0:05

Welcome to startuprad.io.

0:09

Your podcast and YouTube blog covering the German

0:12

startup scene with news, interviews, and

0:16

live events. Hello, and welcome, everybody. This is Joe from startuprate.o.

0:24

Welcome to this month in German, Swiss, and Austrian startups,

0:27

March 2025. Welcome to

0:30

our regular startup news from the startup and tech entrepreneurship

0:34

scenes in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and even

0:37

Liechtenstein. Our startup news is recorded again

0:41

with Chris in New York City. How are you doing, man? Hi. I'm good.

0:45

City is gray, but my heart is full of sun.

0:49

That's why we love him. I'm joining from Frankfurt.

0:53

Today's news card was already 03/21/2025

0:57

due to us recording on a Monday. As always, all news not

1:00

included will be in our next news wrap up. Here a

1:04

little hint, the April news wrap up will be published on

1:08

May 1, Labor Day in Europe, where a lot of people

1:12

have free time. And as always, we need to cut the

1:15

news very seriously. In case

1:19

you celebrate it, between now and our next recording,

1:23

happy Easter. Yes. Chris,

1:27

Chris, my friend, you've always been a highlights guy.

1:30

Right? Yes. So, I mean, I

1:34

don't know how to follow, after Jesus's

1:38

resurrection, but let's have a look at a couple of the highlights of this

1:42

year. Chris, we just tell our audience that you are also a

1:46

highlight. Exactly. I mean, Chris, it's like, you know,

1:49

Christian. It's like it's all the same story anyway. So,

1:53

let's get started. This month, startup news reveal

1:57

again a pretty dynamic DACH region. So DACH being

2:00

Deutschland, Osterreich, Schweitzer, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Austria,

2:04

Switzerland. We are seeing significant financial

2:08

movements, some strategic shifts. We see that ID now

2:12

has an impressive €300,000,000 exit to Coase,

2:16

underscoring the fintech sector's maturity, while

2:19

Thomas Bravo's one point eight billion euro

2:23

European fund signals a strong US US Investor

2:27

confidence. Notably, the stablecoin market surged

2:31

to a record 20, sorry, surged to a

2:34

record $226,000,000,000, reflecting

2:38

evolving digital finance landscape. And, however,

2:42

though, as always, we also see that challenges persist with

2:45

zombie VC trends. We will talk about what that means and selected

2:49

insolvencies like element insurance highlighting market

2:53

volatility. We are

2:56

trying to come up with a

3:00

view of the German Switzerland Austria text scene for

3:03

you. And yeah. Well, as always, this

3:07

month, also, we see that it's it's a bit of a whirlwind in these

3:11

three countries. We see Volocopter's acquisition,

3:14

by OneFeng Group. We see that

3:18

Mainz's Biomed has a groundbreaking

3:22

cancer detection discovery. We've tracked major

3:25

funding rounds, including Tactile's fifty two million euros

3:29

raise, and celebrated female led start up

3:33

setting new records in Switzerland. We would talk more about that.

3:37

But as I said, it's not always, and everything's smooth sailing.

3:41

We are also witnessing legal battles, like Germany's

3:45

top startup versus SAP and GDPR compliance

3:49

reviews for DeepSeek, reminding us of the high

3:52

stakes in the whole entrepreneurial landscape. So I would say, let's talk start

3:59

ups. As

4:03

already said, we are shifting to two publications a

4:07

week. Let us know how you like it.

4:13

As always, you could get our audio podcast wherever you'd like to get

4:16

your podcast. And keep in mind that we do have a twenty four seven Internet

4:20

radio station under startup.radio.

4:24

For all others, use our link tree. We'll link it down here in the

4:28

show notes. Chris, you also wanna do

4:31

our top news pieces? Yeah. So let's

4:35

look into what I already hinted at a bit, a bit more

4:38

in-depth. So first off, ID. Now

4:42

or Corsair. Corsair has a €300,000,000

4:46

acquisition of IDNow, marking a pretty significant exit in

4:50

the fintech sector, overall highlighting the

4:53

continued interest in digital identity verification

4:56

solutions. It's a Munich based

5:00

company, and their sales signal, investor

5:03

confidence, obviously. And you can read more about it on

5:07

Business Insider, Handelsblatt, and, also on

5:11

our own website where we have more about the CEO

5:15

and ID now in an exclusive interview.

