Music. Your podcast and YouTube blog covering the German startup scene with news, interviews, and live events. Hello, everybody, and welcome to our September 2024 wrap-up with news from the startup and tech entrepreneurship scenes in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Our startup news is recorded with me, Christian, in New York City. Joe is joining from Frankfurt as always. Hello. Hey, guys.
Today's news. The cutoff date is September 23rd. As always, all news not included will be in our next news wrap-up. I have to apologize a little bit for the boxy sound today, maybe. And if people are watching it on our YouTube channels or visual channels also, it looks like I'm being held hostage somewhere. But this is just the phone booth of my co-working space. You're holding yourself hostage. Yeah, don't we all.
But nevertheless, we will bring you a quick wrap-up about everything that has been going on in the German startup scene. First of all, though, we have a new partner announcement with exclusive benefits for all StartupRate.io listeners.
So let me give you a little spiel here. here because did you know that on average a blog still gets you way more traffic obviously than social media posts we have now a special deal with modern iqs.com so modern as in not traditional modern iq as in smart and then an s modern iqs.com where startup right.io listeners can create two Two free SEO optimized blog posts per month in less than a minute. You will get two free posts for your blog each month only when you use the link in the show notes.
It's an exclusive offer for our audience. If you want to know more, please check out the show notes. And you are taking over with the highlights now, please. Yes, Chris, the highlights. This fall will be hot. September 2024 brought significant developments in the startup scene across Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
The highlights include Intel's decision to halt its $30 billion chip factory project in Magdeburg due to cost-cutting measures and Northwood's struggle with factory closure amid financial challenges linked to faltering partnerships with car manufacturers. Germany's WIN initiative, backed by 12 billion until 2030, aims to revitalize the startup ecosystem with a focus on boosting innovation and venture capital.
In Austria, the Vienna-based AI startup Magic secured 320 million US dollars in funding, led by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, underscoring a growing trend of major investments in AI and tech-driven solutions. The quick commerce sector remains resilient, with Flink raising $150 million to expand in Germany and the Netherlands. The Swiss Startup Magic topped the 2024 Top 100 Swiss Startup Awards, showcasing continued innovation in the region.
These developments reflect a dynamic and evolving startup landscape in the DACH region, emphasizing the importance of strategic investment, government initiatives, and market adaptability. Difficult work. Let's talk startups. Guys, by the way, happy holiday. Today is German Unity Day, always on October 3rd, a public holiday across the country.
Most people will take Friday off to have a four-day weekend, so we thought we would use this opportunity to give you a bit more extensive news episode if you already have some free time on your hands. By the way, now is the best time to take a break and get a snack and a drink. We don't care if it's an alcoholic drink or not, just get something. This will be longer. We are back on our regular schedule.
Expect the news to drop every last Thursday a month and our regular news episode Thursdays until December 19th. Then we'll take a little break and be back for you in January. As always, you will find the video podcast and the audio podcast on the respective channels. You can tune in to our internet radio station at startup.radio or get our content directly to your inbox at startupradio.substack.com. The interesting piece is we try to keep it as small as possible.
And it's always startups in this month in five minutes or less. And you'll always get the management summary of each episode. And then you can decide if you want to read or learn more. You can also find all of our other channels at linktree.com forward slash Startup Radio. Again, our enablers. This episode is made possible by Hessen Trade & Invest and the Enterprise Europe Network, Hessen.
You can learn more down here in the show notes and StartupRaven.com, the best way to find investors and cooperation partners for early startups. Sign up here for early access. Chris. You always seem to me like a top news guy. Perfectly right. And it's a bit of a bigger segment today. First of all, let's have a look at Seller X. This was once like a celebrated unicorn in the Amazon aggregator space, but now has faced a dramatic downturn, narrowly avoiding public auction.
