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Hello and welcome back to our regular Startup news from the startup and
tech entrepreneur scenes in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. This now is
the day deep dive of our Startup News. It's the
second part of our monthly news coverage. Our startup news
is recorded with Joe joining from
Frankfurt. Hey guys. And me
still in my hotel room in Hanover. And still because
we basically finished recording the first episode three minutes ago. Which
you don't know because for you it's a couple of days later. Except
if in the app you were listening to it after one after another and then
also for you it's a couple of minutes later. Time is nothing
but a construct. Today's News cut is October
27th. As always, all news not included will be in our next news wrap up
to be published November 27th. Coming to you for
Thanksgiving Day. Welcome Back to part
two of the October 2025 startup
coverage. In part one we looked at
some billion euro stories, NTEL 700 million climate tech
financing tubules, record breaking 308 million series
and N8N's 180 million euro automation
round. We saw deep l edging towards an
IPO in the US quantum systems targeting a 3 billion
valuation and in general we saw defense
tech gaining momentum across the DACH region.
Now part two is looking at
topics like where industrial AI meets energy
optimization, where sovereign infrastructure takes shape
underneath or below the radius radar, beneath the radar. And
we see athletic Series a extension with Microsoft's M12
Nexus has AI's 30
million euro raise to build Europe's Switzerland for
LLMs and a series of strategic mid stage financing in
robotics, compliance and automation. So because
in October 2025 the story isn't who raised the biggest
check, but who's building the most defensible foundation
for the next innovation cycle on the continent. Before
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code blackfriday20 now back to the
show where I'll tell you a little bit about housekeeping and type to
brag. I actually found it pretty good
to write subsect notes because they they are somewhere between
a Twitter X post and a long
LinkedIn post, but actually only to the people who really
subscribe to you. And I've been writing a lot of those
substack notes. For example about the handoff of Alep
Alpha CEO via how Heilbronn is building
it into an AI powerhouse backed by the billionaire behind the
retail giant Lille Kaufland. And about the stock
fiber connecting buildings in Germany with one of the major companies
here cutting back and letting people go. This
time I take over from Chris the Ecosystem
let's talk about the world. Crunch based data shows AI.
No surprise here and data infrastructure are dominating global
Q3 2025 VC deals with Europe
share with Europe's share climbing amid US
lowdown for their founders, the cycle favors deep tech
value chains over consumer apps. Let's
jump a little bit into Europe. Business Insider could not
see the notes. Europe's mobility startup recently
outraised their U.S. peer, signaling strong
investor conviction in EV, micro mobility and logistics.
Given Dach's OEM Tier 1 base, this
capital can accelerate pilots and joint venture
commercialization in the region. Also,
EU founders urged Brussels to cut startup
bureaucracy totally in favor of that. Arguing red tape
hinders scale versus US and Asia and slows capital formation.
Timely as Europe crafts its startup scale up
agenda. Dach policy shifts here would directly
affect talent, visas, stock option rules and
late stage financing. You can learn more on
Hans Butt and our friends at Tech EU list
Q3 2025's largest European seed
droughts spotlighting again deep tech and AI. No
surprise there I think going to Germany Here our
old friend the IFO Business Climate index rose to
88.4 points in October 2025,
up from 87.7 in September,
signaling a modest but consistent recovery in
sentiment across German. Also,
Germany's Made for Germany initiative announced 735
billion in planned investments, spending, infrastructure, energy
and tech. Chris is already shaking his head. I think it's a
lot of reclassification of already planned investments. That
and I mean those numbers. Nothing means anything
anymore. I'm sorry I sound like a very old
person, but okay, sure,
€735 billion. Chris, I do believe
we're Both old an echo Arthur D. Little study warns
Germany's Internet economy is booming, but data center capacity
could become the bottleneck. The Frankfurt
Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung, one of the largest papers in Germany.
