Welcome to StartupRad.io. Your podcast and YouTube blog covering the German start startup scene with news, interviews, and live events. Welcome to our regular startup news from the startup and tech entrepreneurship scenes in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Our startup news is recorded, today with me, Chris, in New York City. And I have to say, I don't fully know why in our script I am talking about myself first. But joining me is, Joe in
Frankfurt. Hey, Joe. How are you? I'm doing good. And, Chris, you know why you're first in the script? Because today I wrote it. Yeah. As if I wrote as if there were other days when I write it then. Today's news cutoff date is 02/24/2025. As always, all news not included will be in our next news wrap up. We needed to cut our news seriously short this time so you can have a brief news overview. And without further ado, that means that you're gonna guide us through some of the highlights
of this month. Yes. As our audience already knows, we are aggregating the news from all the social media shares we do during the course of the month. Usually, I'm going through something like 15 to 20 pages, in terms of startup news. But this month, we had 59 pages of startup news. Of course, some of them, the same news from multiple sources, but nonetheless, that was really a lot. So we had to cut it really seriously.
Talking about our highlights here, the DACH startup ecosystem is buzzing with activity from major funding rounds to political changes that could reshape the landscape. German German auto tech, Finn, the the the startup renting out, cars as a car subscription model, reached 1,000,000,000 in funding commitments signaling a major shift in German startup scene. Meanwhile, Solaris secured a substantial 140,000,000 investment, fueling its growth
in the banking as a service sector. But we gotta see that funding was basically, a rescue for Solarisbank. The other option would be to wind them down. This development highlights the continued strength and potential of the DACH Region as a hub for innovation and investments. However, challenges remain. Lilium, the Munich based, Iftol, Iftol, the drone flying cars developer faced a second insolvency raising questions about the viability of the industry.
Additionally, the recent German election brought a change in government with CDU taking the lead. This shift could have significant implication for startup policies and regulation, creating both opportunities and uncertainty for entrepreneurs and investors. Stay tuned to startuprate.0 for in-depth
analyzers and expert insights. And of course, we will talk with Chris about the startup news and the startup elections here because he is one of the person, he is one of the people who actually keeps Germany up to date on US politics and also covers those politics. Talking about the schedule here, we are shifting to two publications a week. Let us know how you like it. Chris, you wanna straight hop into the top news?
Yes. I want to. And, I also don't know how it's pronounced, eVTOL electrical vehicle takeoff and landing. EVTOL. God. Anyway Maybe they only have problem because the industry had such a strange acronym. I still prefer air taxis. Yes. Yes. So, let's jump in. You mentioned it already. The company FIN, a company that is working in the car subscription services field, secured a $1,000,000,000
investment to expand its fleet. They are based in Munich, and they are capitalizing on the shift from traditional car ownership to more flexible, all inclusive subscriptions, hoping to cater to a new generation of mostly, especially urban drivers, and businesses looking for hassle free mobility solutions. They hope that they will be part of the general transformation of the automotive industry, and, their growth strategy
positions them as one player there. Mobility as a service is the buzzword there. And so we will see whether they can bank in on what they hope will be the future of car ownership. The Berlin based Cherry Ventures is doubling down on the future of AI and deep tech startups. They are getting a $500,000,000 sorry. They are starting a $500,000,000 investment fund, that focuses on AI first businesses, robotics, and next generation enterprise solutions. Want to they want to provide
early stage funding to, innovations. And with venture capital tightening in some sectors, Cherry Ventures' commitment signals a strong confidence in long term potential of deep tech investments, hopefully creating Europe's next AI unicorn. And one shouldn't forget that we had a very nice in-depth interview with the CEO who led, Finn to this big funding. I talked with him about, his automotive experience
and so on and so forth. And actually, he was driving at the time he cofounded, Finn, he was driving, an old Beetle, VW Beetle. Well, maybe part of the fleet too. And then Lilium, I feel as if we are talking about them every month right now. Munich based, e v t o l, developer has filed for insolvency for the second time, major setback for the whole industry, raising questions about the viability of the business
model. Also, that is kind of the, yeah, the debate we're having every every month or every other month about that industry. Lilium's situation highlights the challenges in developing and scaling aviation technologies, long development cycles, regulatory hurdles, intense competition. So we will see whether the industry actually can weather their, challenges. And if you're an investor, obviously, you need to carefully assess the risks in that emerging sector.
And you also said it already, the German election, this is this is very current news because I think the last votes were counted less than twenty four hours ago. My vote was not counted because my mail in ballot didn't arrive in
time here in The US. But Germany, has elected a new parliament, most likely leading to a new government led by the Christian Democratic and Christian Democratic Union, basically the center left party in Germany sorry, the center right party in Germany, which will then be a shift in power from the Scholz administration of the Social Democratic Party. But the Social Democratic Party without the current chancellor
might be the junior partner in the coalition. That change in leadership could have impact on startup policies, digitalization, VC investment regulation. And, we'll have a closer look at those new policies that are being drafted, and we will see what it means also for taxation, maybe AI investments, and incentives for businesses. Yes.
