Startup & Tech News from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland by Startuprad.io™

A deep dive into Germany's 2023 startup year: how valuations and investment reset across Berlin, Hamburg, and beyond — and what the reset means for investors and founders heading into 2024. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: The reset year, in one place: where valuations fell, where investment held, and how the correction set up...

A short holiday thank-you from Startuprad.io founder Jörn "Joe" Menninger — gratitude to the founders, investors, and listeners who make up the DACH startup community across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and a look ahead to the conversations to come. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: A brief seasonal note to the community...

Startuprad.io's Fintech Review 2023 for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland: leading fintech voices on the year in digital finance, banking, and capital markets — and the Fintech Outlook for 2024. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: The annual DACH fintech reference — a panel-level read on what changed in 2023 and what practitioner...

December 2023 across DACH: Aleph Alpha faces critical press, e-scooter firm Tier lays off a fifth of its staff, and Solarisbank and Austrian scale-up neoom cut jobs — while Sport Alliance lands $100M and Hugo Boss backs a sustainable-fashion fund. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: The year-end downturn made concrete: named layo...

Joe Menninger and Thomas Kösters, MD at DEEP Ecosystems, on Central and Eastern Europe as a hidden gem for AI startups — the rising scenes in Warsaw, Bucharest, and Prague, why CEE is under-represented in AI, and where it could break into Europe's top 15 for AI investment. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: CEE is the under-pric...

November 2023 in DACH: Aleph Alpha raises half a billion dollars for AI, CMBlu lands €100M for energy storage, and WeFox takes $55M from Deutsche Bank and UniCredit — while Vanguard shutters its German robo-advisor and WeWork's German unit files for insolvency. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: A split month: a landmark AI rais...

Startuprad.io's 400th episode wraps October 2023 across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland — with BioNTech a special case as the region navigates a slower funding market. Joe Menninger and Chris Fahrenbach on the month's essential signals. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: A milestone episode and a milestone moment for DACH — th...

Christian Noske, Partner at NGP Capital in Berlin, joins Joe Menninger to unpack NGP Capital's research on venture funding across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland — how COVID-19 reshaped regional VC and why Switzerland punches above its weight. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: A data-grounded read on how DACH venture funding...

September 2023 across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland: a month heavy on insolvencies and closures but not without bright spots — expansions and new funding rounds. Joe Menninger and Chris Fahrenbach cut through to the signals that matter. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: The trough of the cycle, documented — where DACH capit...

In the European Startup Pulse's one-year anniversary, Joe Menninger and Thomas Kösters of DEEP Ecosystems map Europe's rising startup hubs — why founders increasingly stay in Europe, how cities like Málaga and Lisbon attract them, and the hard part of building a hub brand. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Where European talent...

The July–August 2023 summer wrap-up across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland: the season's most important funding rounds, expansions, and setbacks, distilled into one cut. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: The summer signal record for DACH 2023 — the raises and the closures that set up a difficult autumn. In this episode, we co...

June 2023 across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland: greentech scale-up 1Komma5° headlines the month as Joe Menninger and Chris Fahrenbach round up the funding rounds and signals before the summer break. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Part of the continuous DACH signal record — the mid-2023 read as greentech and energy names...

Part two of the European Startup Pulse hub series: how Munich became a global deep-tech center with UnternehmerTUM at its core — and what any city can learn from it. (Part one covered Odense's robotics rise.) Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Munich is Europe's clearest case study in building a deep-tech hub on purpose. The pla...

May 2023: Germany officially enters recession — but with barely any unemployment. Joe Menninger and Chris Fahrenbach read the DACH startup scene against the macro backdrop, from top news to the standout startup cities. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: A macro-inflection month for DACH — recession without mass unemployment — an...

April 2023 in DACH: over €600M in headline funding, Darmstadt's Software AG nears a $2.4B exit to Silver Lake, and SAP moves to back Heidelberg AI champion Aleph Alpha — with big rounds for Enpal, Isar Aerospace, IntegrityNext, Razor Group, and Tado. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: A dense entity month: a multi-billion softwa...

Where are DACH startups really heading? Lucas von Reuss, CEO and co-founder of patent-analytics company QuantIP, mines 460 categories and 16,000+ patent filings to reveal the industries and technologies GSA startups were quietly betting on in 2022. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Patents are a leading indicator most people ig...

Part one of the European Startup Pulse hub series: Thomas Kösters of DEEP Ecosystems on how Odense, Denmark grew from a single company into a global robotics powerhouse — and what makes an effective startup ecosystem. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: The origin story of a world-class cluster from one anchor company — the clear...

March 2023 across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland: Joe Menninger and Chris Fahrenbach round up the month's top startup news, the ecosystem view, and the standout startup cities. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Part of the continuous DACH signal record — the March 2023 read as the market worked through the downturn. In this...

Germany adopted a national startup strategy for the first time — and when Europe's largest economy does that, pay attention. Dr. Anna Christmann, Germany's Commissioner for Startups and the Digital Economy and a Bundestag member, joins Joe Menninger to walk through the ten-point strategy, the €10B Future Fund, and the criticism. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Star...

Could 2022's Q4 lows mark the start of a new European VC cycle? Drawing on DEEP Ecosystems' 2022 report, Joe Menninger and Thomas Kösters spot a seed-investment uptick across Barcelona, London, Paris, Berlin, and Stockholm — London losing its edge, and cleantech emerging as Europe's next hot sector. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode mat...

The KfW Venture Capital Barometer surveys around 450 investors every quarter — one of the broadest, most reliable reads on private-market sentiment in Europe's largest economy. KfW chief economist Dr. Friederike 'Fritzi' Köhler-Geib explains what it measures and what it's signalling. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: The single...

February 2023 across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland: Joe Menninger and Chris Fahrenbach round up the top startup news, the ecosystem view, and the startup cities to watch. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Part of the continuous DACH signal record — the February 2023 read from the depths of the funding winter. In this episod...

January 2023 in DACH: DeepL confirms unicorn status and takes aim at Grammarly, BioNTech makes the largest acquisition in its history, and WeFox draws scrutiny over its acquisition-led growth — with Solarisbank in BaFin trouble and Sono Motors extending its runway on EU money. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: A dense entity mo...

Paolo Sironi, IBM's Global Research Leader for Banking and Capital Markets, on where fintech and banking are heading — the strategy choices that decide winners, how platforms will differ, and why banks should start preparing for quantum computing today. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: A long-horizon view from one of fintech's...

In this bonus episode, INSEAD economics professor Antonio Fatás joins Joe Menninger to make sense of the FTX collapse — what was known at the time, why an unregulated institution failed so spectacularly, and what other insolvencies it might foreshadow. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: A rigorous, academic read on the defining...