Quantgene can detect early-stage cancer in a single draw of bloodWhat we are doing is a potential game-changer in medicine. … it makes the detection [of dead cells form tumors] single-molecule precise.

Johannes “Jo” Bhakdi – CEO and Co-Founder of Quantgene

 The FounderIn this interview, we talk to Johannes “Jo” Bhakdi (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jo-bhakdi-5048811/), originally born and raised in the Rhine-Main Area in Germany, but now founder of the AI and Big Data Startup Quantgene (https://www.quantgene.com/, https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/quantgene) in Santa Monica, CA. Quantgene describes itself as a deep genomics startup. They also have an office in Berlin and they hire for both locations.

By training Jo is an economist, who graduated from the University of Tübingen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_T%C3%BCbingen), a research-heavy university known for its 11 Nobel Laureates in Medicine, Chemistry, and Physics.

Jo started out in advertising and marketing (marketing strategy). He went from there in corporate development, especially mergers and acquisitions. This brought to the USA, first to New York with a stop in venture capital. He was working with his first startup in quantitative seed-stage investments.

What we developed is blood test, that guides physicians in detection of early stage cancer.

Johannes “Jo” Bhakdi – CEO and Co-Founder of Quantgene

Affiliate LinksIs your startup in need of a bank account in Germany? Try our partner affiliate Penta http://bit.ly/3bdHX3d

Looking to open a bank account to shift between crypto and fiat? Try our partner Bitwala with this affiliate link here http://bit.ly/2w01Zye 

The Startup 

To give you an idea of what we are doing: It is a few megabytes – a simple sequencing of your genome. What we are doing generates files of 200+ Gigabytes

Johannes “Jo” Bhakdi – CEO and Co-Founder of Quantgene

Quantgene is a deep tech startup, working with ai, machine learning, and big data to fight cancer. They describe themselves as a deep genome startup. Quantgene is working on unlocking specific hints about cancer in the human genome since cancer is “encoding” itself into the human genome. Quantgene developed a very specific new capability to unlock the human genome of a very deep level. Startups like 23andme generate averages in genome sequencing, a kind of simplification. Quantgene’s approach, on the other hand, is much more specific, but also very complex. They are looking for dead cancer cells – so-called cell-free DNA – in your blood sample. This only works if they are not working with averages but analyze a single copy of DNA in a sample. They had to develop a vast software infrastructure and their own chemistry to make their idea work.

Quantgene also has an office in Berlin, from which Jo joined the Startuprad.io interview. They call it the “Mustererkennungs Einheit” which means the pattern recognition unit.

Quantgene launches in 2020 (as planned before Corona) first in the USA and within some time they want to launch in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

When you have very early cancer, no one can see, and no one can find – with the current methods. The cancer cells die, and they shed the dead cells into your blood. So they are in your blood as cell free DNA.

Johannes “Jo” Bhakdi – CEO and Co-Founder of Quantgene

The Video Interview is set to go live on May 7th 19.00 CET(1 pm Eastern, 18.00 London )

We called our initial offering “Sales as a Service.”

Swen Wegner, CEO and Founder Mainstage Incubator

Mainstage Incubator helps startups to conquer EuropeWhether your startup is from India, Bangladesh, Brazil, the United States, Argentina, Korea, South Africa, or even New Zealand, you can start exploring the German and European Market with the digital program of Mainstage Incubator.

The FounderIn this interview, we are talking to Swen Wegner (https://www.linkedin.com/in/swenwegner/), Founder and CEO of Mainstage Incubator (https://www.mainstage-incubator.com/), which is a relatively new incubator headquartered in Frankfurt, in the heart of Europe. Swen is half Indian, half German, and spent parts of his life in both countries. He spent his time in India for example in Kerala (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala).

The interview was remotely recorded during a time of partial lockdown in Germany, due to Covid19.

