Alex Schlicher, founder of My Football Space, joins Startuprad.io. After nearly two decades in consulting, Schlicher followed a passion and built a platform to connect football fans with clubs globally.

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Why this episode matters: Football has the world's biggest fan base and surprisingly thin direct fan-to-club connection. My Football Space is a bet on owning that relationship at global scale.

In this episode, we cover:

• How My Football Space connects fans with clubs globally
• Alex Schlicher's move from consulting to founder
• Building direct fan-to-club relationships
• Why football fandom is a global opportunity

Related episodes: SleevesUp! Sees a bright future as coworking space in tier 2 and tier 3 cities · &Charge Just Raised Seed Funding to Help Online Shoppers Fight Global Warming.

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

If you are building in sports tech, fan engagement, or community platforms, partner with Startuprad.io.

Tangany offers a white-label custody solution for crypto assets — the regulated infrastructure that lets banks and businesses hold digital assets securely without building it themselves.

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Why this episode matters: Custody is the unglamorous but essential backbone of institutional crypto. White-label infrastructure like Tangany's is how traditional players enter the space.

In this episode, we cover:

• What white-label crypto custody means
• How Tangany lets banks and businesses hold digital assets
• The regulatory and security stakes of custody
• Why infrastructure is a defensible crypto play
• The path to institutional adoption

Related episodes: AI Phone Assistants: Revolutionizing SME Customer Service · From Nightlife to AI Accounting: Inside Sequence ERP.

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

If your company is building or adopting digital-asset infrastructure, partner with Startuprad.io.

The January 2021 roundup of German startup news — the fundings, deals, and developments that opened the year for the ecosystem.

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Why this episode matters: Monthly roundups are the pulse of the ecosystem. This one captures where German capital and momentum sat at the start of 2021.

In this episode, we cover:

• The notable German fundings and deals of January 2021
• Ecosystem developments to open the year
• Sectors drawing early investor attention
• What the period signaled for founders
• How the moment fits the broader DACH story

Related episodes: AI Employees, Not Assistants: ADA AI's Back-Office Bet · Fiskaly: Scaling Cloud Fiscal Compliance to 1M+ POS.

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

If your fund or company tracks German startup activity, partner with Startuprad.io.

Insurtech startup Clark raised an $85M US round backed by Tencent — a conversation with Clark's CEO on building a digital insurance manager and scaling with heavyweight backing.

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Why this episode matters: Big strategic backers change a startup's trajectory. Clark's raise is a case study in scaling insurtech with global capital.

In this episode, we cover:

• What Clark's digital insurance manager does
• The $85M round and Tencent's backing
• How heavyweight investors change a startup's path
• Scaling insurtech in a regulated market
• Lessons for founders raising strategic capital

Related episodes: Why Europe’s Venture Capital Needs a Mindset Reboot | Andy Goldstein · Flow State for Startup Founders: Deep Work That Actually Ships.

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

If your company is building insurtech or digital financial services, partner with Startuprad.io.

Startuprad.io meets CommneX, a marketplace for public finances — connecting the municipal and public-sector borrowers and lenders who move some of the least-digitised money in the economy.

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Why this episode matters: Public-sector finance is huge, slow, and largely offline. CommneX's marketplace approach brings transparency and efficiency to a corner of finance most fintechs ignore.

In this episode, we cover:

• How CommneX builds a marketplace for public finances
• Connecting public-sector borrowers and lenders
• Digitising one of finance's most analog corners
• Why public finance is a fintech opportunity

Related episodes: A Look in the German Esports Market with GAMERS ACADEMY (Bonus) · Billie brings - Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) - to the B2B Market.

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

If you are building fintech for the public sector or institutional finance, partner with Startuprad.io.

In an annual transatlantic tradition with Chris in New York, Startuprad.io reviews the year in German startups — looking back at 2020 and forward into the year ahead.

