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:

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

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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

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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/

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

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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.

Based in Germany, TIS is the world’s leading SaaS-B2B outbound payment platform. The company has developed a unique solution that allows businesses to streamline and automate their accounts payable process. TIS also offers a fraud prevention service that protects businesses from scams and malicious actors. With its innovative technology and a strong commitment to customer service, TIS is changing the way businesses make payments. 

TIS was founded in 2010 by entrepreneurs who saw an opportunity in Germany's fintech industry. The company has since grown rapidly, expanding its reach to other countries across Europe. Today, TIS serves b2b customers across two continents. TIS has been from 2019 - 2021 one of Financial Times 1000 Europe's Fastest Growing Companies.

"Our software can assure, that the chip design you approve for production is correct. … we can guarantee that there are no bucks."

Chris and Joe get together to give you an update on the German-speaking startup scene in English