In the past, he has worked for large multinational corporations, as well as small startups. He refers to a “founder you may know” to Emboled.io (we interviewed the founder Vishal Ray, at this time they were still called Acellere). You find both interviews, dating back to March 2019 below:

 Affiliate LinksIs your startup in need of a bank account in Germany? Try our partner affiliate Penta http://bit.ly/3bdHX3d

Looking to open a bank account to shift between crypto and fiat? Try our partner Bitwala with this affiliate link here http://bit.ly/2w01Zye

 The Incubator As a pilot we positioned some Indian startups to German corporates.

Swen Wegner, CEO and Founder Mainstage Incubator

Mainstage Incubator is a distributed company. They have offices in Frankfurt, Germany, and India. They stared out, presenting Indian startups to German corporate customers. Now they help startups from all over the world to present themselves to German customers, to bridge the cultural gap.

Their goals are

To find clients in Germany, and from here in EuropeThe ultimate goal is to bring international startups physically to Germany, so they can expand all over Europe.Bring startup from Germany to IndiaThe Mainstage Incubator already signed partnership agreements with Argentina, Columbia, Japan Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and now the United States.

 Apply here for the Mainstage IncubatorYou can apply to the Mainstage Incubator right here https://bit.ly/ApplyMainstage

The Video Interview is set to go live on May 5th, 19.00 Frankfurt Local time (18.00 London, 1 pm New York, 10 am San Francisco) 

We are still experimenting with time zones. Let us know which publication time you like best in the feedback link at the bottom end of this post.

https://youtu.be/Djd8wp8gC10

We give the Indian startups hints on how to wrap up a meeting with a German corporate in 30 minutes with a sale.

Swen Wegner, CEO and Founder Mainstage Incubator

Here you find the audio-only podcast of our interview - Subscribe so you won't miss another episodeThe interview will be published across our podcasts during the early morning of May 7th, so you have your episode on your device for your commute or morning coffee the next morning.

You can subscribe to Startuprad.io here:

YouTube http://bit.ly/2LK14oWiTunes http://apple.co/2xsHdaESpotify http://spoti.fi/2DfIt1OThe interview ill be published in our Sub-Podcasts...

This Month in German Startups - April 2020 

If you are new to our podcast(s), we are wrapping up the startup news of the German-speaking area in a monthly recording from Frankfurt and New York. Have a look at our website www.startuprad.io or www.startup.radio and you will find all the links to our recordings and the articles we are quoting from there. Some of the source articles are in English, some are in German.

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 

Find the hosts here:

Jörn “Joe” Menninger [email protected] / Twitter  / LinkedIn / Video Interview (2018)

Chris Fahrenbach [email protected] / Twitter / Homepage / Video Interview (2018)

EnablerThis recording was made possible by (Hessen Trade and Invest). Learn more about our enabler here: https://www.invest-in-hessen.com/

Together with our enabler we are running a podcast called “Tech Startups Germany”, which will focus on startups at a Serie A stage or even more mature. You will also find all the videos we produce for this podcast on our YouTube channel www.youtube.com/startupradio. This podcast is available directly on our device as audio and video podcast, yes, Startuprad.io makes the first downloadable video podcast. Find all options to subscribe here: 

💢 Tech Startups Germany by Startuprad.io - Audio onlyiTunes https://apple.co/2Z17bflDeezer http://bit.ly/2Qbh1rlTuneIn http://bit.ly/2M8vpznStitcher http://bit.ly/34xTANO💢 Tech Startups Germany by Startuprad.io - VideoiTunes https://apple.co/2M8ZxKJ 

Housekeeping - Time to bragA tiny bit of hope is back, so we do a bit a of bragging again:

Wow, the days around Easter have been AMAZING for Startuprad.io. We retained our position in Chartable's Global Top 100 Technology and Global Top 100 Science Charts, but we also entered the iTunes Technology Charts in Vietnam for the first time. Again in the US and UK welcomed us to their Apple Technology Podcast Charts again in the Top 200 https://twitter.com/startuprad_io/status/1252523750123352066