5:20

Germany's count of billion dollar startups is on the rise,

5:24

showcasing that the nation's tech ecosystem is growing and pretty

5:28

healthy. Search and valuations underscores the

5:31

increasing maturity of the German venture capital landscape. The

5:35

trend signals a fertile ground for innovation and investment.

5:39

So Heizer.de was counting Heizer.da also

5:43

being a German tech website was counting the number of billion,

5:48

euro startups in Germany and saw an

5:51

increase. One thing, I already talked about that in

5:55

the highlights too or in the little teaser in the beginning. The

5:59

One Fang Group is set to acquire Volocopter, a company we've been talking

6:03

about here quite often. So we are talking air

6:06

taxis, helicopter taxis, however you wanna call them.

6:11

Urban air mobility is sometimes the buzzword here used.

6:15

But despite the acquisition, Volocopter will remain based in Baden.

6:20

So we will see how that will

6:24

work out. Panasonic's

6:28

strategic investment in Tado shows the

6:31

growing convergence of energy and smart home technologies.

6:36

It's a partnership showing that there is

6:39

movement in the market of energy efficiency solutions.

6:44

Tado is a company that comes up with new approaches for home

6:48

climate control and now has a strong partner

6:52

with Panasonic. Housekeeping.

6:57

Housekeeping. Yes. As always, we're thrilled to share our

7:01

significant achieve oh, by by the way, I was,

7:05

a guest in the corporate life podcast.

7:09

You can have a look down here in the show notes where we talked about

7:12

2025 tech trends. We are thrilled to share

7:16

our significant achievements for start up radio in q one twenty twenty

7:20

five, which has solidified our position as leading voice in

7:24

the startup scene. We got the number one spot in

7:27

Feedspot's top 15 German story podcast. By the way,

7:31

furschotterbrecher.a0+ number seven also made Female Entrepreneurship,

7:35

our sub podcast. We got our podcast, Fintech Germany,

7:43

at number 19 in million podcasts, top 100

7:47

fintech podcasts globally. Completing these podcast triumphs,

7:51

we've been named among the top 100 fintech companies and startups

7:54

in Germany Twenty Twenty Five by f six s reinforcing

7:58

our deep understanding of the investment landscape and our key role

8:02

within the German startup and fintech community. Beyond

8:06

these specific awards, our podcast consistently charts right

8:09

now in, Chris, would you know? 15 to 20

8:13

global, global podcast charts in any given

8:16

day. We are everywhere. Almost.

8:20

Almost. But we are we are working on this. If you like to

8:24

work with us, drop us an email at

8:28

partners@startoperator.ao. Chris,

8:32

you have always been very happy with the ecosystem. Right?

8:35

Yeah. So, in this ecosystem

8:39

segment, we are, at first looking at the ecosystem

8:43

of the world, the worldwide ecosystem for start ups, taking a

8:47

global pulse on the entrepreneurial spirit.

8:53

We see that entrepreneur optimism,

8:57

is increasing. Techstars survey a Techstars survey

9:02

shows strong global confidence. So according

9:05

to this recent Techstars pulse of the entrepreneur survey,

9:10

global entrepreneur optimism remains remarkably high. The survey is

9:14

conducted by Techstars, Stars, a leading accelerator and venture capital

9:17

firm, reveals a strong belief in future growth and

9:21

innovation. The survey, which interviewed many early stage

9:25

start up founders, shows that founders are extremely positive about

9:28

the future of their businesses, But it

9:32

is worth noting that the survey was likely taken before

9:36

the recent tariffs and global trade tensions began to escalate. So

9:40

that whole discussion was not part of it yet or is not, like, included yet.

