funds.

So an interesting way probably also to look into how they are actually measuring this. TechCrunch has some more details in their report article about this. And that's it to keep the VC funds short. And we move on to Greentech. Yes, Greentech news. Greentech leadership in Switzerland is recognized as the country earns a top spot in Time's global Greentech innovation ranking. Startup Ticker.ch highlights sustainable energy solutions and climate startups

as drivers. NPAS secures 110 million equity led by Texas Pacific Group TPG. Three things to know about the German solar unicorn. AI News. Black Forest Labs, a Berlin-based AI startup, has ended its collaboration with Elon Musk's ex-AI project, citing divergent goals in synthetic data development. The partnership was originally aimed at integrating generative AI into privacy-preserving solutions.

Business Insider covers this topic. Startup reshuffle in AI continues with several new ventures emerging across Germany, including Reshape Energy, Senior Connect, and Naisu. These startups tackle climate, elderly care, and B2B productivity more on deutsche startups. There's a fake AI scandal rocks fintech startup Nate as Business Insider reports on a policy investigation into its CEO of alleged investor deception involving non-existing AI capabilities.

And government funding summary outlines strategic goals and startup initiatives in Saxony. The official Saxon publication provides a detailed overview of the ongoing regional programs and funding allocations. This time, for the first time, we do have space tech news because there was such a lot. We do have Atmos Space Cargo launch marks a milestone for Germany's private aerospace industry.

Founder Magazine reports the successful orbital test positioning the Munich-based startup as lead in reusable payloads. ESA aerospace safety risk highlights in BFNZ, meaning Bavarian broadcaster, the News Channel 24, on rocket engineering flaws concerning growth over component integrity and system failures as testing continues in Bavaria. But here's an interesting piece because we find the same news from a different source on ESA Aerospace from a startup medium.

And there they say ESA Aerospace milestone documented by trending topics as the Munich-based startup continues its mission to commercialize European spaceflight. The feature highlights ESA's rocket development and Germany's growing present in orbital launch markets. Sounds pretty different, right? Spectrum rocket delay announced by German startup RFA due to its unresolved technical issues. Deutschlandfunk reports the postponement as a part of ongoing challenges in the European space race.

And that means rocket factory Augsburg RFA. Biotech news. Keep in mind that biotech is not our focus. That's why we will have later also a few big biotech funding news that didn't make it into our highlights. Basel Life Sciences ecosystem is evolving into a biotech powerhouse supported by private-public initiatives and pharma cluster development. Transcript emphasizes the region's strategic importance.

QVAC Patent Victory provides a partial relief in its legal battle with BioNTech, with the European Court recognizing aspects of its mRNA IP claims. Medigen insolvency reflects funding pressure in biotech as the immunotherapy fails to secure bridge financing. Clinical Trials Map of Europe is launched to improve transparency and patient access. Siemens Biotech Deal involves a strategic acquisition to add a truck discovery signal against the conglomerate's deeper push into life sciences.

Max Planck Society Roadmap outlines a 10-point policy proposal for Germany's new federal government advocating for improved innovation frameworks and science funding. By the way, there will be a news piece coming up between this recording and the actual publication where I talk about what I see in the new coalition contract. A little hint, not a lot about startups. It's 185 pages and startups and digital innovation only start at page 139 and they only cover a few lines.

Let's go on to fintech news. Private banking fintech solutions are gaining traction among Europe's wealth managers, says Sifted. Keep in mind the news with the outages at Trade Republic. PayPal phishing scams using legitimate-looking email domains are on the rise, warns How2Geek. Barvest, a Munich-based fintech, partners with eToro as a global broker client. Trending topic highlights the significance of the deal for German fintech visibility.

Penny Lane expansion aims to broaden its accounting platform reach in the German market, Finance Forward reports. Revolut Switzerland suppresses one million customers, reinforcing its stronghold in the European fintech expansion. And we will be back with Chris with the general news after a little ad break. Welcome back after the break. As Joe said before the break, we are back with general news.

Germany's richest tech entrepreneur has been identified by Business Insider, shedding light on the pathways to massive tech wealth in the country. The report focuses on personal fortune and business legacy. And if German listeners are curious what his name is, I was actually surprised. His name is Andreas von Bechtholzheim, one early investor in Google. Yeah, but he's also the co-founder of Sun Microsystems, I do believe. And they say he is worth 13 billion euro.

Germany's richest sports entrepreneur is also profiled in Business Insider, tracing his journey from athlete to billionaire through strategic investment. And he is valued at 1.7 billion euros. And one of the guys between bet and win, today Bwin, which is now listed in the stock exchange in Vienna. Entrepreneur Radar spotlights Otto's potential downfall, analyzing the shifting dynamics in Germany's e-commerce landscape.

We often talked about Otto because it is actually a quite successful business case and actually a legacy company that was able to reinvent itself in the digital market. But now Digital Kaufmann raises concerns about legacy players adapting to modern startup competition. Otto so far has been the only large catalog mailing service to make the jump into e-commerce. but they have also been an active investor and acquirer in e-commerce. Some investments of the Otto Group are tracked by Startup Map.