You can subscribe to Startuprad.io here:

YouTube http://bit.ly/2LK14oWiTunes http://apple.co/2xsHdaESpotify http://spoti.fi/2DfIt1OOur Sub-Podcasts:

💢 Fintech Germany by Startuprad.io iTunes: http://apple.co/2lLRlpG Spotify: http://spoti.fi/2m8HWsb💢 Security Sutra by Startuprad.ioiTunes: https://apple.co/2K0qLlHSpotify: https://spoti.fi/33rrlAD💢 Deeptech GermanyiTunes: https://apple.co/2oWO3Sl Spotify https://spoti.fi/2qucve8💢 Blockchain GermanyiTunes: https://apple.co/2O2jwLxSpotify https://spoti.fi/2qucve8German Startup News (Video)iTunes https://apple.co/3agUim9 German Startup News (Audio)iTunes https://apple.co/2Jg2fMw Spotify https://spoti.fi/2UeZ3ah  

Housekeeping - tracking startups we interviewed...

Sono Motors Raised Money with it and the tool is now freeWe challenged ourselves how we can help … as a small software developer in the current crisis for struggling companies…. So, we reduced the price of the funding tool to ZERO.

Johannes Laub, CEO and Co-Founder CrowdDesk

Covid19This interview is part of our ongoing coverage of Covid19 for the German startup scene. We talk to the startup CrowdDesk since we found their tool very helpful. Please note that CrowdDesk is neither paying for the interview nor are there affiliated links to sign up for their service.

The founderIn this interview, Joe from Startuprad.io talks again to Johannes Laub, CEO, and Co-Founder of CrowdDesk, the financing startup from Frankfurt. You can learn more about him in our other interview here: https://www.startuprad.io/interviews/the-fintech-crowddesk-offers-funding-as-a-service/

You only need a website and our software. Even our law firm is giving away the contract for free, for everyone affected by the Covid19 crisis.

Johannes Laub, CEO and Co-Founder CrowdDesk

Affiliate LinksThe current situation with the Coronavirus related lockdown is frequently compared to severe economic recessions including, but not limited to the 2008 Financial Crisis and the Stock Market Crash of 1929. If you want to know more, consider these books below.

“Galbraith was asked by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. if he would write the definitive work on the Great Depression that he would then use as a reference source for his own intended work on Roosevelt.” (from Wikipedia) - The Great Crash 1929 by John Kenneth Galbraith https://amzn.to/3cl41sAEssays on the Great Depression https://amzn.to/2VvEsht by former Fed Chairmen Ben S. Bernanke “an American economist at the Brookings Institution[3] who served two terms as Chair of the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States, from 2006 to 2014” (from Wikipedia)From John Kenneth Galbraith as well: A Short History of Financial Euphoria https://amzn.to/2VxngbgA great book on crashes, bubbles and economic uncertainty in general is “Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation” by Edward Chancellor https://amzn.to/2VaUDSl 

The StartupThe fintech CrowdDesk offers Funding-As-A-Service. With the go-fund-me Button a company placed on its website, any company sticking to the local rules could raise funds this way.

ONE StarterCrowdDesk gives away the ONE Starter package, with which startups can raise up to 400.000 Euros from friends, customers, fans, network and, website visitors: https://www.crowddesk.de/crowdvscorona/

Note: The tool is only available in Germany right now, due to legal constraints.

The Munich-based startup Sono Motors raised more than 50 mn Euros in total and out of that they raised more than 2.5 mn Euros with the tool of CrowdDesk.

We all share the same fate at the moment.

Johannes Laub, CEO and Co-Founder CrowdDesk

The ONE Starter is a software tool, which startups can use to raise funds in Germany

The startup has to activate their own network … so everybody knows about your campaign.

Johannes Laub, CEO and Co-Founder CrowdDesk

 Observations in Fundraising during Covid19 When you come to the VCs when you need the money, you are too late.