9:44

And as such, it is possible that future surveys may show a bit of a

9:47

shift in this, optimism. Let's take a

9:51

look at how these global trends are impacting specific

9:54

regions, mostly Europe, ecosystem Europe,

9:59

where, GDPR reform is a big topic. In

10:03

a surprising turn, the conservative, member of the European

10:06

Parliament Axel Foss and privacy advocate Max Schrems,

10:10

which in Germany is known for having sued Facebook

10:13

very early on, have reached a rare agreement on GDPR

10:17

reform. Netspolitik reports, that's a

10:21

German, website about web policies,

10:24

reports that the collaboration among the two aims to streamline data

10:28

protection rules potentially impacting how European startups

10:32

handle user data. And that could

10:36

lead to regulatory challenges that actually

10:39

affect many startups and websites doing

10:42

business online. Moving on to a major

10:46

funding milestone, European Union

10:50

funded start ups have collectively reached a staggering

10:53

€520,000,000,000 in valuation according to

10:56

Broadcaster.com. It's a milestone underscoring how effective the

11:00

European Union, invest European Union's

11:04

investment in fostering tech and innovation growth is.

11:08

The achievement highlights the strength of the European start up, ecosystem

11:12

as a whole. You can read more about it in the lengthy article

11:16

or the in-depth article of podcast.com. Speaking of

11:19

supporting start ups, though, there's Unterneema TUM,

11:23

which is from the University of Munich.

11:27

Unterneema TUM has a technical university to be more

11:30

precise. And and we should tell everybody who's not a German native

11:40

speaker, Unterneema two means entrepreneurship, but here it is

11:44

spelled in capital letters t u m, which also means Tag Nangle

11:47

University Munich. Wordplay. It's a wordplay. It's

11:51

funny. But Unterneema, t u

11:54

m, has been recognized as Europe's best

11:58

founding center for yet another year, a recognition that

12:02

they have achieved before, again, highlighting their continued excellence in

12:06

nurturing entrepreneurial talent in Southern Germany, or

12:09

based coming from Southern Germany. You can hear more about their work in our

12:13

recent interview that we did with the, COO of

12:17

Unterneema TUM on start up radio.

12:20

Shifting gears. Get it? Because now we're talking about the

12:24

automotive sector. We are

12:27

seeing in the European car market that several

12:32

brands are struggling, namely smart,

12:36

tiny compact cars, and Tesla. It's an

12:40

analysis by Automotoren Sport, probably the most renowned

12:44

German automotive monthly magazine. And

12:47

that reveals a challenging year for Smart and Tesla and European new car

12:51

registrations, indicating a shift in consumer

12:54

preferences with these brands facing declining interest. I

12:58

mean, especially with the whole discussion going on about Elon Musk, Tesla

13:02

has, is fighting a decline

13:05

in sales from sometimes 70 to 80%

13:10

in, monthly sales compared to last year. So

13:14

yeah. But we are seeing, okay, that that these are trends in the

13:18

European automotive market as a whole.

13:22

Let's take a broader look at the European tech landscape. TechEU,

13:28

has come up with their latest report

13:31

providing a comprehensive overview of European tech trends and investment

13:35

activity in February. You can

13:39

access the full report, on a

13:43

under a link that we have in our show notes. And

13:46

finally, a major development in digital finance. The

13:50

European Central Bank president, Christine Lagarde, has

13:53

announced the launch of the digital euro CBDC

13:57

set to begin in Europe in October as reported by

14:00

BTC echo, and it's a move that marks a significant step

14:04

in the evolution of digital currencies in Europe. And we

14:08

will also see how it may may affect the, European

14:12

fintech world. Moving on from Europe and to the DACH region,

14:16

the core of our show. So DACH region again, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Dutch

14:20

and Austria Schweiz. Today, we are

14:25

exploring developments from AI breakthroughs to founding

14:29

dynamics and even furry into outer space.