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Why this episode matters: Year-in-review episodes distil twelve turbulent months into the signals that actually mattered. This one captures how German startups navigated an extraordinary 2020.

In this episode, we cover:

• A full-year review of German startups in 2020
• A transatlantic look back and ahead
• The trends that defined the year
• What to watch heading into the next

Related episodes: Fintech & Finance Review 2025: AI Risk Becomes Banking · Fintech Review 2021 – Germany, Austria And Switzerland (GSA).

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

If your fund or company tracks the German startup ecosystem, partner with Startuprad.io.

Epap.App wants to reinvent receipts — replacing paper with digital receipts that are easier to store, search, and act on for consumers and retailers alike.

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Why this episode matters: Paper receipts are wasteful and useless after purchase. Digitizing them creates value for shoppers, retailers, and the planet.

In this episode, we cover:

• The problem with paper receipts
• How Epap.App digitizes the receipt
• Value for consumers and retailers
• The sustainability angle of going paperless
• The opportunity in retail and consumer fintech

Related episodes: Flow State for Startup Founders: Deep Work That Actually Ships · Biocomputing: The Future of AI with Fred Jordan.

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

If your startup is building consumer fintech or retail technology, partner with Startuprad.io.

Meet Bitbond, the Berlin-based fintech behind Germany's first regulated security token offering — pioneering how companies raise capital using blockchain-based, regulated digital securities.

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Why this episode matters: Tokenized securities could reshape how capital is raised and traded. Being first through the regulatory door is a meaningful edge.

In this episode, we cover:

• What a regulated security token offering is
• How Bitbond pioneered Germany's first STO
• The promise of tokenized securities
• Navigating regulation at the frontier of finance
• The opportunity in blockchain-based capital markets

Related episodes: How to Start a Company in Germany — The LegalTech & Fintech Revolution · Fintech & Finance Review 2025: AI Risk Becomes Banking.

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

If your company is building tokenized securities or blockchain finance, partner with Startuprad.io.

DueDash wants to help startups become investable — combining readiness tools with a network that connects founders to potential investors, so raising is less of a black box.

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Why this episode matters: Many good startups fail to raise simply because they're not 'investor-ready.' Tools and networks that close that gap widen access to capital.

In this episode, we cover:

• What 'investable' really means to investors
• How DueDash helps founders get ready to raise
• Connecting startups with the right investors
• Common gaps that sink fundraises
• The opportunity in fundraising infrastructure

Related episodes: Can EU Inc Become Europe's Delaware? · Why Europe’s Venture Capital Needs a Mindset Reboot | Andy Goldstein.

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

If your founder is preparing to raise or building fundraising tools, partner with Startuprad.io.

The 2020 year-end Fintech Review, an annual tradition since 2014. IBM thought leader, Amazon best-selling author and podcaster Paolo Sironi, fintech veteran and multi-bank supervisory board member Frank Schwab, and Luka Ivicevic look back at a defining year for banking and neobanks — from Ant Financial to the Google Pay relaunch — and each guest’s top fintech news of the year. Part of Startuprad.io’s annual Fintech Review — the year-end DACH fintech talkshow Jörn “Joe” Menninger has hosted since 2014, published just before Christmas to close the year and carry the community through the holidays.

Full article, links, and sources:

Why this matters for fintech: 2020 reshaped who owns the customer in finance. This review captures the neobank surge and Big Tech’s deepening push into payments through the eyes of the scene’s leading voices.

In this episode, we cover:

• Paolo Sironi, Frank Schwab, and Luka Ivicevic on 2020
• Banking and neobanks in a defining year
• Ant Financial and the Google Pay relaunch
• Each guest’s top fintech news of the year
• Where banking and payments were heading into 2021

Related fintech episodes: DACH Fintech Review 2021 · DACH Fintech Review 2024.

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

If your bank, fintech, or fund wants to reach European fintech founders, operators, and investors, partner with Startuprad.io.