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In this episode of Startuprad.io, host Jörn "Joe" Menninger interviews Michael Duttlinger from Cashlink. They discuss the importance of transparency with shareholders and how communication is key during a pivot. Cashlink, a leading registrar for tokenized securities in Germany, aims to disrupt the securities market and provide a more cost-efficient and transparent alternative to traditional intermediaries. They recently raised €7 million in a fundraising round and are collaborating with major financial institutions in Germany. Cashlink is focused on growth, acquiring new issuers and clients, and building its regulated financial institution to support the growing market for tokenized securities in Germany.

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This recording was made possible by HTAI and the Enterprise Europe Network Hessen. These organizations have made tremendous contributions to helping startup businesses succeed and thrive, providing a range of services from helping to find grants to ongoing partnerships. By taking advantage of these resources, startup companies can network and develop innovative strategies for success on the international stage. The dedicated support of HTAI and the Enterprise Europe Network Hessen is paramount in providing startup businesses with the tools for lasting success. Learn more here: https://www.htai.de/ and https://www.een-hessen.de/

• How has transparency played a role in Cashlink's relationship with shareholders? 
• In what ways did the communication with shareholders intensify during the pivot period?  How does Cashlink differentiate itself from traditional infrastructure providers such as Clearstream Banking Frankfurt? 
• What benefits does tokenization bring to participants in the securities market? 
• How has Germany's progressive regulation for tokenization contributed to the growth of Cashlink and the ecosystem as a whole? 
• What challenges did Cashlink face during its pivot from a fintech for money transfers to a tokenization market focus? 
• How did Cashlink navigate investor and stakeholder concerns during the pivot period? 
• How does increased competition in the tokenization market disrupt the traditional securities market and benefit investors? 
• What role does automation play in making securities handling more cost-efficient and creating new investment opportunities? 

Michael Duttlinger, the founder of Cashlink, started his fintech journey with a typical garage story reminiscent of those heard in Silicon Valley.

https://blog.startuprad.io/revolutionizing-securities-exploring-tokenization-and-transparency-with-cashlink-e-403-f655217533fc

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Welcome to our October 2023 wrap-up with vital news from the startup scenes in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in 30 minutes or less 🙂.

This time we wrap up October 2023 in our 400th episode!

Our startup news are recorded with Chris today in Germany and Joe in Frankfurt. The recording date is October 25th and all news not included will be in our next news to be released on November 30th.

This time we made more cuts to our news here. We hope you like the lighter version of it. If you think we cut too much, feel free to let us know.

For everyone who celebrates it: Happy Halloween AAAAAAAAAAAAAAND Happy Thanksgiving!

BioNTech is a very special case in Germany, but now one of their former Senior Vice Presidents (Katalin Karikó, has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine 2023 for her research in mRNA). Two German companies IPOed (yes, no startups, but still a good sign). Solar startup Nexwafe starts 120 M € funding, Black Semiconductor from Aachen is looking to raise 500 M €, and there is bad news about the former unicorn Infarm.

Let's talk startups:

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

This recording was made possible by HTAI and the Enterprise Europe Network Hessen. These organizations have made tremendous contributions to helping startup businesses succeed and thrive, providing a range of services from helping to find grants to ongoing partnerships. By taking advantage of these resources, startup companies can network and develop innovative strategies for success on the international stage. The dedicated support of HTAI and the Enterprise Europe Network Hessen is paramount in providing startup businesses with the tools for lasting success. Look for our dedicated sub-podcast in partnership with them: Tech Startups Germany on our https://linktr.ee/startupradio

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BioNTech is a very special case in the German startup world. During corona, they have been assumed to be responsible for 0.5% of GDP growth of all of Germany, one of the five largest economies in the world. Now they have another very unique distinction: A former Senior Vice President (2013–2022) of the company Katalin Karikó, has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine 2023 for her research in mRNA. Congratulations to her, being the 13th woman to have won a Nobel prize in medicine, she is sharing the prize with Drew Weissman.