14:34

Germany boasts world class AI research but faces

14:37

challenges in translating that innovation into practical applications,

14:41

writes Entifah, a German news channel. This

14:45

report, their report highlights the discrepancy between academic

14:49

excellence and commercial implementation. So the German AI

14:52

research landscape might be strong, but there are issues with the practical

14:56

applications of their research. On a more

15:00

positive note, Germany's broader tech ecosystem is making waves.

15:04

Tech EU reports that the tech ecosystem is a significant

15:08

driver of global change with its startups and

15:12

innovations making an impact on the world string stage,

15:15

actually showing that the, German tech industry's standing

15:19

is improving. Moving south to Switzerland

15:23

where funding is a key topic, venture capital for

15:27

the Swiss fintech startups is tied, but Amnis is

15:30

proving to be a notable exception, reports money

15:34

today. This highlights the nature of investment

15:37

selective nature of the investments in the Swiss fintech sector, but at least

15:41

it's one success story. And a bright spot for female

15:44

founders in Switzerland, startup ticker

15:48

CH reports that female led startups in

15:51

Switzerland have achieved another record breaking year.

15:56

Continuing growth here demonstrates the increasing influence of

15:59

women in the Swiss entrepreneurial landscape and,

16:03

women catching up. Shifting east

16:06

from Switzerland to Austria, where also AI and funding

16:10

are key themes, Linz, the city of Linz, has launched an

16:14

AI excellence cluster focused on the development of flexible artificial

16:18

intelligence rights Factory Net, an initiative

16:21

aiming to position LINZ as a leading hub for AI innovation.

16:26

And Austria has also seen movement on the funding front,

16:30

where the Austrian DACH Fund for start up investments

16:37

is set to launch, reports trending topics. It's a fund that

16:41

aims to boost investment in Austrian start ups and foster regional

16:44

collaboration. Finally, a surprising development in

16:48

Austrian aviation, Lower Austria is entering the

16:52

space race, Lower Austria being the name of

16:55

the state of Austria, with Vienna Airport transforming

16:59

into a space hub, reports trending topics. It's a

17:03

pretty unexpected development signaling Austria's growing interest in

17:07

space exploration and technology. And that wraps

17:11

up our look at the dynamic start up and tech scenes across

17:15

the DACH region. Let's talk general news.

17:19

I also wouldn't have, Lower Austria on my cards talking

17:23

about space race here. Let's go to the general news,

17:26

our VC pulse. New funds and information from the

17:30

VC world with relevance for the DACH region. Welcome to

17:34

our investment pulse check where we delve into the largest

17:37

latest venture capital news and new fund launches.

17:41

Post star capital launches of 500,000,000 e mobility

17:45

infrastructure fund, dedicated to accelerating zero emission logistics infrastructure.

17:53

This significant investment e

17:57

mobility sector and is its potential to

18:00

revolutionize transportation. EU startups provides the

18:04

details. Next, a look at impact investing,

18:07

KFW Capital, the capital armor of KfW

18:11

Bank, a state owned bank here in Germany, unveiled

18:14

200,000,000 impact fund facility.

18:18

This is aimed at supporting impact funds. This initiative underscores the

18:22

growing emphasis on sustainable and social response

18:26

responsible investment within the venture capital

18:30

landscape. VC magazine provides more details. Moving on

18:33

to successful fund closures, fund f reaches

18:37

28,000,000 final closing backing diverse found founders.

18:41

Now for major European fundraise, Thoma Bravo raises

18:45

1,800,000,000.0 for European venture fund. Thoma Bravo

18:49

has successfully raised €1,800,000,000 for

18:52

its first European venture fund. This substantial

18:56

capital raise signals significant interest in European tech

19:00

companies from major US Investors. TechCrunch

19:03

provides more details. A look at unique investments.

19:07

Peter Thiel's fund receives 50,000,000 from

19:11

Matthias Stufner Sand. Peter Thiel Venture Fund has

19:15

secured a 50,000,000 investment from Matthias Stufner Sand. This

19:18

investment is notable for its connection to prominent figures in both

19:22

tech and media. Manager magazine reports on the transaction.

