"We try to do for books, what Spotify is doing for music and Netflix is doing for movies: A personalized recommendation." Ben Kohz, COO and Co-Founder READ-O

Tune in to our Internet Radio Station here:

https://www.startup.radio/ 

"There are over 70.000 newly released books in Germany alone each year. How can you find the next book to read?" Ben Kohz, COO and Co-Founder READ-O 

Subscribe Here

Find all options to subscribe to our newsletter, podcast, YouTube channel or listen to our internet radio station here: Link https://linktr.ee/startupradio

"There were years in my life – around the Harry Potter time – I read a lot of books. I stopped because I could not find more books to read." Ben Kohz, COO and Co-Founder READ-O 

Our Sponsor Startupraven 

The best way to identify investors and cooperation partners for early-stage startups. Sign up for early access here: https://startupraven.com/

"We assume there are more than one million reviews for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Book 1) alone." Ben Kohz, COO and Co-Founder READ-O

Partnership with CONTENTshift

This interview is in association with CONTENTshift, the accelerator program of the Association of the German Book Publishers & Booksellers. You can learn more here https://www.contentshift.de/. The winners are announced during the Frankfurt Book Fair each year https://www.buchmesse.de/en. The accelerator program aims to push the boundaries of publishing.

The next application phase is just around the corner. Have a look: https://www.contentshift.de/en/contentshift/news/two-startups-share-first-prize-at-contentshift-2021-congratulations-to-bottalk-and-read-o

"We tried to find out, why do you read? … You want to feel emotions. … So, we want to find out which emotions are stimulated by which books. That is why we came up with an emotional profile." Ben Kohz, COO and Co-Founder READ-O

The Founder

We interview Ben Kohz COO (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-kohz-547024137/) and Co-Founder of READ-O (https://read-o.com/), one of the two winners of the 2021 CONTENTshift accelerator program. Ben studied political sciences but ended up in the food industry after graduation. He started to put up vending machines for farm produce in Munich.

"We are currently working in German, but our AI can analyze more languages." Ben Kohz, COO and Co-Founder READ-O

The Startup

The startup READ-O (https://read-o.com/) is an app, that allows you to discover new books, based on administration. The app does this by applying AI. The AI of READ-O deduces an emotional profile of a book from the reviews on the internet. With their technology, they can establish a profile with even 10 reviews.

"Each review for us has the same value, from a normal person or the New York Times." Ben Kohz, COO and Co-Founder READ-O

Venture Capital Funding

READ-O is currently raising close to 1 mn US$ in new funding. Half is already committed. They want to finish fundraising end of March.

"Our AI analyzes the reviews and the contained emotions." Ben Kohz, COO and Co-Founder...

"If you can order a pizza with an AI bot, … you should also be able to order the analysis of a company with an AI bot."Pavol Sikula, Founder and CEO AskBrian.ai

Subscribe Here 

Find all options to subscribe to our newsletter, podcast, YouTube channel or listen to our internet radio station here: Link https://linktr.ee/startupradio

Our Sponsor Startupraven 

The best way to identify investors and cooperation partners for early-stage startups. Sign up for early access here: https://startupraven.com/

"The first skill was actually “AskBrian, tell me a joke”"Pavol Sikula, Founder and CEO AskBrian.ai

Our Cooperation with the German AI Association (KI Bundesverband) 

This is the first interview in our series with the KI Bundesverband (https://ki-verband.de/en/), Germany’s association for artificial intelligence. The association has 350 members consisting of startups, experts, and corporates. KI Bundesverband is therefore one of Germany’s largest associations dedicated to AI, with members from AgTech, Fintech, BioTech, Cybersecurity, Manufacturing, Logistics, and many more fields of business. In the interview series, we will have members of the association giving you a glimpse in what is going on in AI in Germany.

The Founder 

Our interview guest this week is Pavol (https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavol-sikula/), CEO and Founder of AskBrian (https://www.askbrian.ai/) a virtual AI assistant for professionals. The idea of AskBrian stems from Pavol’s background in management consulting, where he spent more than a decade with Roland Berger and Stern Steward & Co, in restructuring. In his spare time, Pavol is also a kid’s soccer coach.

"All of our data is securely hosted, GDPR compliant, in Germany."Pavol Sikula, Founder and CEO AskBrian.ai

The Startup 

AskBrian is the AI assistant for busy professionals like management consultants or investment bankers. It helps by automating everyday tasks like listed and private company profiles, translations in multiple languages, making PowerPoint more attractive, and converting documents e.g. PDFs and Pictures to the format of your choice e.g. Word.

• https://www.linkedin.com/company/askbrian-gmbh/

Venture Capital Funding 

AskBrian closed already two funding rounds, for undisclosed amounts. They intend to raise another funding round in Q1 2022.