Freiburg, Germany-based solar startup Nexwafe starts new funding, aiming for 120 m € in Venture Capital at a valuation of up to 500 M €

Aachen, Germany-based chip startup Black Semiconductor about to close large funding of 500 M €, with up to 70% of government funding. The founders are looking to develop a new way to connect elements on semiconductors but may need up to 7 years for the...

Executive Summary

In today's episode, we have a very special guest joining us, Christian Rebernik, CEO & Co-Founder of Tomorrow University. We'll dive into Christian's journey, from his early days as a CTO of companies like Scout24 Group, dating Website Parship, World Food Program, bwin, or N26 to his current role in shaping the next generation of banking and now building a next-generation university. We'll explore how he's bridging the gap between technology and education, revolutionizing the way we learn and empowering future change-makers. Stay tuned for an engaging and enlightening conversation on the innovation landscape, the role of online learning, and the power of meaningful connections in business and personal relationships. Let's get started!

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This recording is supported by HTAI and the Enterprise Europe Network Hessen

This recording was made possible by HTAI and the Enterprise Europe Network Hessen. These organizations have made tremendous contributions to helping startup businesses succeed and thrive, providing a range of services from helping to find grants to ongoing partnerships. By taking advantage of these resources, startup companies can network and develop innovative strategies for success on the international stage. The dedicated support of HTAI and the Enterprise Europe Network Hessen is paramount in providing startup businesses with the tools for lasting success. Look for our dedicated sub-podcast in partnership with them: Tech Startups Germany on our https://linktr.ee/startupradio

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The Founder

Christian is the CEO and Co-Founder of Tomorrow University. He is a CTO with a strong technical background, but his key strength lies in his ability to understand and leverage technology for business growth. Christian believes that it is crucial for developers to have a clear understanding of the customer's needs and the reasons behind the work they do. In his past experiences, he noticed the negative impact of treating developers as mere "coding monkeys" without involving them in customer interactions. This motivated him to establish Tomorrow University, where developers are encouraged to engage with customers and align their work with business objectives. Christian's mission is to bridge the gap between business and technology, empowering developers to make a meaningful impact through their work.

The Startup

What sets Tomorrow University (https://www.tomorrow.university/) apart from its competition is its unique approach to learning. They have developed a cutting-edge learning model that emphasizes real-world challenges and hands-on experiences, taking students out of their comfort zones.

All Links and Show Notes Here is our blog post: https://medium.com/startuprad-io/from-cto-of-n26-to-founding-a-non-profit-online-university-startuprad-io-0e68274207aa

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Welcome to our summer 2023 wrap-up with vital news from the startup scenes in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in 30 minutes or less 🙂.

This time we wrap up September 2023. There have been a lot of news sad (insolvencies, final closures, …), but also good ones (expansions, fundings, …) that we just had to make a selection in order not to bore you to death.

Our startup news is recorded with Chris live in New York City and Joe in Frankfurt. The recording date is September 26th and all news not included will be in our next news to be released on October 26th.

Our Highlights:

We track close to 500 mn Euros in newly announced investments in GSA. We have the first defense tech unicorn in Berlin and a lot of great news from Greentech startups in Germany. Some proptechs are not doing well, but not all startups associated with construction are performing poorly, as shown by the fundraising from Schüttfix. Long-distance trucking gets more autonomous with FERNRIDE and some bank news: Deutsche Bank uses Swiss DLT startup Taurus' technology and we learn more about JP Morgan's retail offering in Germany. Unicorn Flix already hired banks for their IPO in H1 next year. We also keep you updated on the bank holidays in Germany in the next weeks.

Let's talk startups:

Find all links and show notes here: https://medium.com/startuprad-io/this-month-in-german-swiss-and-austrian-gsa-startups-september-2023-startuprad-io-e-397-40c9c7b5fa2c

Welcome to our summer 2023 wrap-up with vital news from the startup scenes in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in around 30 minutes sometimes less 🙂.

This time we wrap up July and August. We came up with the summer news because the September news has always been very long, overcrowded, and covered 3 months. That was a bit too much of a break and too much news in one piece. So we looked to wrap up summer and since the US is an important market and Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer it seems like a good fit.