19:26

Chris, can you can you give us a few ideas about Matthias

19:30

Stefner? Well, he's, I mean, one of the

19:34

biggest players in German media and has been

19:38

for years. He's gotten huge shares in media

19:41

from Frida Springer from Springer Fallak. So this is

19:45

like an aging aging dorian

19:48

matriarch in, one of the biggest German publishing

19:52

houses. A bit like

19:56

often criticized for running the biggest tabloid in Germany, Bild Zeitung, with

20:00

sometimes, problematic business practices.

20:03

And, Dafna also is known

20:08

for modernizing the company, and, he

20:11

is the one who came up with, the idea also

20:15

to invest in Politico. So that is now part of

20:19

that, company. But, he's also being criticized.

20:23

Business Insider. Exactly. And but he's also sometimes

20:27

criticized for, for example, what was leaked

20:30

was, him saying behind the scenes that business wise, it would be

20:34

really great if Trump became president. And so he's

20:38

sometimes also considered to be,

20:42

very conservative and sometimes even, let's

20:46

say, right wing populist, curious business leader.

20:50

However, not all investors are finding it easy. Some BVC

20:55

challenge investors struggle to raise funds. Business

20:58

insider just talked about it reports on the rising challenges faced by

21:02

venture capitalists with many struggling to raise new funds.

21:06

This trend, dubbed some BVC, highlights the increasing

21:09

difficulty in securing capital in the current market

21:13

even for VCs. Finally, a major capital raise in The

21:17

US, Khosla Ventures seeks

21:19

3,500,000,000.0 in fresh capital. It it is

21:23

seeking to raise 3,500,000,000.0 US dollars in

21:27

fresh capital. This significant fundraise effort

21:30

underscores the continued appetite for large scale investments

21:34

in innovative tech companies. This is here because you can

21:38

basically not deploy the money without going a little bit to Europe and

21:41

Germany. That concludes our roundup of the latest VC

21:44

news and fund launches. Let's go a little bit into

21:48

our biotech updates. Gotting start up day highlights

21:52

regional biotech boom. Chris is showing thumbs up because that's

21:55

his area. It's my home region. Yeah. It's a university city that

21:59

is, had has always been strong in medicine and

22:03

now is surprisingly seems to be doing surprisingly well for,

22:07

modernizing itself. Yes. They had a successful startup

22:11

day in Gottingen that has spotlighted the region's

22:14

burgeoning entrepreneurial activity in the biotech sector.

22:18

This event underscores the growing importance of regional hub in

22:22

driving innovation. Transcript provides coverage.

22:26

Moving on to major patent dispute. Moderna wins patent

22:29

battle against BioNTech and Pfizer. They have emerged

22:33

victorious in a patent dispute against BioNTech and Pfizer as

22:37

reported by Antifoul. This ruling could have significant implications

22:41

for the m r a vaccine market and future collaborations.

22:46

Shifting focus to BioNTech financial and development

22:49

updates. BioNTech reports business figures cancer track

22:53

progress. BioNTech has released its latest business

22:57

figures and provided an update on its cancer track development. According

23:00

to SWR, it's a public broadcaster in Germany. The

23:04

company is making strides in its oncology pipeline with significant

23:08

milestones on the horizon. Chris, you wanna say something? No.

23:12

I'm sorry. BioNTech is also targeting

23:16

key approval updates, for CancerTrac in

23:20

2026 as reported by focus dot d e.

23:24

And finally a major discovery in cancer diagnostics Minds Biomate

23:28

announces breakthrough in pancreatic cancer detection in

23:31

collaboration with Liquid Bioscience. They have announced a

23:35

groundbreaking discovery of mRNA biomarkers for blood

23:39

based detection of pancreatic cancer, very aggressive kind

23:43

of cancer. This development could revolutionize early detection of

23:46

this type of cancer. For more in-depth information, listen to our

23:50

interview with Mainz Biomed or look at

23:53

the news coverage. Going from biotech

23:57

to fintech, as

24:01

Chris already highlighted in the highlights, webboy,

24:04

stablecoin market hits record 22,

24:09

226,000,000,000. The stablecoin market has

24:12

reached record high signaling significant growth

24:16

within the cryptocurrency sector. This search underscores the

24:19

increasing adoption of stablecoins as a reliable digital assets.