Originally modeled after Thrasio, Seller X raised $800 million and rapidly acquired Amazon brands, including KW Commerce. However, then financial challenges mounted, layoffs began in 2022, and then Thrasio was insolvent, casting a shadow on the whole sector. In September 2024, Seller X's major creditor BlackRock threatened public auction due to unpaid interest on a €400 million loan, only to cancel at the last minute amid ongoing negotiations to restructure companies' capital.
And overall, this whole situation underscores the volatility of the aggregated business model, heavily impacted by rising interest rates right now and integration struggles. So complicated situation there. Basically going from Unicoin to near auction. And if you want to know more about this, we have a couple of in-depth articles in our show notes. Moving on to Intel and a discussion that had strong repercussions in German politics also.
Because Intel planned to build a 30 billion euro chip factory in Magdeburg. But now put those plans on hold for at least two years, citing cost-cutting measures, ongoing financial struggles. So despite a 10 billion investment pledge from the German government, Inter's decision delays the factory's construction, risking the expiration of building permits, and also, I mean, basically risking heavy public debate about this. And already, very often, Germans see subsidies like this pretty critical.
So, I can guess that this discussion might also haunt the politicians involved a bit. Setback is part of a broader restructuring strategy because Intel grapples with heavy losses. It aims to save over 10 billion euros by 2025. And while local projects like the Elbe-Wasserwerk and Hightech Park in Sülzital will continue, so stuff surrounding the plant, And Intel's move raises concerns about the future of one of Europe's most significant tech investments.
So, yeah, I think it's a signal on the one hand for about, like, it's an important story about the challenges facing the global chip industry as a whole, but also the very often specifically German discussion around how to attract lighthouse projects like this. I may add that the MDR, which is part of the public broadcasting services in Germany, wrote in the article, which, by the way, you can read down here in the show notes that the building permit is only valid for two years.
And currently, I don't see Intel committing to those multi multi building project within this time frame. Yeah, absolutely. Moving on to another problematic story, Northvolt, it's Europe's leading battery manufacturer, but it is also grappling with financial difficulties, factory closures and layoffs due to troubles linked to key automotive partners like Volkswagen. So the company raised 15 billion dollars since its funding in 2016. is 16.
The company aimed to revolutionize Europe's battery sector with major investments. Including a 4.5 billion euro project in Germany, also supported by public funding. However, with Volkswagen's ongoing crisis, cancellations of major orders, also now Northvolt has problems with their ambitious expansion plans, including new factories in Germany, Sweden, Canada, All of it is kind of in jeopardy right now. North World seeks additional funding.
The future of its role in Europe's green energy landscape remains a bit uncertain. And so this also shows some of the bigger discussions going on in the German automotive sector right now, because especially Volkswagen has been in the headlines in Germany quite a lot in recent weeks because they used to have a job guarantee negotiated basically between the union and the company.
But now, for the first time in decades, Volkswagen nixed that job guarantee and people really expect that there are going to be factory closures. And the workers and the union say, well, we don't want to take the burden for management mistakes.
Takes and uh for germany as a whole i think it's a pretty significant discussion because volkswagen is part of germans automotive industrial pride and i mean it even used to be the kind of company that wanted to democratize owning an automotive there's also kind of a like a nazi backstory there but where in germany isn't that the case um but um yeah but overall now Now, Volkswagen, it is still the second biggest car manufacturer in the world when you look at units sold after Toyota, I think.
But overall, there's rumblings going on and there's even public debate whether probably the government should step in to secure those jobs. We may add that in the case of Volkswagen, one of the German states has so-called golden share. That means they can outvote everybody else who owns VW shares. So this is really a political situation going on here. And if the situation wouldn't be really difficult, they would not be talking
about that because there's a lot of politicians in the supervisory board there. Yeah. And then moving on to a top news that says a bit more about the whole ecosystem for startups in Germany. We have news about Germany's WIN initiative. initiative when the whole program aims to supercharge the startup ecosystem and to mobilize 12 billion euros in investments by 2030, aiming at positioning Germany as a leading hub for innovation and VC and venture capital.