This summer has been a bit different and there has been a lot of news, so we focus more on the most recent ones and we have cut a lot of news here.

For everybody in the US who celebrates it: Happy Labor Day!

Find all links to the quoted news on our Medium blog: https://medium.com/startuprad-io/this-month-in-german-swiss-and-austrian-gsa-startups-summer-2023-july-august-episode-fdb709d89fbd

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Binance has not - yet - gotten permission to operate in Germany from BaFin, Nextwind raises 750 m US$, Bitpanda surpasses 1 M customers in Germany and Germany sets a new record in new founders. We also shared that SAP wants to invest in Aleph Alpha, they confirmed this and two more.

Germany's law for legalizing cannabis falls short of the expectations of cannabis entrepreneurs. Europe dominates climate fintech funding and the overall fintech funding shows a sign of life. Bafin also stopped mini VC investments - trashing the business model of some fintechs - AND we found newly closed VC funds in excess of 2.8 bn US$ that are open to European founders.

This recording is supported by HTAI and the Enterprise Europe Network Hessen

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Fintech blog Finance Forward reports German finance oversight BaFin signals no license for Binance for Germany. So they can neither advertise nor expand in Germany. To be clear, this is not a final NO, but rather a "Binance keeps trying, but BaFin signaled a No"

Wind Energy in Germany: StartUp Nextwind raises 750 M US$ Venture Capital investors include Sandbrook Capital, Canadian funds Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments), and Imco

Surpasses 1 million customers in Germany alone https://buff.ly/44mMyKP it is not sure how many of them are really active, but that is always a tough question, even for the startups. But the question is important since one only makes money with active users.

Despite the current economic situation, Germany has the highest share of founders in 24 years!!! According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Germany had a larger than 9% founder quota, meaning people from 18–64 who (co) founded a new business within the last 3,5 years (Young...

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Find all blog posts with all the links on our blog https://medium.com/startuprad-io/navigating-the-insurtech-landscape-thinksurances-rise-in-the-digital-insurance-era-startuprad-io-1555e1d35e0a

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In this episode of Startuprad.io, our guest is Florian Brokamp, CEO and Co-Founder of Thinksurance. Brokamp discusses the positive economic state of the company, the importance of smart investors analyzing macroeconomic trends, and the growing industries of AI and insurtech. He emphasizes the stability of the insurance industry and the need for digitalization. He shares insights on their fundraising journey and the different parts of their company's offerings. Florian also highlights the importance of proper risk valuation, data transparency, and providing value to distributors, customers, and insurers. Overall, Thinksurance's vision is to connect insurance carriers, distributors, and customers through its technology platform.

How did Thinksurance navigate the fundraising process and secure funding for their business?

What were some of the challenges Thinksurance faced during the fundraising process, and how did they overcome them?

How does Thinksurance differentiate itself in the B2B commercial insurance space in Germany?

How does Thinksurance use data to address the lack of transparency in the insurance industry?

What is the importance of properly pricing risks in the insurance industry, according to Thinksurance?

How does Thinksurance define their target user and how do they cater to the needs of different types of users?

How has Thinksurance's market coverage and relevance increased through onboarding large associations and brokers?

How does Thinksurance aim to streamline the consultation process and provide value to distributors, customers, and insurers?

What is Thinksurance's approach to hiring and maintaining a strong company culture?

How does Thinksurance plan to further penetrate sales channels and collaborate with partners to address their digitalization needs?

In this episode, our guest is Florian, the CEO and Co-Founder of Thinksurance, an insurtech startup from Frankfurt, focused on revolutionizing the commercial insurance industry through their technology platform. Throughout the episode, Florian shares insights into the economic landscape, the challenges of fundraising, and the growth potential of industries like AI and insurtech. He highlights the importance of finding investors who believe in the long-term vision and emphasizes the need to update legacy systems in the insurance industry.

Thinksurance is a German insurtech company that provides digital insurance solutions for businesses and brokers. As mentioned by Florian Brokamp, the CEO and Co-Founder of Thinksurance, the company focuses on updating the legacy systems of the insurance industry, enabling a seamless and efficient consultation process between customers, insurers, and brokers. They offer a comprehensive suite of services including core consultation, Consult Direct service, and a data suite that collects and analyzes market...