FAZ says Germany startup scene sees opportunity
and US turmoil but still faces
competitiveness and financing hurdles, implying a window
to capture talent customers if domestic
reforms land. Katharina Reiche
CDU outlines a scale up agenda Deutschland v
Startup factories and deeper capital markets union also
Germany's startup monitor we'll dive deeper into that
of course shows every second startup touches AI
underscoring the dominance in product roadmaps and investor
thesis. Business Insider outlined eight
urgent actions the German government must take
to to boost startups from tax simplification
to stock option reform and procurement access, handing over
to. Austria and Chris yes Reploid joined the
Guards based pet food company Herozan, signaling
continued angel and strategic interest in Austrian
alternative protein ventures. And there are large
fundraisings to report from Asia from
Austria later in the news and also some monster funding
for Swiss startups as well. Stay tuned and I was
given like I was dealt a bad hand with this part because
we're already back to you. Oh Chris, don't worry. Go ahead,
do some news. I take over Deep Tech yes so.
VC news and new funds. In case you are looking for money, it's always
a section a well liked section of the
podcast. So Chris come on admitted you only want to
have it because it's sexy. I want money.
Money make it rain. FTD reports a
slowdown in private equity deals through the first half of
2025amid high rates and valuations. That
means longer exit timelines and tougher secondary markets for founders in the
Dach region. EQT Ventures, it's the startup
arm of Sweden's private equity giant, saw key personnel
departures raising questions about their long term Dach investment
continuity and now
portfolio founders there are watching whether the reshuffle is signaling strategic
slowdown in late stage funding. Handel's blood reports
LP withdrawals and fundraising stress across European
VC funds as interest rate regimes shift.
Austrian VC Calm Storm Ventures
closed a 30 million euro health tech fund
to back early stage well being and digital medicine startups
Lifeline ventures launched a 400 million euro fund
six in the VI and the Latin
VI for six, one of northern Europe's largest early stage
vehicles targeting AI, climate and frontier tech.
That is good news for daft founders seeking cross Nordic syndicates.
468 Capital's future looks uncertain after leadership
turbulence, says Manager magazine In general,
stirring debate about continuity at one of Germany's flagships investors
Sequoia is hiring aggressively in Europe, signaling long term commitment
to the region's AI and infra plays. IBB
Ventures announced the B Sharp fund
so B not be just B and then
sharp with 10
million euros adding fresh early stage capital to Berlin's ecosystem
probably, well, most likely with the focus on software, AI and climate tech
specs capital launched 100 million euro health tech fund Back in
clinical grade digital health across Europe,
Maya Ventures unveiled 55 million
euros for an agro agri food tech fund
spotlighting EU priorities from soil to shelf.
And that's it with the sexy part of the show.
But that's a lie because I'm giving it back to you.
We have to admit it's after 10. I really
had to laugh Chris over here when you said you're still
wide awake and you had the agro food checkpoint
here. Yeah, I'm very agro. Anyway,
Deep Tech News Alep Alpha founder Junas and
truly stepped down as CEO, marking a leadership
shift at Germany's flagship A ICE company
that actually is no surprise to everybody who has followed our
continuous coverage of Alabalpha. FHZ again warns of
a growing dispute around next period as EU and
German officials weigh export controls on system
relevant chips. By the way, that's a chip company in the
Netherlands taken over control by the Dutch government
and they are responsible for a lot of chips for
the automotive industry. So that means that can lead to production
stops at OEM and automotive companies.
But the thing is, the company is owned by, I do believe, a Chinese
investor. Chris okay, yeah,
talking about defense tech news here. The news piece only makes it
into the defense tech news and not in the headlines because not a lot of
funds will go to startups. Defense Minister
Pistorius announces 3.5 billion space
security budget launching Germany's Space Architecture
initiative to boost satellite resilience and dual use R
and D. Helsing AI unveiled its
CA1 combat drone veteran
VC Uwe Hostman has become CEO of
Stark defense tech startup while he continues to
serve as an active investor.