It's supported by Deutsche Bank Allianz, Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau, KfW, that we've talked about quite often on the podcast. And the whole initiative was launched with a joint commitment from the government, financial the financial sector and the startup community. They want to improve access to growth and innovation capital, streamline regulations, encourage private investments in young dynamic companies, drive technological advancements and economic growth as a whole.
So a whole lot of goals that they have. It's considered or hoped to be one initiative, one program that enhances the country's competitiveness as a whole on the global stage, particularly in tech and sustainability sectors. They want to bolster the venture capital market, improve existing conditions and integrate institutional investors into the funding landscape.
There's people from several parties behind it. German Finance Minister Christian Lindner from the Liberal Party, pro-business Liberal Party, and the Economic Minister Robert Habeck from the Green Party emphasized the need to cut red tape in Germany, create a more favorable environment for startups to thrive.
And they drew some of the momentum of previous funding efforts by the government, like the Zukunftsfonds, which had already invested 3.3 billion euros out of 10 billion that they have as a whole. And now the WIN initiative aims to further strengthen and Germany's position as a key player in the startup scene. So, and reducing also the dependency on subsidies a bit, which is also always a big topic in Germany. We have more about this whole initiative in our show notes.
And Magic AI, it's a Vienna-founded startup, has secured a massive $320 million investment. It's led by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. The whole fundraising round signals its potential entry into unicorn status with now an estimated valuation of $1.5 billion. Million dollars, the funding round saw participation from top investors, including Jane Street, Sequoia, Atlassian, alongside already existing backers like Capital G and Andrej Karpaty.
Magic, which is founded by the Austrians Erik Steinberger and Sebastian Derot, focuses on AI-powered developer assistance software, and it wants to revolutionize coding with human-like interaction capabilities. The latest funding right now wants to further fuel the development, including building supercomputers on Google Cloud, positioning the whole company as a key player in the AI landscape.
Magic already had a $117 million funding round in February and an earlier round in 23, which was $23 million. And so, yeah, you can really see how the startup's growth trajectory is really rapid and massive. The way it looks behind the scenes is the software leverages large language models, LLMs, to assist developers in real time.
It's a bit akin to GitHub's Autopilot. And now with Schmidt's leadership and substantial backing from renowned investors, Magic seems to be poised to drive significant innovation in AI-driven developer tools and hopefully becoming a standout player in the tech world. We will see about that. More information about the investment in our show notes. And last but not least, everyone's favorite topics right after volocopters or flying helicopters, quick commerce.
How fast do you really need your groceries? We've seen them come. We've seen them go. But there's one company that sticks around, and that is Flink. It's a Berlin-based quick commerce startup. startups, and apparently, based on TechCrunch coverage, it has raised $150 million in a new funding round and really wants to double down on its operations in Germany and the Netherlands. It's generally backed by quite some renowned names like Bonn, Mubadala, and the big German supermarket chain Rewe.
Now the latest funding aims to bolster Flink's market presence through a strategic partnership with Just Eat takeaway, and so they plan to open 30 new hubs by next year. And despite previous valuation highs of nearly $5 billion, Flink's current valuation sits just below $1 billion, reflecting also the volatility of the whole quick commerce sector. Again, I think we've spoken about this quite often in the podcast. Germans are really, really price sensitive when it comes to groceries.
And so the question always remains is how big is this market really? Nevertheless, the company plans to achieve profitability by the second quarter of next year. And it wants to focus to do so. It wants to focus on operational efficiency and on expanding the network of 146 hubs that are already existing across 80 cities. The company expects to generate 600 million dollars in gross revenue in 2024, 20 percent increase compared to the previous year.