Welcome to our June 2023 wrap-up with vital news from the startup scenes in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in 30 minutes or less 🙂.

We follow our top-down structure in the news.

Welcome to our startup news wrap-up for June 2023 by Startuprad.io with Chris from New York and Joe from Frankfurt. We recorded this news episode on June 27th, 2023. All news not yet included here will be published in our next news episode. Find all links to the quoted news on our Medium blog link below.

Note: We will now go into the summertime: In July and August we will only publish content every other week AND the next startups news will be our summer wrap-up, to be published on September 4th, in the US celebrated as Labor Day.

1 Komma 5, a Greentech startup, becomes a unicorn after only 23 months. We are wondering if this is the rise of climate tech startups already? Switzerland has a record funding with Teylor of 275 m €. GetYourGuide shows travel tech is back in favor of VCs with 194 m US$ funding. Germany and Intel agree on subsidies and investments for a new mega chip factory worth more than 30 bn Euros. Fernride, a pioneer of autonomous electric trucks, gets a 30 M US$+ Series A funding.

Let’s talk startups:

Hamburg’s 1KOMMA5° has raised €430 million — and just become a unicorn at just 23 months old

Related: 1KOMMA5 buys danish solar company Viasol

Related: 430 mn debt funding

Swiss-based SME lending fintech Teylor raises 275 m Euro, gaining Barclays as a new investor. Other investors include M&G Investments …

GetYourGuide raises $194 million to fuel curated travel experiences and global expansion

Intel, Germany strike record €30B deal for chip mega-factory

FERNRIDE a German pioneer of autonomous, electric trucks, raises 31 M USD in Series A funding

https://medium.com/startuprad-io/this-month-in-german-swiss-and-austrian-gsa-startups-june-2023-episode-388-960515c65b87

Startups, Venture Capital, Unicorn, New Unicorn, Europe, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Scaleups, Tech News, Venture Capital News, Startup News,

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Welcome to our May 2023 wrap-up with important news from the startup scenes in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in 30 minutes or less 🙂.

We follow our top-down structure in the news: First, the top news, then we look with a bird's eye view at the startup ecosystem in the German language countries, dig deeper by looking at exciting startup cities and end with general news. And for those serious about startups, there is even a collection called: "Stay Ahead of the Curve," where we share in-depth reads, articles, studies, and podcasts.

Our next news episode will be published on June 29th, and then we are - for the news - in summer break.

Germany is now officially in a recession, but one with barely any unemployment. Also, we still track many startups going out of business, BUT the overall picture is improving. The German VC and PE Barometer - which captures the mood of many German investors - is showing an uptick. This shows especially in the massive amount of new funds raised; they promise a bright future for startups! We tracked at least 3,4 bn Euros of newly raised funds, which will be invested entirely or partially in startups in Europe and GSA. Look at our medium blog; we have more information on what the investors are looking for and how to pitch them. We also have investments and exits worth at least 5,4 bn Euros and news in this episode, including WeFox, Tier Mobility, Infarm, Blinkist, Bitpanda, Aleph Alpha, Sono Motors, and many more.

Let's talk startups:

Find all links and the other news here: https://medium.com/startuprad-io/this-month-in-german-swiss-and-austrian-gsa-startups-may-2023-episode-385-87fd564d483a

www.startup.radio

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Getir is in talks to take over German grocery app rival Flink | Financial Times

But then: Flink's sale to Getir fell through. Now Flink is raising 150 M € from investors, including grocery giant Rewe and Doordash

European e-scooter giant Tier Mobility maps route to merger

Infarm keeps shrinking and is leaving Europe, reports Handelsblatt. The greenhouse startup reportedly has only 80 employees in Europe left and will get an investment at an unknown valuation for their relocation - likely to the Middle East with low energy prices

Berlin-based startup Blinkist is sold to Australian education startup Go1 for an undisclosed amount, reported to be "hundreds of millions." Blinkist offers short wrap-ups of nonfiction books as text or audio

In this episode, Joe interviews Lukas, co-founder of Minds Medical, and Ingo, senior partner of SYNPULSE. The story follows the pivot of Minds Medical from a healthcare-focused AI startup serving hospitals to its services for fintech/insurtech companies during the COVID-19 pandemic. They also discuss the challenges of extracting structured data from unstructured medical documents and the potential applications of this technology in the insurance industry. The conversation highlights the joint offering of intelligent document processing for the insurance industry and the acquisition process between the two companies.