24:24

BTC Echo provides related market analyzers.

24:28

Moving on to major initiative from the European Central Bank, they

24:32

plan BLT, distributed ledger technology

24:35

transaction settlement with central bank money,

24:39

a new platform. They are planning a new

24:43

platform utilizing Central Bank Money. This initiative aims

24:46

to streamline and secure digital assets digital

24:50

asset transactions within the European financial system,

24:54

Fintech Futures reports on this development. Shifting focus

24:58

to potential IPOs IPO speculations, raising

25:01

IPO buzz fueled by strong internal numbers. Internal

25:05

numbers from Raizen are fueling speculation about a potential

25:08

IPO. This development suggests the fintech company has

25:12

experienced significant growth and may be preparing for public

25:16

offering. Manager Magatine provides the inside scoop. Finally,

25:19

a major shift in the neobank landscape. Vivid Money

25:23

exits neobank raise. Vivid Money has announced its

25:27

exit from the competitive neobank race. The decision marks a significant

25:31

shift in the European fintech landscape. Details

25:35

available at manager market scene. So that means they're going out of the

25:39

retail market into the business market. That concludes our

25:42

fintech news. And I hand over again to Chris. Yes. And

25:46

while we're talking a bit, general news, in this

25:50

general news segment, we cover the latest developments across the

25:54

tech and startup landscapes, also including some of the

25:57

established companies where we think they are and when we think

26:01

they are important. This time, it is about

26:05

legal battles, AI breakthroughs, regional startup spotlights, and

26:08

even robotic innovations. Germany's most valuable

26:12

startup has filed a lawsuit against the software

26:16

giant SAP as reported by Antifa.

26:19

This, legal battle could have significant implications

26:23

for the German tech sector, and, it

26:27

might be interesting to see how Celonis, that being that,

26:31

highest, most valuable startup, is

26:34

actually fighting SAP. The

26:38

lawsuit actually, takes place in San Francisco,

26:42

And, it's

26:45

about fees that SAP is asking for,

26:49

and Salona says this is actually hindering competition.

26:53

Shifting to the forefront of innovation, from, like, the

26:57

backroom fighting to the forefront of innovation, Business Insider has

27:01

highlighted a list of German AI start ups that are making waves in the

27:04

industry, showing that there are companies

27:08

pushing the boundaries of artificial intelligence also

27:11

in Germany. And a look at startup

27:15

communication challenges is provided by Deutsche Startups.

27:20

The website's reports that 73% of startup press

27:23

releases are deemed overly promotional and lacking

27:27

informative informative content. So,

27:30

yeah, we can also only advocate for this because it

27:34

highlights the needs for more balanced communication strategies within

27:38

the start up ecosystem. Highlighting new

27:41

players in the start up scene, Deutsche Start Up has showcased a

27:45

lineup of new start ups, including Admi, Navu, Satellite,

27:49

MobilityDexter, and Mimicry AI.

27:54

Just dropping some of the names here. If you wanna know more, you can have

27:57

a look at Deutsche Startups. And DeepSeek

28:00

GBPR, compliance is under scrutiny. We

28:04

already talked about this in the, highlight section or

28:08

in the previous section. The state data protection authorities are

28:12

reviewing deep seek for GDPR compliance in Germany

28:15

according to Security Insider. Overall,

28:19

definitely an investigation that underscores the importance of data

28:22

privacy in the AI sector, something I think we will talk a

28:26

lot about in months and years to come.

