European Startup Funding: Finn's €1B Raise

WEBVTT 1 - > Welcome to StartupRad.io. 2 - > Your podcast and YouTube blog covering the German start 3 - > startup scene with news, interviews, and 4 - > live events. 5 - > Welcome to our regular startup news from the startup and tech entrepreneurship 6 - > scenes in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Our startup news 7 - > is recorded, today with me, 8 - > Chris, in New York City. And I have to say, I don't fully know why 9 - > in our script I am talking about myself first. 10 - > But joining me is, Joe in 11 - > Frankfurt. Hey, Joe.

How are you? I'm doing good. And, Chris, you know 12 - > why you're first in the script? Because today I wrote it.

13 - > Yeah. As if I wrote as if there were other days when I write it 14 - > then. Today's news cutoff date 15 - > is 16 - > 02/24/2025. 17 - > As always, all news not included will be in our next news wrap up.

18 - > We needed to cut our news seriously short this time so you can 19 - > have a brief news overview. And without further ado, that means 20 - > that you're gonna guide us through some of the highlights 21 - > of this month. Yes. As our audience already knows, 22 - > we are aggregating the news from all the social media 23 - > shares we do during the course of the month.

Usually, I'm going through 24 - > something like 15 to 20 pages, in terms of 25 - > startup news. But this month, we had 26 - > 59 pages of startup news. Of course, some of 27 - > them, the same news from multiple sources, but nonetheless, that 28 - > was really a lot. So we had to cut it really seriously.

29 - > Talking about our highlights here, the DACH startup ecosystem is buzzing 30 - > with activity from major funding rounds to political 31 - > changes that could reshape the landscape. German 32 - > German auto tech, Finn, the the the startup 33 - > renting out, cars as a car subscription model, 34 - > reached 1,000,000,000 in 35 - > funding commitments signaling a major shift in German startup 36 - > scene. Meanwhile, Solaris secured a substantial 37 - > 140,000,000 investment, fueling its growth 38 - > in the banking as a service sector.

But we gotta 39 - > see that funding was basically, 40 - > a rescue for Solarisbank. The other option would be 41 - > to wind them down. This development highlights the continued 42 - > strength and potential of the DACH Region as a hub for 43 - > innovation and investments. However, challenges remain.

Lilium, 44 - > the Munich based, 45 - > Iftol, Iftol, the drone 46 - > flying cars developer faced a second insolvency 47 - > raising questions about the viability of the industry. 48 - > Additionally, the recent German election brought a change in 49 - > government with CDU taking the lead. This shift could 50 - > have significant implication for startup policies and regulation, 51 - > creating both opportunities and uncertainty for entrepreneurs and 52 - > investors. Stay tuned to startuprate.

0 for in-depth 53 - > analyzers and expert insights. And of course, we will 54 - > talk with Chris about the startup news and the startup elections 55 - > here because he is one of the person, 56 - > he is one of the people who actually keeps Germany up to 57 - > date on US politics and also covers those 58 - > politics. Talking about the schedule here, we are shifting to 59 - > two publications a week. Let us know how you like it.

60 - > Chris, you wanna straight hop into the top news? 61 - > Yes. I want to. And, 62 - > I also don't know how it's pronounced, eVTOL 63 - > electrical vehicle takeoff and 64 - > landing.

EVTOL. 65 - > God. Anyway Maybe they only have problem 66 - > because the industry had such a strange acronym. I still 67 - > prefer air taxis.

Yes. 68 - > Yes. So, let's jump 69 - > in. You mentioned it already.

The 70 - > company FIN, a company 71 - > that is working in the car subscription 72 - > services field, secured a $1,000,000,000 73 - > investment to expand its fleet. They are based in Munich, and they are 74 - > capitalizing on the shift from traditional car ownership to more 75 - > flexible, all inclusive subscriptions, hoping to cater to a 76 - > new generation of mostly, especially urban 77 - > drivers, and businesses looking for hassle free mobility 78 - > solutions. They hope that they 79 - > will be part of the general transformation of 80 - > the automotive industry, and, their growth strategy 81 - > positions them as one player there.