Original Post 

Find all links and show notes on the original post here: https://www.startuprad.io/blog/askbrian-is-the-digital-assistant-all-busy-professionals-need/

“For banks the pandemic meant that they had to digest 10 years of digitalization in only two years.” Paolo Sironi - Thought Leader and AuthorHello and welcome everyone to our 2021 Fintech Review for the German Speaking Area - Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, also called GSA. This is an annual tradition started in 2014, first in German, now in English. You can find the older reviews in the blog post below: 

“Crypto is coming, no question. The metaverse is coming and exciting for me is the question how we will pay in the metaverse” Oliver Oster - CMO and Founder OptioPay 

“What struck me the most in 2020 is Crypto. It is sooo much more popular today than one or two years ago” Janis Dust - CMO and Co-Founder EpapSubscribe Here 

Find all options to subscribe to our newsletter, podcast, YouTube channel or listen to our internet radio station here: https://linktr.ee/startupradio

“As people are going from in-person to remote a lot of [banking] processes have to be updated. It is basically a huge accelerator for the whole banking industry.” Frank Schwab - Co-Founder Fintech ForumOur Sponsor Startupraven 

The best way to identify investors and cooperation partners for early-stage startups. Sign up for early access here: https://startupraven.com/

“[Venture] Capital becomes more concentrated. It will get harder for the new kids on the block” Frank Schwab - Co-Founder Fintech Forum 

Our Guests 

Today I welcome our guests:

• Janis Dust - A young fintech entrepreneur, co-founder and CMO of epap (https://de.linkedin.com/in/jannisdust)

“10 years ago adding the valuation and market capitalization of the global top 500 banks and fintech unicorns plus the payment providers: 10 years ago banks represented 97% of that value, today they are down to almost 70%.” Paolo Sironi - Thought Leader and Author 

This time I ask our guests 4 questions on the current state of fintech, their outlook, and drivers for the future.

1) What is the strongest impact of corona on the financial and fintech world, immediately and in the future?

2) What is the most important development you have seen in total in 2021 for fintechs?

3) What do you see in 2022 for the fintech scene in GSA?

4) What field of fintech do you see becoming more important in 2022? Is it already the year of the green fintech?

Wishing you happy holidays from Frankfurt! We will be back on January 13th with an interview. Enjoy your time with family and friends and stay safe!

“The most obvious impact [of corona] for me...

HoHoHo Welcome to This Month in German Startups in December 2021 by Startuprad.io - in a news recording with Chris from New York City and me Joe, from Frankfurt am Main.

We recorded this new episode on Monday, December 20th. All news not included here will be published in our next news episode. There will also be our annual Fintech Review on December 25th and we will be back with an AI startup interview on January 13th. So we take a few weeks off around the holidays. Happy Holidays!

We are not there yet, so let's get started:

Today we bring you another new unicorn, a monster funding of 266 mn US$ at Mambu, Volocopter calls off its SPAC IPO and gets a backlash from its early crowd investors, also Jokr is now the 3rd quick delivery unicorn - in record time - and we have an update on Sono Motors. We also take a look at the State of European Tech survey by Atomico and several news pieces on the German Venture Capital Market, as well as VC in general.

Let's talk startups:

Subscribe Here 

Find all options to subscribe to our newsletter, podcast, YouTube channel or listen to our internet radio station here: https://linktr.ee/startupradio

EnablersInvest-in-Hessen 

This show was made possible by Hessen Trade and Invest with their brand Invest-in-Hessen. You can learn more about them here (https://www.invest-in-hessen.com/). We also run a dedicated sub-podcast with all interviews and news in cooperation with them. Find it all here: https://anchor.fm/techstartupsgermany

Startupraven 

The best way to identify investors and cooperation partners for early stage startups. Sign up for early access here: https://startupraven.com/

Find all links and extensive show notes here: https://www.startuprad.io/blog/this-month-in-german-startups-december-2021/

Subscribe Here 

Find all options to subscribe to our newsletter, podcast, YouTube channel or listen to our internet radio station here: Link https://linktr.ee/startupradio

We learned in our projects that charging electric cars is challenging for B2B and B2C customers Simon Vogt, Co-Founder and CSO &ChargeOur

This show was made possible by Hessen Trade and Invest with their brand Invest-in-Hessen. You can learn more about them here (https://www.invest-in-hessen.com/). We also run a dedicated sub-podcast with all interviews and news in cooperation with them. Find it all here: https://anchor.fm/techstartupsgermany

Charging can still be challenging for the EV driver. Simon Vogt, Co-Founder and CSO &Charge

Simon Vogt (https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-vogt-a9a07931/), Co-Founder and Chief Sales Officer of Frankfurt-based startup &Charge is our guest today. They just raised seed funding to help online shoppers offset their climate impact and reward them with points e.g., for charging electric cars or using e-scooters.

Simon has collected already some experience in mobility. He worked in emobility projects of BMW, been with Porsche Consulting and finally been the coordinator for e-services for Porsche’s model Taycan.

Charging is more than refueling. You have time. Simon Vogt, Co-Founder and CSO &Charge

The founding team realized that charging is different from refueling, so the team behind &Charge (https://and-charge.com/#/) realized that the charging EV owner has time on his or her hands. So, &Charge started connecting charging with eCommerce, so an online buyer gets rewards points for recharging their EV or using an e-scooter or similar stuff. Currently, they are covering 95% of the German eCommerce market with partnerships.