Let's go a little bit to Chris and the biotech news.
Biotech Fortra the Else Kroener Fresenius
foundation launched funding of up to 4 million euro to
support GMP manufacturing for new gene and cell
therapies. Also a topic we're talking about quite often here.
Bridging translational teams toward first in human readiness,
Heartbeat Bio and Behringer
Ingelheim formed a cardiomyopathy
focused gene therapy alliance
leveraging organoid discovery. It's another
Austria, Germany access validating the
cardiotherapeutics pipeline in the region.
Yeah, I may say that cardiomyopathy is basically when
a part of the heart is not really properly functioned. Very
serious condition there is. And then Biontech,
still famous from the COVID vaccine
and with deep pockets of money that
make sure that they might acquire Curevac, which was
also a player in the COVID vaccination field.
That is the German competition
authority Bundeskartelamt allowed them to
acquire it. And so the green light here has been reported
consolidating Germany's
mRNA, IP and talent pipeline.
Now looking forward, it's less Covid obviously and it's
more oncology that they are looking into. We
already talked about the potential deal in last month's news and now it's moving
closer to a final close. And
if this part now has been all the fireworks
right now, we will still move on with the
aftershock that moves markets. Right after the break we will unpack
the quiet power plays of October. Microsoft and 12
backing analytics, Nexus, AI,
robotics and defense. We see an IE4 uptick and
735 billion euros for the made for Germany plan.
All of this after the break. Stay tuned. Taking over from Chris
here now with the fintech news, sifted reports.
Scalable capital, originally a
broker ETF ETF saving,
ETF savings plan ETF platform from Munich has
obtained a banking license allowing direct deposit and
lending service beyond investment accounts sum ups.
German founders are preparing a potential IPO underscoring
the maturity in Europe payment payments and
expanding the public tech peer group. A
managed magazine comparison shows revolut
now surpassing N26 in Germany by user count
and transaction volumes. The result intensifies
competition in your banking and precious N26
long delayed profitability push
green tech. Eins Kommer filed a competition
complaint with the EU accusing the German government of
disadvantaging distributed energy players
through subsidy design. Chris, you want to do
some general news? Yes, let's ride.
Let's gallop through some of the general news.
Unternementum, which kind of is like the German word for
entrepreneurship but is also wordplay because the
untanema is also like the founder. And Tum Tum is also
the technical University of Munich
Techno like the engineering
university there. Anyway, Unternemetum's women's startup initiative
launched a dedicated program to increase female founder representation
across Munich's innovation ecosystem. They're
offering mentorship, funding, access and visibility. Six
German billionaires to know is an article that is
on can be found at Business Insider. It's a little primer that
reinforces the concentration of private capital shaping later stage
deals and industrial pivots. Bitcoin
reports two thirds of Germans want public sector applications
handled by AI, indicating broad openness among
German citizens for automation in administration.
So I mean going back to what you said, like, I mean everyone likes the
claim that bureaucracy will be like red tape might
be cut, bureaucracy might. Be reduced and actually the big
advantage would be you could do your filings also Saturday
evening from the couch when you just have time, the AI
processes it and says okay, you're good. Sure,
in a perfect world. Germany's antitrust office
opened proceedings against Temu,
scrutinizing their potential abuses in online retail marketplace
and D2C startups in D should
watch remedies that might reshape acquisition and pricing dynamics
on the trading platform. Reports indicate Meta and
Apple are nearing an EU antitrust settlement related to
DMI DMA issues potentially clarifying the store
and data use rules. Half of Germans
now read ebooks says bitcon, signaling
durable digital content demand. And a new study
in Forschung und Lehrer Research
and teaching found that 87%
of German startup founders hold university degrees, underlining the
lining the academic bias in the dark region's
entrepreneurial pipeline. So yeah, that's it with the general
news now some creative destruction before we end on
a high note. Let's do this fast. Heidelberg Pharma
announces layoffs and pipeline cuts to conserve cash
and refocused highlighting public biotech
cyclicity and the shift towards partner first
development in Dach Mini based startup Fan
right that recently closed a multi million round
is laying off 60% of its staff highlighting the fund
versus sustainability tension as investors
demand unit economic discipline. Sad news
about our former guest Forzheim based Casablanca
AI once featured in Hula Deluven has
fight for insolvency amid tightening SAS
margins and Chris, you want to end on a high note? I think
there there's a lot. Maybe you just skim the highlights.
