Startuprad.io™ – Europe’s Voice on Startups, VC, Innovation & Growth

A bonus news cut on a stampede of new unicorns in the German-speaking scene — the billion-euro companies minted in a frenzied stretch, and what the surge signaled about the cycle. Full article, links, and transcript: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: A rush of unicorns is a market telling you something. This bonus cut reads the signal behind the frenzy. In this...

A conversation with Finn Hänsel, Entrepreneur of the Year at the German Startup Awards 2021 — a standout founder on the company and mindset that earned the honor. Full article, links, and transcript: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Entrepreneur-of-the-Year recognition surfaces the operators others learn from. Their thinking is a window into what wins in the G...

Palturai calls itself the 'Google of business data' — mapping the hidden relationships between companies, owners, and networks to surface risk and opportunity most databases miss. Full article, links, and transcript: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Understanding who's connected to whom is powerful for compliance, sales, and risk. Relationship data is a defens...

A spotlight on the Female Social Entrepreneur of the Year at the German Startup Awards 2021 — recognizing a founder combining social impact with entrepreneurial ambition. Full article, links, and transcript: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Highlighting female and impact-driven founders shapes who the ecosystem celebrates and who feels they belong in it. In th...

LIVEDAB offers filters that draw attention to causes or advertising — turning augmented-reality overlays into a tool for awareness campaigns and brand engagement. Full article, links, and transcript: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Attention is scarce and expensive. AR filters are a novel, shareable way for causes and brands to earn it. In this episode, we co...

Onetool helps companies cut their SaaS costs — giving businesses visibility and control over the sprawling stack of software subscriptions that quietly drains budgets. Full article, links, and transcript: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: SaaS sprawl is a real, growing cost for every company. Tools that surface waste and manage licenses pay for themselves. In t...

Startuprad.io interviews Justin Gemeri, founder and CEO of Frankfurt-based ekipa — a platform for innovation challenges that connects organisations with the startups, students, and talent who can solve them. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Corporate innovation often stalls for lack of the right outside partners. ekipa's chall...

Startuprad.io talks with investor Thomas J. Richter, Head of Europe at Santa Monica-based Expert Dojo — a virtual global accelerator built to help founders grow toward unicorn scale. Richter shares a journey that began studying in Ulm and led to Santa Monica's startup world. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Cross-border accele...

Startuprad.io meets NanoStruct and its CEO and co-founder Henriette Maaß, who describes the company as "listening to molecules." Working at the scale of nanometers — a sheet of paper is about 100,000 nanometers thick — NanoStruct emerged from Maaß's PhD in solid-state physics. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Deep-science star...

In Entrepreneur Tools #4, headhunter Tim Heathcote joins Startuprad.io on how to build a tech team — including the practical realities of German employment law that US companies often need educating on. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Hiring is where many startups stall, and cross-border hiring adds a layer of legal complexit...

In this bonus episode, Startuprad.io marks a new king in German startups: Trade Republic has become the country's most valuable startup at a $5.3 billion valuation. Founder Christian Hecker has set his sights on being present across the entire Eurozone within months. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: A neobroker becoming German...

The May 2021 roundup of German startup news — the fundings, deals, and developments that shaped the ecosystem that month. Full article, links, and transcript: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Monthly roundups are the pulse of the ecosystem. This one captures where German capital and momentum sat in mid-2021. In this episode, we cover: The notable German fundin...

Startuprad.io talks with Jörn-Philipp Plies, CEO and co-founder of eye2you, which turns ordinary smartphones into simple medical retina scanners. A TU Darmstadt computer-science and robotics graduate, Plies moved from visual-recognition research into building accessible eye diagnostics. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Retina...

A short introduction to Startuprad.io's mission: bringing the German-speaking startup scene — Germany, Austria, and Switzerland — to an international audience, in English. Full article, links, and transcript: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: For global founders and investors, DACH is often opaque behind a language barrier. This is the show that translates it....

A look at the fintech behind a €100 million exit that flew under the radar — the story of a quietly successful company and the deal the headlines missed. Full article, links, and transcript: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Not every big outcome makes noise. Studying under-the-radar exits reveals patterns the hyped ones obscure. In this episode, we cover: The...

How new EU rules are set to change equity crowdfunding for startups — what the harmonized framework means for founders raising from the crowd and for the platforms that serve them. Full article, links, and transcript: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Crowdfunding regulation determines who can raise from retail investors and how. A pan-EU framework could widen...

In Entrepreneur Tools Episode 3, Startuprad.io talks candid, BS-free service design and data-driven business solutions — how some entrepreneurs solve common problems in unusually systematic ways worth learning from. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: The best operators turn messy problems into repeatable systems. This episode su...

Startuprad.io talks with Dennis Ahrens, CEO and founder of Hamburg-based Spacific, whose software lets you measure real-world objects using augmented-reality glasses — turning AR from novelty into a practical measurement tool. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: AR's business value shows up in mundane tasks like measurement. Spac...

A data-driven look at Europe's most attractive startup hubs — and the case that Berlin has overtaken London — examining what makes a city magnetic for founders and capital. Full article, links, and transcript: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Where founders and capital cluster shapes the whole continent's innovation map. The Berlin-vs-London question is a prox...

In a transatlantic recording with Chris in New York and Joe in Frankfurt, Startuprad.io wraps up April 2021 in German startups — including the SPAC frenzy that was dominating headlines at the time. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: The SPAC boom reshaped how companies thought about going public. This wrap-up captures that momen...

NECT built Germany's most downloaded self-identification app — letting users verify their identity digitally in minutes, a foundational layer for banking, insurance, and any regulated onboarding. Full article, links, and transcript: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Identity verification is the gatekeeper to every regulated digital service. Owning that step is...

Tech headhunter Tim Heathcote returns to Startuprad.io on how to headhunt technical talent — with a blunt warning: around 80% of startups fail because of team problems, so getting hiring right is existential, not optional. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: If most startups die of team failure, recruiting is the highest-stakes w...

Startuprad.io talks with Fabian Beringer, CEO and co-founder of Munich-based e-bot7, on conversational AI for customer service. An early thought leader in chatbots and NLP — and a Forbes 30 under 30 honoree — Beringer is building AI that handles customer conversations at scale. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: e-bot7 was worki...

Startuprad.io meets homefully, which offers co-living — furnished apartments — across many cities in Germany and Switzerland, with about half its tenants being expats. Now the company is looking to expand across Europe. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Housing for a mobile, international workforce is a persistent pain point. h...

In this interview, Startuprad.io covers the practical side of crypto that hype tends to skip: how a private investor should actually keep cryptocurrencies and crypto-assets safe. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Most crypto losses come from poor security, not bad markets. Clear best practices for custody and safety are among t...