28:31

Deutsch shifting to regional startup spotlights, Deutsche Startups

28:35

has highlighted seven exciting start ups from Munich that are

28:38

making a name for themselves. I won't rattle them here

28:42

because I imagine they are lacking too many vowels

28:45

anyway. Another in their names. Another regional

28:49

startup scene is highlighted in Aachen. Also in,

28:53

Deutsche startups, they have found 11 young companies to know in

28:56

Aachen, a, like, mid sized town in North Rhine

29:00

Westphalia in the West Of Germany. Also

29:03

known for a very good technical university. And

29:07

for being in medieval times the, seed

29:11

of the German not king even, like the German

29:15

Caesar. Charlemagne. There you

29:18

go. Looking at startup hub growth,

29:22

Silicon Canal Canals reports

29:26

on, the significant growth of the Leipzig SpinLab

29:30

startup hub, underscoring the city's emerging status as

29:34

a tech center. So, also, here we see that that's a city in Eastern

29:37

Germany. We see that, really, innovation and innovation

29:41

clusters are happening all over the country right now.

29:44

Look into EdTech, trending topics reports

29:48

that GoStudent has further reduced earnings for its two

29:52

tutors. So we will

29:55

see whether, they will actually be able to

29:59

maintain their roster of tutors online.

30:05

Moving from human help to robotic innovation,

30:09

Machine and Mark reports that the circus robot is

30:13

ready for series manufacturing. They

30:17

hope it's gonna be a significant milestone in robotics technology. You can

30:21

read more about that in the show notes. And finally, a look into drone

30:24

innovations. Wingcopter is expanding its capabilities from

30:28

medical cargo deliveries to surveying missions,

30:31

reports TechEU, and expansion widening

30:35

drones the drones application. And lastly, a robotics

30:39

AI acquisition, Agile robots has

30:42

acquired Odeering according to German,

30:46

business news, paper Handelsblatt. This

30:49

acquisition is a move to improve the AI of the robotics

30:53

company. Back to you. Yes. And

30:57

back to creative destruction. We're covering layoffs, insolvencies,

31:01

and the stark realities faced by some companies. MacMarkler

31:05

announces yet another round of layoffs. They have announced

31:09

another round of layoffs just two month after its previous

31:13

workforce reduction as reported by Business Insider, and we

31:16

already talked about it as well. Moving to a struggle in biotech

31:20

industry, Bluebird Bio Bio seeks acquisition.

31:24

Amidst gene therapy challenges, Bluebird Bio

31:28

facing significant challenges in the gene therapy sector is

31:32

seeking acquisition according to transcript. This development

31:35

underscores the difficulties and high risks associated with

31:39

innovative die biotech ventures. Legal tech

31:42

startups are also facing headwinds. Right now, legal

31:46

tech startup fights for insolvency. Right now a legal tech

31:49

startup has filed for insolvency as reported by Handelsblatt.

31:53

This news highlights the competitive nature of legal tech market

31:57

and challenges startup face in scaling. The insurance market

32:01

the insurance tech market isn't immune as well. Element

32:05

insurance declares insolvency according to efforts at this

32:09

event marks a significant setback for the insurtech sector

32:13

highlighting the risk of this market. Moving from insurance to

32:17

travel freeway camper rental fights also for

32:20

insolvency. The Lilium story continues with

32:24

employee issues. Lilium faces employee issues

32:27

with unpaid salaries and insolvency funds

32:31

including and Lilium is facing

32:35

employee issues including unpaid salaries and problems with

32:38

insolvency funds according to business insider. This adds another

32:42

layer of complexity to the company's existing challenges.

32:46

A radio station is also in facing insolvency.