Both of the articles are in our show notes. Gold fraud investigation implicates investor Florian Fritsch with allegations of up to 14 kilograms of gold being siphoned from his firm. Yahoo Finance Germany reports on this high-profile case. Cyclotech successful test flight of a six rotor air taxi in Linz might redefine urban air mobility.

FutureZone has a bit more about this. News piece from Austria. Then German Sunicorns are spotlighted and sifted 2025 lists of 10 companies or startups that might become unicorns soon, including rising stars across deep tech, fintech, and AI. Bundeswehr, the German military satellite plans, include launching a German rival to Starlink for more secure military communications. The Stadt Bremerhaven website reveals details of this strategic defense investment.

By the way, that's just a tag block that has nothing to do with the actual city, yeah? Yeah. Yeah. And then Bundeswehr AI projects show enormous potential in transforming Germany's defense sector. With ongoing research and development supported by government initiatives, Handelsblatt is outlining the scope and future impact of these technologies. Yeah. Also, again, in the defense sector, startups are increasingly opting out of relaunch strategies due to bureaucratic and funding hurdles.

We see there in a report by Handelsblatt that there are systemic barriers in fostering innovation. Axel Springer's Idealo CEO resigns amid allegations marking a leadership shakeup at the Berlin-based price comparison platform Idealo. Internal pressures and reputational fallout are being reported. Auto Hero celebrates the milestone surpassing a quarter million cars sold. IT Times notes that the Berlin-based used car platform continues to scale rapidly across all of Europe.

Home to Go's financial outlook signals strong growth with projected IFRS revenue above 300 million euros and an adjusted EBITDA over 35 million euros in 2025. It's a Berlin-based travel tech company. Mr. Speck's transformation remains on track with profitability for the Berlin-based eyewear startup expected to rise sharply in 2025. They also are now pursuing a digital first strategy that seems to pay off.

Cyber security contract award goes to Frankfurt-based startup from the EU cybersecurity agency, highlighting Germany's tech defense capabilities, reported by Startup Hessen. And a carbon dioxide concrete storage breakthrough seems to be launched in Vienna by Holcim and Neustag. Holcim, I guess, with a C. Trending topics highlights Europe's first installation of a carbon-storing cement cement,

driving innovation in green construction. Jochen Schweitzer exits his namesake experience platform with ProSiebenSat1 acquiring for ownership. Yeah, Jochen Schweitzer, some kind of, it was like a platform where you could just buy experiences and activities. Like ParachuteJump, BungeeJump or stuff like this. Yes. And now it was bought by ProSiebenSat1, which is a German private broadcaster.

Startup ecosystem insights explored in a new blog post by VC magazine, identifying key enablers for funders and investors in 2025, stressing the importance of trust and access in the system. And then Jägermeister, the German liquor defeat in a startup trademark dispute, ends with the beverage giant losing a branding conflict. Founders magazine explores the legal win for a challenger brand. And we see a leadership change at Deutsche Giganets as founder Jan-Georg Budden unexpectedly resigns.

More about this can be found in an article from Golem, which also reports internal disagreements that may have contributed to the departure from the German fiber optic provider. And now creative destruction, layoffs, insolvencies. And other bad news. Yes, Schumpeter's Kreative Zerstörung. Keep in mind, this article is not from us. It's from Manager Magazine, a well-respected periodical here in Germany. Startup zombie warning surface for former high-fliers like Foto, Zorara, Inc. Central.

As the valuation and relevance sharply decline, Manager Magazine raises questions about sustainability in the startup ecosystem. Zalando layoffs affect hundreds of employees at the Berlin-based fashion platform as part of a broader cost restructuring initiative. Max Mobility Bankruptcy confirmed, adding to the string of startup closures. Salzburger Beverage Startup files for bankruptcy after financial struggles.

Prudcast covers the insolvency, which reflects on the broader funding challenges in Austria's consumer goods sectors. Komod Restructuring following its acquisition by an Italian firm. Business Insider reports the Potsdam-based outdoor startup plans to cut over 50% of its workforce in a major realignment. Photo layoffs continue as Berlin-based logistics startup reduces headcount again.

Business Insider reports this move reflects financial strain and changing demand in European e-commerce fulfillment. I have an interview with the founder who's now a member of the supervisory board. But keep in mind, they have been mostly dealing with imports from China with container shipment. McMarkler, under investigation as prosecutor, scrutinized the Berlin prop tech firm amid layoffs. Dr. Lee bankruptcy declared by a Berlin-based health tech startup after financial difficulties.

Kemper Van outfitter insolvency hits Vienna-based startup easygoing with a C at the end. As it ends operations following a failed restructuring attempt. And now, Chris, you end on a high note for us, right? Almost, almost, almost. Yeah, so keep in mind, this section about successful fundraising and exits is only a small selection. But the news here and their total value show how resilient the startup scene is.