Johannes Laub, CEO and Co-Founder CrowdDesk

CrowdDesk is also currently raising venture capital. So Johannes also shares some insights on how fundraising is working right now:

An urge to need the money now hurts your...

Meet Berlin-based cryptocurrency challenger bank Bitwala“We let people buy and sell bitcoin directly from their bank account”

Benjamin Jones, CEO/CTO and Co-Founder of Bitwala

This interview is our Easter Special. Keep safe, stay at home and enjoy the video. Please note at the very bottom of this post, there is a link where you can give us direct feedback.

The founderIn this interview, Joe from Startuprad.io talks to Benjamin Jones (https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminpeterjones/), CEO/CTO and Co-Founder of Bitwala (https://www.bitwala.com/). Bitwala is a challenger bank, based in Berlin which offers shifting from fiat currency (Euro) into Bitcoin and Ethereum on their app.

Benjamin is originally from Bristol and studied Philosophy and Economics in London. He traveled one year in South America and became …as he says, “became a hippie.” An internship than took him to Berlin, where he worked in a startup. He tried out many things, including a company builder which aimed to become the “Rocket Internet of Cryptocurrencies.”

“Core banking is relatively unexciting. That’s not where the innovation is happening”

Benjamin Jones, CEO/CTO and Co-Founder of Bitwala

 ______________________________________________

Affiliate LinksLooking for a bank account to shift between crypto and fiat? Sign up with Bitwala here. Due to regulations, Bitwala can only accept customers resident in the European Economic Area (EU plus Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and Lichtenstein), with a few exceptions like US citizens.

____________________________________________________

The Startup“A [bitcoin to cash] transaction takes usually 20 minutes”

Benjamin Jones, CEO/CTO and Co-Founder of Bitwala

The name Bitwala comes from a computer bit, and wallah. In India, you call someone who brings the, for example, the tea a chai wallah (https://chaipilgrimage.com/blogs/journal/8413337-what-is-a-chai-wallah). The company wants to be “the bringer of bits.” Bitwala is describing itself as a challenger bank. As is typical for many challenger banks, they don’t have a banking license, but rather work together with licensed banks.

“All startups need to focus in an extreme way”

Benjamin Jones, CEO/CTO and Co-Founder of Bitwala

Bitwala is a challenger bank, founded in Berlin. Their USP is the ability to shift between Euros, Bitcoin and Ethereum in their app, without the need for a cryptocurrency exchange.

“What most people got excited about crypto currencies in the earlier times was their application in the developing world. …there is 1.7 bn unbanked.”

Benjamin Jones, CEO/CTO and Co-Founder of Bitwala

Right now Bitwala does not have a third-party custodian for the crypto assets, they are offering non-custodian wallets. So the client has to take care of their crypto assets by themselves, but the client also holds her/his private keys.

During the interview, we also talk about their former product, a bitcoin credit card, which they had to drop. This put Bitwala in a difficult position, in which they decided to build the world’s first cryptocurrency bank account.

After the interview Bitwala published their number of customers, they had (at release) more than 50.000 clients in 32 countries (Link opens PDF).

The Video Interview is Our Easter Special – It is set to go live on April 10th 15.00 CET (10 am East Coast Time, 14.00 London)https://youtu.be/DuomByTCLKk

Venture Capital Funding 

Bitwala is looking to raise a Series B in Q3 2020 of 15-20 million Euros (up to 22 mn...

How to lure corporate talent in a Startup? 

I think most entrepreneurs will know that it never goes right … you see stories in the media of overnight successes … but most founders will know this is not the case.

William Laitinen, CEO and Founder Exige

 The FounderWe talk to William Laitinen (https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-laitinen-93282/, https://twitter.com/WilliamLaitinen), co-founder of Exige International an executive search agency (https://www.exigeinternational.com/).

During this interview, we are talking to him not only as a founder, who bootstrapped his company, sleeping on his cousins’ couch, but also who survived the global financial crisis starting in 2008.