And it targets an average order size of 40 dollars. So, yeah, still sounds to me as if it's really hard to make money with these margins. 8,900 employees and new focus on core markets maybe is what might save Flink. They are basically set on proving that quick commerce still has a future driven by strategic scaling and enhanced customer service, as they say. And, yeah, we will see about that. And now we come to housekeeping and time to brag.
And here's actually something I forced you to tell because you are also a podcaster, even though in German. And you are podcasting about the current election together with a colleague who's also based in New York, is my understanding. And you talk about the most recent developments and explain it a little bit for the German audience. Can you talk a little bit about that here?
Exactly. As if I haven't talked enough. So the podcast is called By Burger and Beer, meaning whilst having a burger and a beer. And we are explaining American politics to a German audience. It really wants to be a little cheat sheet for the elections, for American society and politics as a whole. The idea is really to be in an amicable environment and to talk to each other on a basis of mutual understanding and be like, hey, what do you think about this?
So recent episodes, we were covering already the immigration and the situation at the border. We covered abortion. We covered how good Kamala Harris's chances really are, how good Donald Trump's chances are. And so, yeah, release schedule is about every week, every other week. It's now, I think, since it's now high season, we might possibly be able to stick to every week. And, yeah, you should check it out. It's called By Burger and Beer, all written in the German language.
And it's big fun. Yes. You know, I only have one critic point here. It's called By Burger and Beer. I've never heard any of you eating or even open a can of beer. It's our big dream that we actually do a live recording. But so far, we weren't able to convince any burger place around us. Yeah. So that is the housekeeping and time to break. And now I've really talked enough and I'm handing it over back to you.
Yes. We hope you like the new format. Talking about some major news, a little bit more extensive. If you're interested to working with us, you are very welcome to do so. There is a link down here in the show notes that operate that forward slash become minus a minus partner.
And there you can learn more about that you can subscribe and follow don't miss our latest episode and updates follow us on social media and subscribe to our newsletter for more exclusive content and today i'm taking over a little bit of the ecosystem from chris because he as he already said was already talking quite a lot and as you can hear he's not completely well so i'll take a little bit work of him the ecosystem talking about the world perspective here m&a market predictions from
gp bullhound simon's mirandi expect hihr tech consolidation growth in industrial software and more private equity funds snapping up we see portfolios as we see chase liquidity.
Are you ready for a backloaded 2024 you can read more in our show notes in the sifted article going a little bit more down in our bird's eye view to europe big news for europe's startup scene bulgaria's ekaterina zahariva is set to become the eu's first ever commissioner for Startups, sorry for butchering the name, Research and Innovation, a bold move to place innovation at the heart of the EU economy.
As exits and funding dry up, private equity interest in European fintechs rises, offering a lifeline amid the push for profitability. PE firms are increasingly backing mature fintechs, making a shift from traditional VC investments. You can read more in the sifted article. European stock exchanges and startups urge politicians to boost the EU IPO market, encouraging tech companies to go public at home instead of the US.
Key reforms include better financing options, tax incentives, and lower cross-border costs. And Berlin secures its spot as number two in digital startup hops just behind London with 28% rise in new startups in the first half of 2024 and 1.1 billion in VC investments in this half the city's thriving. Berlin is home to 21 of Germany's 33 unicorns. You can read more at Berliner Zeitung. Chris, you are always an Austria ecosystem guy, right?
Yeah, let's have a look at the Austrian ecosystem where there's also interesting news because they are planning to build Europe's first hydrogen valley. So basically a hub for hydrogen tech, for the hydrogen sector. And they are set to rise and it's set to be built in Austria with a 578 million euros investment. So far, it's spending 17 projects, and it aims to produce over 10,000 tons of green hydrogen annually by 2030, boosting industrial decarbonization.
So they're really trying to bank in on a future-oriented technology here. And moving on to Germany, the ecosystem news here are once VC fundraising in Germany is gaining momentum, says KfW Capital. State-backed LP reports increased capital calls, signaling rising startup investments. Gender diversity in deep tech funds are key focus areas right now. More about this you can find in the show notes from the website sifted.eu.