So let's rattle off some of the selected fundraising above 10 million euros, Swiss francs or US dollars. The biotech financing boom continues with Swiss-based Moon Lake Immunotherapeutics securing up to $500 million in funding from Hercules Capital to strengthen its autoimmune disease pipeline. Granite Bio, a biotech firm integrating AI and drug discovery based in Basel, Switzerland, raised $100 million to support its therapeutic pipeline targeting immune system modulation.

HAWK raised 52 million euros for its fraud prevention tools, while Brighter AI finalized an exit. FlexValop financing raises 44 million euros to scale its B2B equipment leasing solution for startups and SME. Solix, an AI-powered data management platform, raised $29.5 million to expand enterprise adoption. The funding enables enhancements in unstructured data indexing and AI model integration.

The robotic startup Symbiotic, a startup based in Berlin, has secured $29 million in a Series A funding to scale its AI-driven automation platform for warehouse logistics. Binomics, which is a Cologne-based startup specializing in virtual shoppers and pricing AI, secured €27.5 million to expand its platform.

That will allow them to fund scaling across European retail markets. Digital identity verification sees a boost as the Hamburg-based startup NECT, NECT, secures 25 million euros for its AI-powered onboarding solutions. Also expected to fuel international expansion. Yes, because that is one of the cases where you most likely never heard of our guests, but you will in the future. We had a few years ago an interview with the NECT founder.

We also link it here. Sorry, Chris. Henning, over back to you. ICU technology is getting a major upgrade as German medtech startup Klinomics secures 23 million euros to enhance an AI-based Dr. Mona system for intensive care units. Yes. Allowing them to expand hospital partnerships across Europe.

Hepatic treatment innovation accelerates as HEPA Redgenix, a biotech firm from Tübingen, Germany close to Stuttgart and they close at 21.5 million euro in funding to advance its regenerative therapies for liver diseases. Dalma, a pet startup, raises 20 million euros to expand its European footprint. The French-born company's backers and growing demand for digital pet insurance and services are among the highlighted aspects in a Business Insider article regarding this topic.

Do Instruct, a Berlin-based AI training software startup secured 16.5 million euros in a Series A funding to expand its industrial training simulations powered by Gen AI. Space tech startup Okapi Orbitz, a company from Braunschweig in central Germany, raises 13 million euros in seed funding to expand its space traffic management platform. The round, as reported by FinnsMess, was led by San Francisco-based Munich Re Ventures and strengthens Okapi Orbit's mission to prevent orbital collisions.

I think a problem that is actually growing. Killer Drone Investment sees Peter Thiel backing German defense startup Stark. Manager Magazine details the firm's controversial push into autonomous weapons and now last but not least some mergers and acquisitions and some IPOs we wanted to highlight. Yes, and then at the end, Chris, you get the useless facts. I think they're pretty funny. Synthetic mergers, acquisitions, and IPOs.

Synthetic data startup Kretel has been acquired by NVIDIA to bolster its synthetic data and AI capabilities. Prior to AI, a Berlin-based deep tech startup focused on GDPR-compliant visual anonymization, has been acquired by Danish Milestone Systems after reportedly attracting interest from Apple. Latido, a Vienna-based health tech startup, acquires 4MyHealth, 4 like the number, to strengthen its SAS SaaS solutions for medical practice management.

DeepL IPO plans are now targeted for 2026, positioning the German AI translation leader for major public debut. WellHub Urban Sports Club merger unites two major fitness and well-being platforms in a move to consolidate your wellness tech market. Hamburg X-Ray Empire Acquisition sees a prominent family, invest in medical diagnosis infrastructure, continue the city's legacy in health tech leadership.

Lunar dust solar cells could one day provide sustainable energy on the moon as researchers explore extraterrestrial photovoltaic solution. Basic thinking shares the future vision. ContentServe and Centric Software announce a partnership to enhance product lifecycle and information management aiming to serve global fashion and retail brands. Trala Music Education expands by acquiring Scove, integrating digital music training for learners.

And spec markets that's actually international but still relevant to the global startup market spec market trends show a four billion u.s dollar wave despite ipo struggles as reported by payments analysts point to the continued investor interest in alternative funding mechanisms and chris you have the last news piece which may be uh good as a conversation.

I was going to say, I'm very sure that you're going to use this information for whatever conversation you will be getting stuck in in the next couple of weeks, because we found a little article that actually told us who is the largest tire manufacturer by volume in the world. And it is not continental. It is not like Chevrolet or whatever. It is no car manufacturer. Michelin. It's not Michelin. But it is as playful as the Michelin men, I would say.

So a feature by Kuruba actually highlighted that the world's largest tire manufacturer by volume is Lego. I had them on my radar. It's a little bit surprising. Guys, that's a new startup wrap. There's more news they had of the curve. And as we said, we will be back at the end of May on for this day to give you another dose of startup news. And again, this time it's incomplete. We did ban a lot of our news to the blog posts you can find down here in the show notes.

Thank you, Chris. It was a pleasure talking to you as always. Thank you too. Bye bye. Music.