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

The February 2023 GSA wrap-up runs the month's important startup news across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in 30 minutes — top news first, then a bird's-eye view of the ecosystem, then the standout stories. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: The consistent top-down format keeps founders and investors current on the big DACH...

Startuprad.io meets Daniel of Board Owl, a Zürich-based startup that semi-automates the matching of companies with advisory and non-executive board members. Drawing on his experience as a banker at UBS and Goldman Sachs and as a headhunter, Daniel is systematising how the right board members get found. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode...

Startuprad.io interviews Konrad, CTO and co-founder of Reverse. Supply, a startup offering fashion brands second-hand-shops-as-a-service — the storefront technology and the resale logistics behind it. Konrad brings experience from ImmobilienScout24 to building resale infrastructure. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Resale is w...

Startuprad.io meets Immer. App, a startup selected for the 2022 CONTENTshift accelerator, on reinventing reading for the digital age. Its mobile, tablet, and web technology reimagines how we consume long-form text. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Reading habits have fractured in the digital age. Immer. App is a bet that bette...

Chris and Joe open 2023 with the January GSA wrap-up — the month's noteworthy startup news across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, including WeFox coming under fire for growing through acquisitions of insurance broker pools. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Growth-by-acquisition scrutiny like WeFox's is a recurring DACH stor...

Startuprad.io explores the future of fintech and banking with Paolo, Global Research Leader for Banking and Capital Markets at IBM. He looks past 2023 — even twenty years out — at the strategies and forces reshaping capital markets, fintech, and banking. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Banking changes slowly, then all at once...

In this bonus expert interview, Antonio Fatas, Professor of Economics at INSEAD, joins Startuprad.io to make sense of the FTX collapse. He pieces together what's known so far and what the failure reveals about crypto, risk, and trust. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: FTX's implosion was a stress test for the whole crypto narra...

A Startuprad.io tradition airing on December 25th for the eighth year running: the Fintech Review, looking back at the most important developments across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland through the eyes of the show's guests. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: An eight-year annual review is its own longitudinal data set. Readin...

Chris in New York and Joe in Frankfurt close out 2022 with the December GSA wrap-up, recorded December 19th — covering everything across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland since the previous news episode. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: A year-end transatlantic read shows which DACH stories had staying power and what momentum...

Startuprad.io meets 9am.works, a platform built as an "operating system" for freelancers. Founded by serial entrepreneur Marc — formerly of Team Europe Ventures and founder of ventures including Sommelier Prive and Huus — it helps freelancers find work, invoice, and get paid quickly and securely. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matter...

Jochen Engert, co-founder of Munich-based Flix — the mobility unicorn recently valued at around $3 billion that now owns Greyhound Lines — won German Entrepreneur of the Year at the German Startup Awards 2022. He shares his entrepreneurial journey and how Flix scaled into a global mobility player. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matte...

Startuprad.io meets UniApp, a German edtech startup helping international students find the right university abroad and navigate the application process — all on one platform. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Choosing and applying to a foreign university is confusing and high-stakes. UniApp streamlines a process that shapes st...

Filip, a founding partner of Cherry Ventures — one of Germany's most important seed investors — joins Startuprad.io. Cherry's portfolio spans unicorns like Flixbus, Auto1 Group, Forto, and Infarm, alongside names such as Amorelie, Kitchen Stories, Flaschenpost, Spryker, and Superlist. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Seed inve...

Milan, who graduated high school in 2022, founded QiTech — a company that recycles plastic bottle caps into the filament used in 3D printers — and was named Newcomer of the Year at the German Startup Awards 2022. He shares how he's growing QiTech into a real business. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: A teenage founder turning...

Startuprad.io meets UnternehmerTUM, the Munich powerhouse that helps experienced entrepreneurs and students start, accelerate, and fund world-class companies — a roster that includes Flix, Celonis, Isar Aerospace, Konux, tado, ProGlove, and Lilium. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Behind many of Germany's flagship deep-tech co...

Nora, CEO and co-founder of Berlin-based medtech Selfapy, joins Startuprad.io. Selfapy is a leading provider of prescribable digital therapy in Germany — offering psychological help without the wait — and Nora is the German Startup Award's Female Founder of the Year 2022 and a Forbes 30 under 30 honoree. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episod...

The November 2022 GSA wrap-up runs a heavy month: parties circling FTX's European entity, Bitpanda ordering a special KPMG audit, a second round of job cuts, and Gorillas reportedly selling around $1 billion despite having raised $1.3 billion in venture. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: This is the downturn made concrete — aud...

Johanna Baare, founder of Traceless Materials, joins Startuprad.io. Traceless produces compostable materials that replace conventional plastics — work that earned Baare the German Startup Award's Female Newcomer of the Year 2022. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Plastic replacement is one of the hardest, highest-impact problem...

Joel Tasche, CEO and founder of CleanHub, joins Startuprad.io. CleanHub partners with brands to fund the collection of plastic waste in regions that lack waste-management infrastructure — turning corporate plastic footprints into real-world ocean-plastic recovery. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Ocean-plastic pledges are ofte...

In part two from the European Angel Investment Summit, Startuprad.io focuses on female founders and the role of the European Business Angel Network (EBAN) — the organisation connecting angel investors across Europe to share practice and train new angels. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Angel capital is where most startups get...

Meeri, co-founder of INZMO (Insurance on Mobile), joins Startuprad.io. The Berlin-based insurtech makes simple insurance contracts through an app — an approach that helped make it one of Europe's fastest-growing insurtechs. Meeri also shares her journey from corporate law to founder. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Insurance...

In part one from the European Angel Investment Summit, Startuprad.io gathers interviews around the European Business Angel Network (EBAN) — the organisation connecting angel investors across Europe to share best practice and train the next generation of angels. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Angels fund the earliest, riskies...

Startuprad.io reframes how to think about Europe's startup geography: not competing hubs, but an increasingly connected network. Startups begin at one node — often a university — then move through accelerators and hubs across the continent. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Seeing Europe as a network rather than a set of rival...

The October 2022 roundup of German, Swiss, and Austrian startups — the fundings, deals, and shifts that defined the month across the GSA ecosystem. 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 GSA capital and momentum sat in late 2022. In this episode, we cover: T...

Tvarit is a hidden industrial-AI champion optimizing metal casting — the process behind parts for robots, cars, machines, and heavy equipment. A look at how AI makes heavy manufacturing more efficient and sustainable. Full article, links, and transcript: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Industrial AI applied to core processes like casting delivers immediate, m...