Mobility as a 82 - > service is the buzzword there. 83 - > And so we will see whether they can bank in on what they 84 - > hope will be the future of car ownership. The 85 - > Berlin based Cherry Ventures is doubling down on the 86 - > future of AI and deep tech startups. They are getting a 87 - > $500,000,000 sorry.

They are starting a 88 - > $500,000,000 investment fund, 89 - > that focuses on AI first businesses, robotics, and next 90 - > generation enterprise solutions. Want to they want to provide 91 - > early stage funding to, innovations. And 92 - > with venture capital tightening in some sectors, Cherry Ventures' commitment 93 - > signals a strong confidence in long term potential of deep tech investments, 94 - > hopefully creating Europe's next AI unicorn. And one 95 - > shouldn't forget that we had a very nice in-depth interview with the 96 - > CEO who led, Finn to this big funding.

I 97 - > talked with him about, his automotive experience 98 - > and so on and so forth. And actually, he was driving at the time 99 - > he cofounded, Finn, he was driving, 100 - > an old Beetle, VW Beetle. 101 - > Well, maybe part of the fleet too. And then Lilium, I feel 102 - > as if we are talking about them every month right now.

103 - > Munich based, e v t o l, developer 104 - > has filed for insolvency for the second time, major setback 105 - > for the whole industry, raising questions about the viability of the business 106 - > model. Also, that is kind of the, yeah, the 107 - > debate we're having every every month or every other month about that 108 - > industry. Lilium's situation highlights the challenges in 109 - > developing and scaling aviation technologies, 110 - > long development cycles, regulatory hurdles, intense competition.

111 - > So we will see whether the industry actually can 112 - > weather their, challenges. 113 - > And if you're an investor, obviously, you need to carefully 114 - > assess the risks in that emerging sector. 115 - > And you also said it already, the German election, this is 116 - > this is very current news because 117 - > I think the last votes were counted less than twenty four hours ago. 118 - > My vote was not counted because my mail in ballot didn't arrive in 119 - > time here in The US.

But Germany, has elected 120 - > a new parliament, most likely 121 - > leading to a new government led by 122 - > the Christian Democratic and Christian Democratic 123 - > Union, basically the center left party in Germany sorry, 124 - > the center right party in Germany, which will then 125 - > be a shift in power from the Scholz administration of the Social Democratic 126 - > Party. But the Social Democratic Party without the current chancellor 127 - > might be the junior partner in the coalition.

That 128 - > change in leadership could have impact on startup policies, digitalization, 129 - > VC investment regulation. And, we'll have a 130 - > closer look at those new policies that are being drafted, 131 - > and we will see what it means also for taxation, maybe AI 132 - > investments, and incentives for businesses. Yes. 133 - > I want to get your impressions from that because, what most 134 - > people don't know if they are only listening to our podcast here, you are 135 - > actually, more active in politics, 136 - > covering politics than you are active in, 137 - > let's talk about startup and tech here, even though that are your 138 - > roots as a reporter.

I I was I was wondering, 139 - > what was your perspective for that? We also may add to the 140 - > audience everybody who is able to speak German. There's a highly 141 - > recommended newsletter from you, KrautReporter, for which you also won 142 - > 2019 the, prestigious Kremer Online Award. 143 - > Plus, you also do, a regular 144 - > podcast in Germany on US politics.

So but here, I 145 - > want to pick a little bit of your brain on the German election. What 146 - > actually scared me a little bit that the right wing 147 - > AfD got over 20%. Yeah. That is that 148 - > is scary.

Actually, the right wing party in Germany had the best result 149 - > for right wing extremists since 1945. So, 150 - > basically, since the beginning of the Federal Republic Of Germany after World War 151 - > two. But we always have to say 152 - > that as long as no other party, is willing to build a coalition 153 - > with them, they, they are not in governmental power. Now 154 - > the big question is whether the conservative party will 155 - > keep up their so called firewall and not 156 - > work together with them the way it looks like now, 157 - > is that this is the case.