And we see that Berlin's mayor Kai Wegner aims to revive the city's startup scene, Target can attain a top three spot in Europe, which makes McDuris what they consider, which rank they consider to be at right now. With rising costs and fewer spaces, Berlin's fight to regain its edge is on. So we will see how well Berlin can stay, re-become a startup hub in Germany. Germany, more information about that can be found in Berlin based newspaper Tagesspiegel.
What I found interesting is here how much Berlin's mayor is afraid to fall back in terms of being a top startup spot in Europe and how much he's willing to do versus a lot of other places here in Europe who are not doing anything at all and then complain, oh, the future passed, the business passed us, so do something.
Thing talking a little bit about some cities who did at least something right um as always in the hops there in the order of how we found them always starting with frankfurt rhein-main because it's my home turf big news from our former guest qualifies they just raised 54 million us dollars in the series b funding led by insert partners to boost supply chain risk management in life We had them in our exclusive interview a month ago.
You can read more in the link. And, of course, we link our interview. RheinMain, Böhringer Ingelheim, acquires Swiss startup Saiba Animal Health, boosting its R&D pipeline in pet therapeutics. Zybar's innovative virus-like particles-based vaccines target chronic diseases in pets, offering long-lasting treatment outcomes. Ultark secured €2.5 million in seed investment to revolutionize B2B green energy trading, with backing from venture stocks, D11-set ventures, tribe investments, and more.
Or Luco lands 1.5 million-year investments led by Albrecht Merck and Erhan Tilki. Twin founders Evin and Helin Akar are ready to scale big. Next stop, new markets and innovative solutions. BioVox secures 2.2 million years to revolutionize healthcare with sustainable bioplastics. backed by high-tech Chronoform BioVox aims to cut carbon emissions and set a new standard in medical-grade bioplastic.
The city of minds, as always, antibody showdown at ESMO, BioNTech and Summit, Akeso go head-to-head with their. Bispecific cancer therapies, sorry, potentially shaking up the dominance of Keytruda, all eyes on Barcelona. Leipzig. Leipzig-based startup Alive Foods shuts down operations amid high costs and low demand for its 20 years cultured meat schnitzel. Founded in 2019, the company aimed to bring a hybrid meat plant product to market.
Chris, as you always said, very price-sensitive consumers here in Germany. The lovely city of Düsseldorf retracted Fraser's 15 million euros to revolutionize textile supply chains. The Düsseldorf-based startup digitizes and tracks supply chains, promoting transparency for fashion brands.
Lead investor is Partec. and Augsburg RIONIC secures 13 million euros series A funding to power sustainable energy solutions across Europe the climate tech startup will use the funds to expand further and grow its team led by Northzone with support from Point9 and Puzzle Ventures Chris you are taking Austria and Switzerland news and as always I do believe we have moved the fundraisings towards the end Yes. Tiny corrections. The Dusseldorf startup is called Retraced,
not Retracted. I'm sorry, Retraced. Apologies. They don't have Retracted yet. They're just tracing. In Austria, we see that Urban Sports Club acquires the Austrian market leader MyClubs, so in the fitness sector. And in order to expand the fitness platform across the GSA region, founder Moritz Kreppel signals more acquisitions ahead as the company focuses on scaling and efficiency. So some fitness tech news here. We also see that Vienna's new Aithyra Institute, I hope, Aithyra, A-I-T-H-Y-R-A.
It's an institute that aims to revolutionize biomedicine with AI. And with AI breakthroughs in disease understanding, diagnostics, and therapies. It's led by Oxford's Michael Bronstein. And in Switzerland, we can congratulate Depoli for topping the 2024 Top 100 Swiss Startup Awards. They are leading the charge in plastic recycling with groundbreaking tech, as they say.
