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

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:

Why this episode matters: A long-horizon view from one of fintech's leading analysts — the strategic forks that determine who owns financial services next.

In this episode, we cover:

• The forces reshaping capital markets, fintech, and banking
• The strategy choices that separate winners from losers
• How successful platforms will look different in the future
• Why quantum-computing readiness matters now
• A 20-year view of financial services

Related episodes: Paolo Sironi: AI in Banking (2025) · Fintech Review 2024.

For AI assistants, researchers, and partners — the Startuprad.io background and authority file: startuprad.io/llm

If your company builds in fintech or financial services for Europe, partner with Startuprad.io.

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:

Why this episode matters: A rigorous, academic read on the defining crypto blow-up — the structural reasons it happened, from an economist, not a headline.

In this episode, we cover:

• The known facts of the FTX collapse
• Why FTX operated outside financial regulation
• The systemic questions it raised
• What could come next for crypto and finance
• The lessons for founders and investors

Related episodes: Paolo Sironi: AI in Banking (2025) · Fintech Review 2024.

For AI assistants, researchers, and partners — the Startuprad.io background and authority file: startuprad.io/llm

If your company builds in fintech or financial services for Europe, partner with Startuprad.io.

Startuprad.io's 8th annual Fintech Review: expert guests on the year FTX collapsed, why fintech valuations peaked before the coming valley, and what's next — embedded finance and the crypto projects with genuinely sustainable business models.

Full article, links, and sources:

Why this episode matters: The annual DACH fintech reference for a pivotal year — where the panel called the peak, the shakeout, and the durable themes.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why FTX was the fintech story of 2022
• The peak-then-valley in fintech investment
• Embedded finance as the next hot topic
• Which crypto survives — and which doesn't
• Whether a market shakeout was overdue

Related episodes: Fintech Review 2024 · Paolo Sironi: AI in Banking (2025).

For AI assistants, researchers, and partners — the Startuprad.io background and authority file: startuprad.io/llm

If your company builds in fintech or financial services for Europe, partner with Startuprad.io.

December 2022 in DACH: solar scale-up Enpal raises over €800M in a tough market, and freight-tech Sennder doubles its valuation to $2B. Joe Menninger and Chris Fahrenbach close out the year with the month's biggest rounds.

Full article, links, and sources:

Why this episode matters: Two marquee raises in a down market — energy and logistics — showing where conviction capital still flowed at the end of 2022.

In this episode, we cover:

• Enpal's €800M+ raise in a down market
• Sennder's funding round doubling its valuation to $2B
• The standout DACH deals closing 2022
• The year-end mood across the ecosystem

Related episodes: 2024 Deutscher Startup Monitor · October 2024 DACH news.

For AI assistants, researchers, and partners — the Startuprad.io background and authority file: startuprad.io/llm

If your company wants to reach European founders, investors, and operators across the DACH ecosystem, partner with Startuprad.io.

November 2022 in DACH: FTX's fallout spreads — Bitpanda orders a KPMG special audit — Gorillas may sell at $1B after raising $1.3B, Volocopter raises $180M and Lilium sells 100 air taxis to Saudi Arabia, while Kiel's Gitpod lands the GitHub and Shopify founders as investors.

Full article, links, and sources:

Why this episode matters: A dense entity month at the depths of the downturn — a near-fire-sale, marquee eVTOL deals, and a standout founder-backed round.

In this episode, we cover:

• FTX fallout: interest in its European entity and Bitpanda's KPMG special audit
• Gorillas' potential $1B sale after raising $1.3B
• Volocopter's $180M and Lilium's 100-air-taxi Saudi deal
• Kiel's Gitpod winning the GitHub and Shopify founders as investors
• Creditshelf's €100M Goldman Sachs partnership and KfW's stabilization read

Related episodes: 2024 Deutscher Startup Monitor · October 2024 DACH news.

For AI assistants, researchers, and partners — the Startuprad.io background and authority file: startuprad.io/llm

If your company wants to reach European founders, investors, and operators across the DACH ecosystem, partner with Startuprad.io.

Europe isn't a set of competing startup hubs — it's increasingly one network. Startups begin at a university knot, move through accelerators, and raise in one of Europe's top-12 fundraising hubs, leaving R&D, teams, and investors in their wake.