I mean, I guess my take is, 158 - > well, okay, that was a win that was expected. We see it everywhere around 159 - > the world that governments in power or the governments who were in power 160 - > during or right after the, COVID pandemic, 161 - > voted out of office. And, now he has a long 162 - > list of things to be done. He's not necessarily Friedrich Maerts, 163 - > I mean, with he, the, soon to be chancellor, 164 - > or the expected new chancellor of Germany.

He has a very long list of 165 - > things to do. He basically has to lead Europe without 166 - > ever having been a secretary in 167 - > no state in Germany or, in the German 168 - > federal government. He has so far only been even though he's 169 - > relatively old, he's close to 70 years old. He 170 - > has so far only been a parliamentarian in the German parliament and in the 171 - > European parliament.

So, the hope is that 172 - > he is able to become a 173 - > steady hand leading Europe in what seems to 174 - > be even more geopolitical turmoil 175 - > with the Trump administration who 176 - > like, which is really guessing or really changing 177 - > long term alliances right now. And we see 178 - > huge discussions about the question whether the post World 179 - > War two order is actually history. Mhmm. 180 - > So, yeah, very complex.

By the way, everybody who's interested 181 - > in that, we are in the preparation, meaning me, 182 - > that we are we'll be blogging a little bit about the the results, what 183 - > we think about this, go through the election program of 184 - > the CDU and potential allies in a coalition, 185 - > what they think about tech and development and so on and so forth. 186 - > One should keep in mind that Friedrich 187 - > Mads has been working for international, law firms 188 - > like Mayer Brown and also BlackRock Germany.

So he's a little bit 189 - > more on the business side. Hopefully, that will be good for the German 190 - > economy. Yeah. Chris, you 191 - > wanna talk ecosystem?

I do. 192 - > Let's start this time around with some news about 193 - > the European ecosystem. So Bitcoin slams, 194 - > Bitcoin is how do we always explain it? The 195 - > German It's it's the largest digital 196 - > association in Europe.

And they are, I 197 - > do I do believe, thousands of corporate they 198 - > do have thousands of corporate members here from Germany. There you go. 199 - > So Bitcoin slams the European Union's new online 200 - > marketplace regulations. So the question becomes with 201 - > tighter rules are actually a win for consumers or more of a burden 202 - > for sellers.

We have a link to that 203 - > on the Bitcoin website. 204 - > France is investing a hundred billion dollars 205 - > in AI technology in order to compete globally in 206 - > that new market. There's also a European 207 - > AI Act, which tries to regulate that new 208 - > field, reshaping AI compliance 209 - > in Europe. And the 210 - > European Union is coming up with a startup and scale up 211 - > strategy that should be unveiled by 212 - > summer.

Question there, will it help Europe to stay competitive 213 - > in the global tech race? More about that in the months to 214 - > come. And, a the 215 - > start up scene in Europe, in 216 - > general, demands a united AI strategy. Question is 217 - > there, will the EU support more homegrown AI players 218 - > or fall behind China and The US?

Trendingtopics. 219 - > Eu has the, wrap up of 220 - > that discussion, what the European 221 - > startups want, and what kind of strategy they are looking 222 - > for. And, we have a list at TechEU 223 - > of the twenty twenty four unicorns 224 - > showing which European startups reached the ever so 225 - > coveted $1,000,000,000 valuation last year. For 226 - > Germany, it was only eGym.

There 227 - > you go. But moving on to Germany, Speedinvest 228 - > warns of a liquidity crisis in, 229 - > the VC market. One of Europe's top VC 230 - > firms predicts that, we will be seeing one of 231 - > the biggest capital crunches in years. It's also on 232 - > trending topics dot e u.