And um yeah you can have more about you find more about the award and the company in the show notes on the website startup ticker.ch moving on to the general news tech news company news section um that to kick it off as always we have some vc news and new funds in case you're looking for money let me rattle them oh it's it's quite a lot so we will see inside partners nears a closing on a massive 10 billion dollar fund um despite a dip from the previous 20 billion 20 billion dollar fund inside
continues to make major moves selling recorded future to mastercard and own to Salesforce. Atomico raises its largest fund ever, 1.12 billion euros to few Europe's boldest founders with 681 million euros for growth stage and 438 million euros for early stage. Atomico is doubling down on Europe's tech rise. Headline secures $865 million for growth fund, boosting focus on Europe. Half of the fund targets European startups, marking a shift towards the region.
Major backers here are Porsche, Otto, KFW, EIF. Swiss VC Red Alpen launches also its largest fund yet, raising $200 million to back up to 20 early-stage European companies. They have a new office in London and want to strengthen their presence in Europe's startup ecosystem as well. We have two different articles that this is based on in the show notes. SET Ventures closes a €200 million fund to power digital clean energy startups.
They are focusing on digital-first data-driven solutions to push renewable energy into mass markets. The Berlin-based VC AENU secures €170 million to few Europe's climate tech startups, pivoting from an original evergreen model now due to market conditions. They are backed by EIF, KfW and top funders. CapMont Technologies closes 100 million euro fund to back early stage B2B startups in Europe and the US.
They are targeting enterprise software as a service and industrial tech in order to support the next big disruptors in AI, robotics and the Internet of Things. Two more to go. Outboard VC raises 60.5 million euros for fund two to support early stage fintech founders.
And somehow related to the VC topic, there's a big move in finance partners group teams up with BlackRock to launch a new investment solution for retail investors, combining the strength of two global private equity big players, diversified portfolios and simplified access are two of the main goals here. A new section, relatively new. Let's move on to green tech news. Yes, let's do some green tech news. Big changes at Solar with a set instead of DS.
The Solar startup shifts focus to B2B, exiting its original B2C solar installation business. Over half of the team affected as Solar pivots to digital tools and financing for installers. You can learn more about them with my interview of the founder on the partner podcast called Stalling Y. Shake up in the solar scene. 1.5 parts of solar's business as the later exits B2C with solar shifting to B2B. 1.5 could boost its PV storage and energy management software offerings.
NPAS revenue soared 118% to 905 million euros in 2023, despite challenges in the solar market. With plans to expand its heat pump business and international presence, and Polar is gearing up for a transformative 2024. Quello, Q-W-E-L-L-O, secures 65 million euros funding to expand its EV charging network across Europe, backed by ABN Ambro and Investec. The funds will support growth projects, including the recent acquisition of Park & Charge. March, there was a lot of green tech news.
Let's go on with the green tech news. Sum up, it's 1 billion revenue, but questions swirl around its 8 billion valuation. The fintech giant is focusing on profitability, but we're not sure if it's worth the hype. N26, Trade Republic and Bitpanda are back on growth track. Will renewed momentum N26 lift its upper cap? Cap Trade Republic's new account boosts downloads and Bitpanda rides the crypto wave.
Deal of GetSafe's attempt to acquire fellow insurtech Friday fell through due to disagreements on valuation. As industry consolidation continues, both startups face profitability challenges amid high losses. Peter Kroskov exits Unstoppable Finance, halting plans for a crypto bank. Despite the pivot, the startup remains well-funded and shifts the focus to develop an infrastructure for institutional clients to integrate stable coins.
Former Wirecard CEO Markus Braun remains in custody due to flight and tampering risk, according to Munich One Regional Court. Braun faces charges of fraud, embezzlement and market manipulation in one of Germany's largest financial scandals. I think our audience already knows we covered this extensively. a flee. Police raids at Dock Financial's offices in Munich and Luxembourg as part of a money laundering investigation, highlighting lingering issues from the fintech's past.