A lesson to learn - from early on as possible - is: You are going to be facing problems in your team and your organization.

William Laitinen, CEO and Founder Exige

Affiliate LinksThe hard thing about hard things

https://amzn.to/2S62X30Ben Horowitz tells his story from an employee, afraid to lose his job to CEO of a company caught in the dotcom bubble to VC investorZero to One: Notes on Start Ups, or How to Build the Future https://amzn.to/37H2MSpPeter Thiels, the famous investor tells you his mental framework to think about innovationBlitzscaling: The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies https://amzn.to/2Ob0xySReid Hoffmans, the founder of LinkedIn, advice on scale fast

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

https://amzn.to/2v97KZG

Read-worthy book to familiarize yourself with economic theory, or learn more about how to apply it.Need a bank account? Try our partner Pentahttp://bit.ly/3bdHX3dNeed space to work? Try our partner WeWorkhttps://we.co/2GYbxvSLooking for someone to design a logo, do a transcript or a voice-over? Find all of it and more at our partner Fiverrhttp://bit.ly/2S0f2YFYou can listen to Venture Capital books or entertainment on your way to work with an audible subscription – you get the first month for free

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00NTQ6K7E?tag=startupradi0e-21

The Startup William started headhunting in financial services (Mergers and Acquisitions) and strategy consultancies during the early 2000s, with a laptop and a phone. He classically bootstrapped his company, starting crashing on the couch of his cousin and working his way up from there. He called it “the golden age of headhunting,” and like many others he thought it would always go on like this. So, he was in a great spot, just before the bankruptcy of Lehmann Brothers which almost froze hiring in Investment Banking and strategy consulting.

I was in the worst place you could be in the financial crisis … I didn’t do a deal for 18 months.

William Laitinen, CEO and Founder Exige

William used the global financial crisis to change his focus and now is working primarily with insurance companies in Western Europe, specifically in Switzerland, as well as with insurtechs.

You will face a whole heap of problems and challenges starting a company … Who you want to hire is really really important in overcoming the problems you will be facing.

William Laitinen, CEO and Founder Exige

 Advice in Hiring 

People leave their job for just two reasons: Logic and emotions.

William Laitinen, CEO and Founder Exige

William talks about hiring for startups, especially about the importance of...

This Month in German Startups - March 2020If you are new to our podcast(s), we are wrapping up the startup news of the German-speaking area in a monthly recording from Frankfurt and New York. Have a look at our website www.startuprad.io or www.startup.radio and you will find all the links to our recordings and the articles we are quoting from there. Some of the source articles are in English, some are in German.

FeedbackReach 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 

Find the hosts here:Jörn “Joe” Menninger [email protected] / Twitter  / LinkedIn / Video Interview (2018)

Chris Fahrenbach [email protected] / Twitter / Homepage / Video Interview (2018)

Note that Chris decided to stay in New York to be able to report from there, which is the epicenter of the US corona outbrake! Thank you for that!

EnablerThis recording was made possible by (Hessen Trade and Invest). Learn more about our enabler here: https://www.invest-in-hessen.com/

Together with our enabler, we are running a podcast called “Tech Startups Germany”, which will focus on startups at a Serie A stage or even more mature. You will also find all the videos we produce for this podcast on our YouTube channel www.youtube.com/startupradio. This podcast is available directly on our device as audio and video podcast, yes, Startuprad.io makes the first downloadable video podcast. Find all options to subscribe here: 

💢 Tech Startups Germany by Startuprad.io - Audio onlyiTunes https://apple.co/2Z17bflDeezer http://bit.ly/2Qbh1rlTuneIn http://bit.ly/2M8vpznStitcher http://bit.ly/34xTANO💢 Tech Startups Germany by Startuprad.io - VideoiTunes https://apple.co/2M8ZxKJ______________________________________

Our affiliate partners:Startup in need of a bank account? Try our partner Penta http://bit.ly/3bdHX3d