When Corona hit, all hospitals stopped picking up the phone. So we had to focus all our energy on the insurance product.

Lukas Naab, Founder Minds Medical

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With SYNPULSE8 we are now building a product for the global insurance market.

Lukas Naab, Founder Minds Medical

A startup's journey can be a tough one, but it doesn't have ́to feel like you're alone on your quest! Invest in others' success with us by joining our community of entrepreneurs who are building amazing things every day - no matter how big or small their ideas may seem at first glance.

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This recording was made possible by HTAI and the Enterprise Europe Network Hessen. These organizations have made tremendous contributions to helping startup businesses succeed and thrive, providing a range of services from helping to find grants to ongoing partnerships. By taking advantage of these resources, startup companies can network and develop innovative strategies for success on the international stage. The dedicated support of HTAI and the Enterprise Europe Network Hessen is paramount in providing startup businesses with the tools for lasting success. Learn more here: https://www.htai.de/ and https://www.een-hessen.de/ 

We discovered for example that one large hospital in Germany has more than 200 different forms just to discharge patients. [And there are more than 1.800 different hospitals in Germany]. This amount of unstructured data requires machine learning and AI to be useful.

Lukas Naab, Founder Minds Medical

Lukas is the founder and CEO of Frankfurt-based AI startup Minds Medical. Since the acquisition of Minds Medical he is in the new company the principal product owner for SYNPULSE8. During the outbreak of corona, hospitals had many other things to do and just stopped picking up the phone, all at the same time. So Minds Medical had to focus completely on their insurance product. They eventually decided to join forces with SYNPULSE since they already had a joint offering for disability insurance providers.

Minds Medical was acquired by SYNPULSE, now known as SYNPULSE8. This becomes part of their offering to insurance companies and insurtech startups, active in the healthcare space. The problem these insurers are facing is the sheer amount of unstructured medical data they get bombarded with...

Learn how to acquire competitive advantages in your eCommerce ventures with a buy & build strategy, unlock potential growth and add new capabilities: In this episode, Joe, interviews Peter, the founder of an AI startup called Pythia. Peter discusses his company’s buy-and-build strategy for acquiring e-commerce startups, which involves integrating them into their standardized processes and assigning brand managers or CEOs to oversee them. He also talks about the challenges facing companies in the current market, including rising prices, tighter financing, and more restrictive customers. Peter’s company is looking for profitable e-commerce companies with solid earnings and adjusted earnings, and they plan to continue buying until late 2027, with the goal of reaching €80 million in revenue and €20 million in profit. 

At the day of the publication of this interview, we celebrate in Germany Father’s Day. In Germany, the day is always celebrated on a Thursday, Ascension Day, also a public holiday in Germany, which gives fathers time to celebrate.

Happy Father’s Day!

Note: Mother’s Day is always celebrated on the second Sunday in May in Germany, where we do not publish, so no Mother’s Day episodes exist. Sorry to all mothers, and belated happy Mother’s Day as well! 

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Peter Hart is a young and exceptional entrepreneur. He appeared in Germany’s version of Shark Tank and got a deal for 200.000 Euros as a 25-year-old. Currently, he is not even 35 and already runs 12 brands simultaneously. You can learn more about how he achieves this in the Starting Y interview in the links on the blog post.

He started with a body aftershave brand called Dr. Severin and then went on to develop the software he used to forecast consumer trend tools into the AI startup Pythia. With this, he built and bought several consumer brands and now logically continues this approach by buying up profitable e-commerce shops with Dipq (no website).

Peter has with Pythia a competitive advantage in...