I want to get your impressions from that because, what most people don't know if they are only listening to our podcast here, you are actually, more active in politics, covering politics than you are active in, let's talk about startup and tech here, even though that are your roots as a reporter. I I was I was wondering, what was your perspective for that? We also may add to the
audience everybody who is able to speak German. There's a highly recommended newsletter from you, KrautReporter, for which you also won 2019 the, prestigious Kremer Online Award. Plus, you also do, a regular podcast in Germany on US politics. So but here, I want to pick a little bit of your brain on the German election. What actually scared me a little bit that the right wing AfD got over 20%. Yeah. That is that is scary. Actually, the right wing party in Germany had the best result
for right wing extremists since 1945. So, basically, since the beginning of the Federal Republic Of Germany after World War two. But we always have to say that as long as no other party, is willing to build a coalition with them, they, they are not in governmental power. Now the big question is whether the conservative party will keep up their so called firewall and not work together with them the way it looks like now, is that this is the case. I mean, I guess my take is,
well, okay, that was a win that was expected. We see it everywhere around the world that governments in power or the governments who were in power during or right after the, COVID pandemic, voted out of office. And, now he has a long list of things to be done. He's not necessarily Friedrich Maerts, I mean, with he, the, soon to be chancellor, or the expected new chancellor of Germany. He has a very long list of
things to do. He basically has to lead Europe without ever having been a secretary in no state in Germany or, in the German federal government. He has so far only been even though he's relatively old, he's close to 70 years old. He has so far only been a parliamentarian in the German parliament and in the
European parliament. So, the hope is that he is able to become a steady hand leading Europe in what seems to be even more geopolitical turmoil with the Trump administration who like, which is really guessing or really changing long term alliances right now. And we see huge discussions about the question whether the post World War two order is actually history. Mhmm.
So, yeah, very complex. By the way, everybody who's interested in that, we are in the preparation, meaning me, that we are we'll be blogging a little bit about the the results, what we think about this, go through the election program of the CDU and potential allies in a coalition, what they think about tech and development and so on and so forth. One should keep in mind that Friedrich Mads has been working for international, law firms
like Mayer Brown and also BlackRock Germany. So he's a little bit more on the business side. Hopefully, that will be good for the German economy. Yeah. Chris, you wanna talk ecosystem? I do. Let's start this time around with some news about the European ecosystem. So Bitcoin slams, Bitcoin is how do we always explain it? The German It's it's the largest digital association in Europe. And they are, I do I do believe, thousands of corporate they
do have thousands of corporate members here from Germany. There you go. So Bitcoin slams the European Union's new online marketplace regulations. So the question becomes with tighter rules are actually a win for consumers or more of a burden for sellers. We have a link to that on the Bitcoin website. France is investing a hundred billion dollars in AI technology in order to compete globally in
that new market. There's also a European AI Act, which tries to regulate that new field, reshaping AI compliance in Europe. And the European Union is coming up with a startup and scale up strategy that should be unveiled by summer. Question there, will it help Europe to stay competitive in the global tech race? More about that in the months to come. And, a the start up scene in Europe, in general, demands a united AI strategy. Question is there, will the EU support more homegrown AI players
or fall behind China and The US? Trendingtopics. Eu has the, wrap up of that discussion, what the European startups want, and what kind of strategy they are looking for. And, we have a list at TechEU of the twenty twenty four unicorns showing which European startups reached the ever so coveted $1,000,000,000 valuation last year. For Germany, it was only eGym. There you go. But moving on to Germany, Speedinvest warns of a liquidity crisis in,
the VC market. One of Europe's top VC firms predicts that, we will be seeing one of the biggest capital crunches in years. It's also on trending topics dot e u. So, yeah, we will see whether their rather grim prediction actually becomes true. But, I mean, again, going back to what I said a bit earlier before, the geopolit if you look at the geopolitical, landscape right now, there is certainly reasons to be worried.
Jumping from Germany to Switzerland and the ecosystem there, Swiss startups raised $2,400,000,000 in 2024. Even though the market is tough there too, obviously, a lot of money went into deep tech AI and life sciences. They're also hoping to have their next unicorn soon. More about that can be found in vcmagatzin.de. And, the university, the engineering university in Zurich, ETH, ETH Zurich, continues to launch high growth start ups. They are experiencing quite the boom there there.