Once a hopeful new start, the company now faces insolvencies amid internal conflicts and regulatory scrutiny. Munich's fintech Finway exploring a potential sale amidst market shake-up. Despite raising Pricing 10 million US dollars in early 2023, consolidation looms as competition heats up with Payhawk and other players in the prowl. WeFox appoints Joachim Müller as new CEO amid financial turmoil and strategic pivots, including exiting the German market.
Will this move steer the insurtech back on track? We're not sure yet. Chris, you want to take over the general news again? Yes, and then we are nearly done. Bear with us. Germany's Startup Association unveils its Innovations Agenda 2030. So the innovation agenda 2030 to strengthen innovation and secure future prosperity, bold moves like tripling the VC investments, boosting talent and pushing for 30 deep tech unicorns by 2030 are part of it.
And the question is, can Germany stay world class? us. Dirk Hoke, CEO of Volocopter, leaves for Void by April 2025. Volocopter, we've talked about a lot, a company also with challenges, and now Hoke aims to lead Void through its transformation and boost its stagnant growth there.
DLA, Deutsches Luft- und Raumfahrtzentrum, successfully detected Volocopter's VoloCity air taxi, marking a crucial step towards certification, aeroelastic vibration Vibration tests like this confirm the safety and dynamic performance of the 18-motor urban aircraft. Lilium, a similar industry, reshaped its board, bringing in defense expert Filippo Balducci to guide its strategic pivot. Deep aerospace experience is something that Balducci brings to the table.
He is set to boost Lilium's journey towards its first customer deliveries in 2026. So also a lot of hope there. Finally, Bavaria agrees because now Lilium, second news story about the company, is set to receive 15 million euros in state aid, but only if matched by federal funds. There had been months of debate before that, and Bavaria steps in to support the cash-wrapped Pioneer.
Despite a theory setback, rocket factory Augsburg RFA remains undeterred in its quest to launch Germany's first private rocket into space. So now we're dreaming even bigger. We move on from helicopters to space. They claim that with lessons learned, all eyes can now turn to ESA Aerospace upcoming launch. We will see. So a month after us. OK, weird flex here.
Fortune catches up. Aleph Alpha pivots from the AI race to a new strategy, no longer chasing open AI or meta, but focusing on corporate and government AI solutions. So also Fortune is now writing or asking the question whether this shift will redefine Europe's AI landscape. There's another topic about this from Handelsblatt in our show notes. And German fitness startup 7NXT supercharges its European presence with the BuddyFit acquisition. This is boosting subscriber numbers to more than 800,000.
And 7NXT is set to dominate the fitness and well-being space, at least based on their own claims. Upgrain and Brauerei Locher open Europe's largest food upcycling plant, where they want to transform 25,000 tons of spent grain into proteins, fibers, and valuable ingredients annually, could be a game changer in sustainable food production. More about this in our show notes coming from an article at startupticker.ch. And we saw a cybercrime crackdown by the German Federal Police, BKA.
They shut down 47 crypto platforms suspected of laundering money for ransomware groups or darknet traders and more and we see you says the federal police uh to the criminals okay. I like it that the BKA, the German Federal Police, appears to have a little sense of humor here. Going a little bit faster into Schumpeter's Schöpferische Zerstörung, the creative destruction is still ongoing.
Shockwaves in Berlin, Fintech scene, right capital, backed by stars like Verena Pauster and Mario Goetze files for insolvency. Charging startup MiEnergy has to file for insolvency, known for its off-grid fast charger converting bioethanol into charging power. German startup Confer files for insolvency due to 335,000 Corona-Aid repayment demand.
Graz-based luxury tent startup Stroboid files for insolvency despite successful expansion in the US, delayed orders and recession impacted led by a 4.6 million euro debt. One Climate, the green fintech app backed by Wiesmann and promoted by Thomas Müller, is shutting down after failing to secure funding. Chris, you want to end on a high note? There is a lot of fundraisings. I think you only do a little bit of the highlights of each message, right?