Looking for a bank account to shift between crypto and fiat? Try our partner Bitwala: http://bit.ly/2w01Zye

Need office space? Co-Working at WeWork https://we.co/2GYbxvS

Need something done fast? SEO / Graphics / Sounds / Transcript look at Fiverr: http://bit.ly/2S0f2YF

You can listen to many of the books from our recommendations with an audible subscription: https://amzn.to/2pGzseh

______________________________________HousekeepingNo bragging this time.

Now there is

💢 Fintech Germany by Startuprad.io iTunes: http://apple.co/2lLRlpG Spotify: http://spoti.fi/2m8HWsb💢 Security Sutra by Startuprad.ioiTunes: https://apple.co/2K0qLlHSpotify: https://spoti.fi/33rrlAD💢 Deeptech GermanyiTunes: https://apple.co/2oWO3Sl Spotify https://spoti.fi/2qucve8💢 Blockchain GermanyiTunes: https://apple.co/2O2jwLxSpotify https://spoti.fi/2qucve8German Startup News (Video)iTunes https://apple.co/3agUim9 German Startup News (Audio)iTunes https://apple.co/2Jg2fMw Spotify 

Covid 19 Coverage of Startuprad.io 

Our affiliate partners:Startup in need of a bank account? Try our partner Penta http://bit.ly/3bdHX3d

Looking for a bank account to shift between crypto and fiat? Try our partner Bitwala: http://bit.ly/2w01Zye

Need office space? Co-Working at WeWork https://we.co/2GYbxvS

Need something done fast? SEO / Graphics / Sounds / Transcript look at Fiverr: http://bit.ly/2S0f2YF

You can listen to many of the books from our recommendations with an audible subscription: https://amzn.to/2pGzseh

WelcomeWelcome to the 2nd episode of our special covid19 coverage for the German startup scene. This is a special issue with an attorney at law Tim, focusing on special legislation in Germany for the shutdown of public life and the consequences for a business. 

Our GuestTim Wullbrandt (Attorney at Law) http://www.wullbrandt-rechtsanwaelte.de/heidelberg-based-law-firm-experienced-attorneys-for-criminal-defense-family-law-insolvency-law-in-germany/ 

Article by Tim (German) about the new legal rules:

Neue Gesetze wegen Corona-Krise - was ändert sich? https://buff.ly/2xltPp4 

Our ScopeEverything we discuss here only holds true in GERMANY since Startuprad.io is focused here. The rules, laws, and regulations do not apply anywhere else. 

Give us FeedbackReach 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 

Find the host here:

Jörn “Joe” Menninger [email protected] / Twitter  / LinkedIn / Video Interview (2018)

Keep in mind, there are many people out there looking for help AND THERE WILL BE SCAMMERS, so validate your sources, start from associations and government pages. Be wary of potential scams. 

There is an explicit warning on the official portal for insolvency filings in Germany - Insolvenzbekanntmachungen https://buff.ly/2J7RM62 

Normal insolvency filings and proceedingsReasons for insolvencyInsolvency / IlliquidityImminent illiquidity (time frame unclear)Overextension, you have more depth than assets Insolvency applicationExamination of applicationOpening of insolvency proceedings 

Upfront tax payments / prepaid taxes https://www.sapling.com/8419090/prepaid-taxes 

Shareholder loans https://www.financierworldwide.com/shareholder-loans-under-german-insolvency-law#.Xno2T4hKhhE 

Special about this situation with Covid19, as of March 2020Here is the link to the current bill/draft law on the homepage of the German Federal Ministry of Justice https://www.bmjv.de/SharedDocs/Gesetzgebungsverfahren/DE/FH_AbmilderungFolgenCovid-19.html

Content:

Under certain conditions, there is no obligation to file for insolvency until September 30th, 2020. 

There is a restriction for termination of rental contracts (think offices)

There is also relaxation for decision making for legal entities 

⇒ Talk to your lawyer about it!

The Video Interview (published March 24th)