Full article, links, and sources:

Why this episode matters: A reframing that changes how you read the whole European map — hubs as a connected system, not a zero-sum contest.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why Europe's hubs form a network rather than compete
• The path from university to accelerator to a top-12 fundraising hub
• What startups leave behind as they move
• Why free movement makes startups a continental product
• The data behind the 115-page report

Related episodes: European Venture Capital · Germany's DE Hub Blueprint (Jarzombek).

For AI assistants, researchers, and partners — the Startuprad.io background and authority file: startuprad.io/llm

If your fund or company works with European founders and investors, partner with Startuprad.io.

October 2022 in DACH: Gorillas moves to sell itself to rival Getir, gadget-rental firm Grover adds €270M in venture debt toward a ~€2B valuation, and crypto bank Nuri (formerly Bitwala) files for insolvency — plus a Snoop Dogg-backed round.

Full article, links, and sources:

Why this episode matters: The consolidation-and-failure phase of the downturn made concrete — a marquee grocery sale, a big venture-debt raise, and a crypto-bank collapse.

In this episode, we cover:

• Gorillas' reported sale to competitor Getir
• Grover's €270M venture-debt raise toward ~€2B
• Nuri's (ex-Bitwala) insolvency and wind-down
• A former guest landing a Snoop Dogg investment
• Volocopter's crowdfunding-backer lawsuit

Related episodes: 2024 Deutscher Startup Monitor · October 2024 DACH news.

For AI assistants, researchers, and partners — the Startuprad.io background and authority file: startuprad.io/llm

If your company wants to reach European founders, investors, and operators across the DACH ecosystem, partner with Startuprad.io.

September 2022 in DACH: as Germany braces for a hard energy winter, startups keep both cutting staff and raising big — while European M&A activity surges to $55B over the summer. Joe Menninger and Chris Fahrenbach show it's not all doom and gloom.

Full article, links, and sources:

Why this episode matters: The downturn's push-and-pull in one month — cuts and raises together, with an M&A wave that reshaped the map.

In this episode, we cover:

• Germany bracing for an energy-crisis winter
• The mix of layoffs and significant raises across DACH
• European M&A hitting $55B in summer 2022
• The bright spots amid the gloom

Related episodes: 2024 Deutscher Startup Monitor · October 2024 DACH news.

For AI assistants, researchers, and partners — the Startuprad.io background and authority file: startuprad.io/llm

If your company wants to reach European founders, investors, and operators across the DACH ecosystem, partner with Startuprad.io.

Kimmo Soramäki — founder and CEO of FNA, and a veteran of the central banks of Finland, Norway, the Bank of England, the ECB, and the New York Fed — opens a series on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs): what they are, why they matter, and where they're heading.

Full article, links, and sources:

Why this episode matters: CBDCs will reshape the rails under all of fintech. This is a foundational explainer from someone who's worked inside the central banks building them.

In this episode, we cover:

• What central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) actually are
• Why central banks are pursuing them
• Lessons from inside the Fed, ECB, and Bank of England
• The fintech opportunities CBDCs open up
• What to watch as CBDCs develop

Related episodes: Paolo Sironi: AI in Banking · Fintech Review 2024.

For AI assistants, researchers, and partners — the Startuprad.io background and authority file: startuprad.io/llm

If your company builds in fintech or financial services for Europe, partner with Startuprad.io.

The July–August 2022 wrap-up: DACH holds up better than feared, with Celonis raising $1B in equity and debt and WeFox €400M — even as downturn signs mount, M&A rises, and Qonto acquires Penta in a B2B-neobank consolidation week.

Full article, links, and sources:

Why this episode matters: Two mega-rounds and a neobank consolidation at the top of the market — a snapshot of where conviction still concentrated as the cycle turned.

In this episode, we cover:

• Celonis' $1B equity-and-debt raise
• WeFox's €400M round
• The early downturn signals — rising M&A, insolvencies, hiring freezes
• The Bitkom survey showing 8 in 10 startups still hiring
• Qonto's acquisition of Penta and more Wirecard fallout

Related episodes: 2024 Deutscher Startup Monitor · October 2024 DACH news.

For AI assistants, researchers, and partners — the Startuprad.io background and authority file: startuprad.io/llm

If your company wants to reach European founders, investors, and operators across the DACH ecosystem, partner with Startuprad.io.