32:50

Ego FM seeks investors to survive this

32:53

insolvency. A large company closes a recently

32:57

acquired startup, Mars, Yes, the company from the with the

33:01

chocolate bars, ends food spring operations after six

33:05

years. Mars had decided to end food spring

33:08

operations six years after acquiring the Berlin based fitness brand

33:12

for €250,000,000. This decision

33:16

underscores the volatile nature of brand acquisition and market

33:19

strategies. After so much bad news, let's end on a

33:23

high note with Chris. I was so irritated. I was reading up

33:26

about, Foolspring just now. What a, like,

33:30

€250,000,000. It's a lot of money. Anyway,

33:34

we're ending our broadcast with a burst of positive news showcasing

33:38

the resilience and dynamic dynamism of the

33:42

start up scene, because we can see that despite the challenges we are

33:46

talking about, significant funding rounds and strategic acquisitions,

33:50

are demonstrating that investor confidence is still

33:54

there. Market opportunities exist. So let's have a look at some of

33:58

the highlights. Tektai has successfully raised

34:01

€52,000,000 from prominent investors, signaling

34:05

confidence in the company's growth potential.

34:09

And it's a, company it's a tech

34:13

company. Moving to Switzerland,

34:17

Spalter, Swiss yeah, Spalter has secured

34:20

$52,000,000 in a series b funding

34:24

round. Finsmez has

34:28

some details here. Spata

34:31

is a provider of real time intelligence

34:35

for commodity traders. A major

34:39

series a funding is the

34:43

funding round of Unique, which has raised

34:46

$30,000,000, demonstrating investor

34:49

interest in their approach to agentic AI

34:53

workforce technology. Vital has secured €14,200,000,

35:01

in investment. They have a company that

35:05

works on digital reusable packaging solutions,

35:10

and was also on, Diehule Derleuwen, Germany's

35:14

version of Shark Tank. In the

35:17

e mobility market, we are also seeing funding successes.

35:21

Dans, an e mobility startup, has raised

35:24

€12,000,000, highlighting the continued investment in sustain sustainable

35:32

transportation solution. Obviously, they have

35:35

the best name of the whole month with Dan's. It

35:39

was actually also founded by the founders of SoundCloud,

35:43

two of the founders, and it's a,

35:47

mobility subscription service.

35:53

Seed funding is also prevalent. Alpine Eagle

35:56

has secured €10,250,000 in seed

36:02

funding, signaling early stage

36:06

investor confidence in their business. And now let

36:10

yep. And now let's talk a little bit m and a here.

36:14

Now let's shift some key acquisition. Lohmann Rauscher

36:18

acquires teleder teledermatology

36:25

startup. Oh, sorry. Online doctor.

36:28

Lohmann L and R has acquired the teledermatology

36:33

startup, meaning Online Skin Doctor, yes, marking a

36:36

strategic expansion into the digital health sector. MoneyCap

36:40

reports on the acquisition. A Tesla subsidiary makes

36:44

a acquisition. A Tesla

36:47

subsidiary acquires parts of Mans Heutlingen,

36:53

formerly, insolvent company.

36:57

And, they that is an investment in

37:00

advanced manufacturing technology, SWR

37:04

reports. And finally, in acquisition in EdTech space,

37:08

Educated acquires EdTech Pioneer

37:11

Pierce Solution. Educated, one word,

37:15

has acquired Pierce Solution, a pioneer in EdTech AI. This

37:19

move is a strategic consolidation in the education technology

37:23

sector, TechEU reports.

37:28

A lot, a lot. And I learned I should have taken an allergy pill.

37:33

Yeah. Me too. And we do have a lot of stuff that

37:36

didn't make it into the news in, by stay ahead of the

37:40

curve. For example, somebody tracked Jeff Bezos in Westbank's

37:44

twenty twenty five. Agile robots acquire

37:48

Odorin. Kit and IBM, work

37:52

cooperate on generative AI and so on and so forth.

37:56

So there is still a lot. We are always looking for ways to make

38:00

our show better. Please please, leave us feedback in the feedback

38:04

form here. And, of course, you can always talk directly to us.

38:07

There are links to our LinkedIn profile and Twitter

38:11

x profile in the show notes. Chris, it was a

38:15

pleasure working with you as always. Thank you very much. Thank

38:19

you. Have a nice spring, everyone. Bye bye.

38:22

Bye. That's all, folks. Find more news, streams,

38:32

events, and interviews at

38:34

www.startupgrad.io.

38:37

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