And, so that start up ticker.ch is asking whether this is actually Europe's top tech incubator. Moving on to some to the general news, tech news, company news section. I have the honor to highlight some of the, new funds and VC news in case you are looking for money. We are already we have already, talked about Cherry Ventures and their $500,000,000 for DeepTech and AI in Germany. Then there's the Khan Fund, $51,000,000 fund targeting life
sciences and deep tech, also based in Germany. And there's Hellantec VC the Hellantec VC Fund, a hundred million dollars to fuel European defense startups, also based in Germany. Now industry news. And back to you. Yes. Let's look a little bit at biotech news. German ecology startups. Germany ranked number three in EU for biotech innovation. They have more than 200, cancer related,
startups here in Germany. Talking a little bit about fintech news, Trade Republic under Baffin investigation for high yield savings promotion. Finleap is struggling with multiple portfolio company failures. Tesla crashes with Baffin over financial compliance issues. Trade Republic and N26 are now having real duel here. They, one blog called it the ultimate fintech showdown, which company is leading the race for Europe's top neobank. Neobroker's customers are
unhappy. A new study shows high dissatisfaction with neobank trading platform. What's going wrong? Trade Republic is also under fire again for another another ankle on their, high yield interest rate promises. And we go to the general news where Alep Alpha CEO says no one will use DeepSeek R1 in twelve month. Is this a hype or an AI revolution in the making? ADAC, the German what is the equivalent like AAA in The US? Yeah. I was gonna say AAA. Yeah. Yeah. New range test
for EVs, chargers, manufacturers. Which brands lives up to the promises? Also Frankfurt Airport makes space for Uber. Could this be signal shifting away from traditional taxis? Frankfurt Airport, 1 of the busiest in Europe's year. OpenAI opens a new office in Munich and Deutsche Classfauser, one of the companies that is, that is providing high speed. They disclosed that they need more than €1,000,000,000 for this high speed Internet. Chris, you wanna do some creative destruction as well?
Yeah. Sure. Let's talk about what did not work. More than a hundred and startups failed in 2024. Deutsche startups has a list of them. Mostly a lot of them actually did not make it through the winter, actually, wiping out a lot of the promising ventures there. Then Spreadshirt lays off employees as ecommerce shifts. Spreadshirt being really around for quite a long time already now, and it's another sign of market correction for online
retail platforms in Germany. It's a place where you can customize, gear, gear as in clothing. Refurbed lays off 20% of its staff, reflecting pressure on refurbished electronics. They are based in Austria. And Heitzma acquires the insolvent Neo Energy, showing that the heat pump sector in Germany isn't also immune to turbulence there, which already leads us to should we do mergers and acquisitions first? Because it
says end on a high note. Lease my bike joins Munich's Green Mobility holding, another step towards sustainable urban transport. Travelperk raises 200,000,000 in series a for the acquisition of Yokoi. Home2Go acquiring inter home to shape reshape European vacation rentals. Merck in talks to acquire US Cancer biotech firm SpringWorks. Heitzmark acquires bankrupt Mio Energy signaling sector consolidation. Chris, now you are
the highlight. You are the high note for the end. Yes. So I end on a high note, with just a couple of the successful fundraising and exits. Keep in mind that it's just a selection that we come up with. This time around, we included only fundraisings above €10,000,000, Swiss francs, or US dollars. For example, Zolaakos, they got a hundred and €40,000,000 to strengthen embedded banking and fintech infrastructure. Then the Kompanisto backed start up raised €40,000,000 in series b
funding. Wondering whether this will fuel more European status exits. Avelius Medical raises €30,000,000 in a series a. They are working on AI powered health care automation, streamlining hospital workflows. MeteoMetix from Switzerland could secure $22,000,000 for their series c funding already for AI powered weather forecasting. Neurrocare secures €19,300,000 to work on mental health treatments, also AI driven personalized therapy solutions there.
Genlogs raises $14,600,000 in a series a round to revolutionize logistics with AI working on supply chains there. Construct €12,500,000 also to bring AI, which is, like, apparently the buzzword of all of our fundraisings and exits this month, to bring AI powered automation to construction. So hoping that the construction industry actually is also ripe for
disruption coming from the machines. But, Chris, you remember there was also some time when we only talked about ecommerce, when we talked about quick delivery, when we talked about, yeah, air taxis and so on and so forth. So I don't think it will crumble it will crumble like a quick delivery hype, but but I do believe it's it's a little bit
overhyped AI right now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Or at least, I mean, it seems to be the one word that you have to include on all your in all your pitch decks, apparently. €10,000,000 for Ocell, o c e l l. It's also another deep tech investment in Europe, working on complex tech. Bioversus from Switzerland is a biotech IPO that got money. And then Felt. Energy secures funding from the FlixBus founders. It's a Munich startup bringing AGRI PV to farmers, clean energy without sacrificing the
crops. Chris, given that we went through so much material in order to cut down for the news. I think we're pretty happy to have it, down to twenty five minutes here. Right? Honestly, that was like, drut. Rattling. Drut. German engineering in the podcast today. Awesome. Chris, as always, was a pleasure talking to you. Looking forward to do the, next news with you. Let me look on my wall calendar. They should also go live on the March 27. Sounds awesome. Bye. Bye, guys.
That's all, folks. Find more news, streams, events, and interviews at www.startuprad.io. Remember, sharing is caring.