So, yeah, we will 233 - > see whether their rather grim prediction actually becomes true. 234 - > But, I mean, again, going back to what I said a bit earlier before, the 235 - > geopolit if you look at the geopolitical, landscape right 236 - > now, there is certainly reasons to be worried. 237 - > Jumping from Germany to Switzerland and the ecosystem there, Swiss 238 - > startups raised $2,400,000,000 in 2024. 239 - > Even though the market is tough there too, obviously, a lot 240 - > of money went into deep tech AI and life sciences.

241 - > They're also hoping to have their next unicorn 242 - > soon. More about that can be found in 243 - > vcmagatzin.de. 244 - > And, the university, the 245 - > engineering university in Zurich, ETH, ETH 246 - > Zurich, continues to launch high growth 247 - > start ups.

They are experiencing quite the boom there there. 248 - > And, so that start up ticker.ch is 249 - > asking whether this is actually Europe's top tech incubator. 250 - > Moving on to some to the general news, tech news, 251 - > company news section.

I have the honor to 252 - > highlight some of the, new funds and VC 253 - > news in case you are looking for money. 254 - > We are already we have already, talked about 255 - > Cherry Ventures and their $500,000,000 for DeepTech and AI in 256 - > Germany. Then there's the Khan Fund, 257 - > $51,000,000 fund targeting life 258 - > sciences and deep tech, also based in Germany. And 259 - > there's Hellantec VC the Hellantec VC 260 - > Fund, a hundred million dollars to fuel European 261 - > defense startups, also based in Germany.

262 - > Now industry news. 263 - > And back to you. Yes. Let's look a little bit 264 - > at biotech news.

German ecology startups. Germany ranked number 265 - > three in EU for biotech innovation. They have more 266 - > than 200, cancer related, 267 - > startups here in Germany. Talking a little bit about fintech news, 268 - > Trade Republic under Baffin investigation for high yield savings 269 - > promotion.

Finleap is struggling with multiple portfolio 270 - > company failures. Tesla crashes with 271 - > Baffin over financial compliance issues. Trade Republic 272 - > and N26 are now having real 273 - > duel here. They, one blog called it 274 - > the ultimate fintech showdown, which company is leading the race for 275 - > Europe's top neobank.

Neobroker's customers are 276 - > unhappy. A new study shows high dissatisfaction with 277 - > neobank trading platform. What's going wrong? Trade 278 - > Republic is also under fire again for another 279 - > another ankle on their, high yield interest rate 280 - > promises.

And we go to the general 281 - > news where Alep Alpha CEO says no one will 282 - > use DeepSeek R1 in twelve month. Is this a 283 - > hype or an AI revolution in the making? ADAC, 284 - > the German what is the equivalent like AAA in The 285 - > US? Yeah.

I was gonna say AAA. Yeah. Yeah. New range test 286 - > for EVs, chargers, manufacturers.

Which brands lives up to the 287 - > promises? Also Frankfurt Airport makes space for Uber. 288 - > Could this be signal shifting away from traditional taxis? 289 - > Frankfurt Airport, 1 of the busiest in Europe's year.

290 - > OpenAI opens a new office in Munich and Deutsche Classfauser, 291 - > one of the companies that is, that is providing 292 - > high speed. They disclosed that they need more than 293 - > €1,000,000,000 for this high speed 294 - > Internet. Chris, you wanna do some creative destruction as well? 295 - > Yeah.

Sure. Let's talk about what did not work. More than a 296 - > hundred and startups failed in 2024. Deutsche startups 297 - > has a list of them.

Mostly a lot 298 - > of them actually did not make it through the winter, actually, 299 - > wiping out a lot of the promising ventures there. Then 300 - > Spreadshirt lays off employees as ecommerce 301 - > shifts. Spreadshirt being really around for quite a long time 302 - > already now, and it's another sign of market correction for online 303 - > retail platforms in Germany. It's a place where you can customize, 304 - > gear, gear as in clothing.