 We help our customers to decrease the price of re-charging and the total costs of ownership. Simon Vogt, Co-Founder and CSO &Charge

They just raised a seven-digit seed round (https://buff.ly/3oW9C1m) but will surely look soon at a Series A funding round. Amongst their investors are the corporate venture capital arm of energy company Helen, called Helen Ventures and Porsche Ventures.

I could be considered a pioneer or dinosaur of emobility, I stared with it 10 years ago. Simon Vogt, Co-Founder and CSO &Charge 

https://www.startuprad.io/blog/charge-just-raised-seed-funding-to-help-online-shoppers-fight-global-warming/

emobility, mobility, charging, ecommerce, car, cars, e-car, electric car, plug-in car

“To accelerate our growth, we need to buy companies”Pascal Lauria, founder and CEO Cogia

www.startup.radio 

Find all options to subscribe to our newsletter, podcast, YouTube channel or listen to our internet radio station here: Link https://linktr.ee/startupradio

This show was made possible by Hessen Trade and Invest with their brand Invest-in-Hessen. You can learn more about them here (https://www.invest-in-hessen.com/). We also run a dedicated sub-podcast with all interviews and news in cooperation with them. Find it all here: https://anchor.fm/techstartupsgermany

Pascal Lauria (https://www.linkedin.com/in/pascallauria/) has a very diverse background, raised in the Rhine-Main-Area his studies took him to Canada. He later worked in Taiwan, Silicon Alley (New York’s startup hub) and in Silicon Valley. He took his experience to go back to Frankfurt and set up Cogia there (https://www.cogia.de/?locale=en_us).

Cogia Intelligence (https://www.cogia.de/?locale=en_us) is a big data, ai startup. It provides in its current setup innovative products and solutions in the areas of web and social media monitoring, market research and open source intelligence. The company Cogia GmbH is the startup, the company Cogia AG is the listed entity. Pascal started Cogia in 2010 but listed Cogia AG only in 2021 in Düsseldorf. Then the two entities merged and so Cogia GmbH got listed. You can learn more about the listed entity here: https://cogia.ag/de/investor-relations/

https://youtu.be/GIlccHp_DgY 

You can subscribe to our podcasts here.

You can find the interviews with Coin Analyst here:

https://www.startuprad.io/blog/follow-up-with-the-bloomberg-of-crypto-coinanalyst/

Reach out to us, here is our audience survey, to give us feedback, suggest topics, interview partners or just to say “Hallo!” https://forms.gle/mLV6mVKwGwKuut8BA

This interview was conducted by Jörn “Joe” Menninger, startup scout, founder, and host of Startuprad.io. Reach out to him:LinkedInTwitterEmail

Here is our publication calendar:

AAA Auto just entered the German market and we talk exclusively to the CEO

The startup scene in Germany has been growing rapidly in recent years, with Berlin and Munich becoming well-established startup hubs. For the last decade investment in German startups grow consistently. With this episode, we give you deep insights from the most extensive startup survey annually undertaken in Germany. 

This year's startup survey from Germany is out, and it offers some insights into the country's startup ecosystem. Here are some highlights:

This year more than 2.000 startups participated with more than 5.000 founders. In total the startups have more than 33.000 employees. On average the participating startups are a bit over 2 ½ years old and are mostly located in Berlin and NRW (Nordrheinwestfalen, one of Germany’s states). NRW is Germany’s largest state by population. It is also home to the Rhein-Ruhr metropolitan region, one of the world’s 40 largest Metropolitan Regions.

The hotspot is still Berlin, but also cities like Leipzig or Dresden (home to Germany’s center for semiconductor production) are also gaining ground. Berlin represents 17,1% of the surveyed startups

In total, they found startups from 16 industries, plus “others.” The by far largest share are IT and Telekom companies, followed by medicine and medical care. Food, as 3rd, does not even make up 10% of the responses, followed by automotive and logistics.

Also, Fintechs (finance, banking, and insurance) only make up 4,7% of the startups, even though they make headlines and big funding. Also, proptech (property tech, everything dealing with real estate) is a separate category making up 3.7%.

The smallest share is startups active in tourism.

Overall, the survey paints a picture of a vibrant and growing startup ecosystem in Germany. With strong support from both the government and the private sector, it's no wonder that more and more entrepreneurs are choosing to set up shop in the country.

Be up to date to the German-speaking startup scene in less than 25 minutes.

FreshBooks, a Canadian fintech unicorn, announced its acquisition of Fastbill, a Frankfurt, Germany-based fintech company, for an undisclosed amount. The deal will see FreshBooks add Fastbill's accounting software to its own suite of products. FreshBooks is headquartered in Toronto. Fastbill is headquartered in Frankfurt . The acquisition is FreshBooks' first foray into the German market. Fastbill will continue to operate as a stand-alone brand under the FreshBooks umbrella. The deal is expected to closed in the fourth quarter of 2021.