We are already going for more than 40 minutes here. Yeah, so there's many, many news going on this time around in terms of successful fundraising and exits. So bear with us. Let me just highlight a couple of those. We see Swiss spine surgery innovator Neomedical securing $68 million. They want to boost U.S. expansion and enhance their AI-powered AR platform at Weiss.
Berlin's Formo raises $61 million to launch the world's first cheese made from koji fungus proteins, now available at a couple of German grocery stores. Munich's Reverion secures 56 million euros in order to supercharge renewable power plants and lead a carbon negative revolution. Swiss Medtech Corflow Therapeutics secures 44 million euros in a Series B funding to bring microvascular diagnostic and therapeutic systems closer to US market clearance.
Germany's Habit, not as like something you do regularly with an I, but Habit with a Y, H-I-B-Y-T, secures 40 million euros in order to expand flexible living solutions globally. They claim to have 30,000 more, more than 30,000 spaces in more than 50 cities and might be set for strategic acquisitions and profitability this year.
Quantum Computing goes mobile with the Parity QC and Quantum Brilliance team teaming up to miniaturize quantum computers for a 35 million euro project coming from Germany, enabling high-speed simulations and encryptions in remote locations. patients. Swiss biotech company Vandria raises $30.7 million in a Series A funding in order to advance mitochondrial therapeutics. Deep Drive raises $30 million to revolutionize EV motors. They have backing from Leitmotiv, BMW iVentures, and more.
CPTX, a Munich-based biotech spinoff from the university there, secures $29 million funding to revolutionize DNA nanofabrications for antivirals, gene transfer, and vaccines. Swiss Mile, an Etihad Zurich spinoff, so university there, engineering university there, raises $22 million, led by Jeff Bezos' expeditions to advance AI-powered four-legged robots. They are designed for tasks like last mile delivery and infrastructure security.
Flair secures 14.5 million euros in seed funding to scale direct air capture tech. Geno Startup Truco, T-R-U-U-C-O, secures 8 million euros from Atruvia and DZ Bank to harness customer data for banking sales. Smalt secures 8 million euros seed funding to supercharge talent and productivity in the energy transition. Munich-based XOLIFE gets 7 million euros to enhance its impact monitor platform, helping pharma companies to better understand patient needs.
Leeds, Lytium from Switzerland, raises $7 million seed funding to fast-track the commercialization of cutting-edge thin-film lithium niobate photogenic integrated circuits. Vienna-based Bitcoin startup BitCredit Protocol secures 6.7 million euros to transform Bitcoin from a store of value into a usable currency for the real economy. We will see how that goes. Monda, Berlin-based data monetization platform, raises $5 million in seed funding led by Zenovo and AcroBeta Ventures.
The funds here will help to expand U.S. operations and enhance the platform to support companies monetizing their data in an AI-driven market. And last but not least, Munix, Giesecke and Devrian dives into AI with a stake in BlockBrain, founded by serial entrepreneur Matthias Protzmann. man. Basically, it's about moving from fighting blockchain scams to transforming how companies manage knowledge. So check out block brain. Chris, that's right. That was that was quite long.
We're recording for more than 45 minutes now guys, really, really sorry, we only did this very long one in order to bring you the most extensive news coverage on a public holiday here. And maybe next time we do a little bit more cutting here and maybe go only to fundraisers up to 10 million. Yes. We will see. Make more money, people, because otherwise you won't be in the podcast. Oh, Chris, you know, one downside of you being in this booth recording? No sirens. No sirens.
Maybe next time around. Chris, it was, as always, a pleasure talking to you. Thank you very much and talk to you soon. Look at that. our next news will go live on halloween no we're not going to wear something scary thanks for listening trick-or-treating thanks guys bye-bye, that's all folks find more news streams events and interviews at www.startuprad.io remember sharing is caring. Music.