305 - > Refurbed lays off 20% of its staff, 306 - > reflecting pressure on refurbished electronics. They are based 307 - > in Austria. And Heitzma 308 - > acquires the insolvent Neo Energy, showing 309 - > that the heat pump sector in Germany isn't also immune to turbulence 310 - > there, 311 - > which already leads us to 312 - > should we do mergers and acquisitions first? Because it 313 - > says end on a high note.

Lease my bike joins Munich's 314 - > Green Mobility holding, another step towards sustainable 315 - > urban transport. Travelperk raises 200,000,000 in 316 - > series a for the acquisition of Yokoi. 317 - > Home2Go acquiring inter home to shape reshape 318 - > European vacation rentals. Merck in talks to 319 - > acquire US Cancer biotech firm SpringWorks.

320 - > Heitzmark acquires bankrupt Mio Energy signaling 321 - > sector consolidation. Chris, now you are 322 - > the highlight. You are the high note for the end. Yes.

So I 323 - > end on a high note, with just a couple of the successful 324 - > fundraising and exits. Keep in mind that it's just a selection 325 - > that we come up with. This time around, we included only fundraisings 326 - > above €10,000,000, Swiss francs, or US dollars. 327 - > For example, Zolaakos, they got a hundred and €40,000,000 328 - > to strengthen embedded banking and fintech 329 - > infrastructure.

Then the Kompanisto 330 - > backed start up raised €40,000,000 in series b 331 - > funding. Wondering 332 - > whether this will fuel more European status exits. 333 - > Avelius Medical raises €30,000,000 334 - > in a series a. They are working on AI 335 - > powered health care automation, 336 - > streamlining hospital workflows.

MeteoMetix 337 - > from Switzerland could secure 338 - > $22,000,000 for their series c 339 - > funding already for AI powered weather forecasting. 340 - > Neurrocare secures 341 - > €19,300,000 to work 342 - > on mental health treatments, also AI driven 343 - > personalized therapy solutions there. 344 - > Genlogs raises 345 - > $14,600,000 in a series 346 - > a round to revolutionize logistics 347 - > with AI working on supply chains 348 - > there. Construct 349 - > €12,500,000 also to bring 350 - > AI, which is, like, apparently the buzzword of all of our fundraisings 351 - > and exits this month, to bring AI powered automation 352 - > to construction.

So hoping that the construction 353 - > industry actually is also ripe for 354 - > disruption coming from the machines. But, Chris, you 355 - > remember there was also some time when we only talked about ecommerce, when we 356 - > talked about quick delivery, when we talked about, 357 - > yeah, air taxis and so on and so forth. So I 358 - > don't think it will crumble it will crumble like a 359 - > quick delivery hype, but but I do believe it's it's a little bit 360 - > overhyped AI right now.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Or at least, I 361 - > mean, it seems to be the one word that you have to include on all 362 - > your in all your pitch decks, apparently.

363 - > €10,000,000 for Ocell, o c e l 364 - > l. It's also another deep tech investment in Europe, 365 - > working on complex tech. Bioversus from 366 - > Switzerland is a biotech IPO that got money. And then 367 - > Felt.

Energy secures funding from the FlixBus founders. 368 - > It's a Munich startup bringing AGRI PV 369 - > to farmers, clean energy without sacrificing the 370 - > crops. Chris, given that we went 371 - > through so much material in order to cut down for the 372 - > news. I think we're pretty happy to have it, down to twenty five minutes 373 - > here.

Right? Honestly, that was like, drut. 374 - > Rattling. Drut.

German engineering in the 375 - > podcast today. Awesome. Chris, as always, was a 376 - > pleasure talking to you. Looking forward to do the, next news 377 - > with you.

Let me look on my wall calendar. They should also go live 378 - > on the March 27. 379 - > Sounds awesome. Bye.

Bye, guys. 380 - > That's all, folks. Find more news, streams, 381 - > events, and interviews at 382 - > www.startuprad.

io. 383 - > Remember, sharing is caring.