Exactly. I mean as always we always say it. Keep in mind this is a
small selection. This is just a couple of news where companies were able to
attract some money and let me rattle off some of those
energy vault raised US$300 million to
build and operate gravity and battery based energy storage assets
worldwide. Switzerland's Eco Robotics
now totals 128 million euros to scale AI
guided precision spraying that cuts chemicals and cost.
It's an agritech export not an agrotech export
as we have learned, Xeric's
Anybotics lifted total their total funding beyond
127 million euros to scale its X
certified any mal inspection robotics
for oil, gas, utilities and heavy industries
Deal monitor says that high impulse that is H Y
impulse 45 million euros BEES and
bears 5 million euros plus Lilium asset sales
highlights Aerospace restructuring Evidence of a
capital flowing to space in early climate plays in the
dark region Inspired in Vienna not
inspired but inspired with an E in the beginning
extended its series B to 40 million euros fueling
AI powered power market trade trading.
RBO From Germany raised $36 million
in a Series A funding round to build an AI native holiday
rental platform. Dash Zero, a German
AI native observability startup secured US$35
million in Series A funding to make monitoring for MLA
and data workload simpler and self healing.
RBO From Germany raised 31 million euros Desk
Bird from Zangalin closed a
23.3 million euro Series B funding
round pitching hybrid work orchestration tools that optimize office
use and employee
experienced
a 16 million euro Series A LED
by Axelio Capital Green Tech Industry Fund to scale
bacterial cellulose based biodegradable alternatives to
microplastics including even a German production site. So that's an
interesting founding story. Bastion Bastion
closed a strategic Fundraise reported as
$14.6 million to expand enterprise grade stablecoin
infrastructure. Cartos raised 40 million
euros in a series A to build Europe's compliance
desk automating all those pesky
standards that you've heard about. GDPR ESO,
NIS2EU AIX for
SMEs and scale ups. Part space secured around
13 million euro to build a European marketplace for factory spare parts.
Kiyutra from Munich K I U T r A
secured 13 million euros to expand Cryogen
free cooling systems enabling quantum and deep tech research and development.
Stratif AI Strat not Stratify but
Stratif AI raised 12.5 million euros
led by Picos Capital to scale its Polaris AI
biomarker platform. Kloken for Munster
secured 10 million euros in a series A
funding to expand its digital time tracking so it's not your
clocking in but your clot clock in without the
g in the end and Scantinal
Photonics from ULM announced a new strategic investor to save it from
insolvency in order to accelerate their long range leader for
autonomous driving. Especially
important since Ulm is in V in southwestern
Germany which is also kind of the birthplace of the automobile.
That's it with the exit rounds. And now just a tiny bit
M and A before we wrap it up. Yes, sifted reports a
Fintech and M and a comeback with strategics
buying AI native and vertical finance
platforms. Funke Digital acquired
kitchen stories from BH Exp panning its content
and commerce play in food media. Neura
Robotics near Stuttgart announced the takeover of EK Robotics,
creating a European automation powerhouse across
AI cobots and intra logistics
Deuts. Agen, known as a very traditional producer of
tractors, is expanding into defense manufacturing through
a new partnership signaling diversification of
Germany's traditional industry base into dual use technology.
Chris, there is still a lot stay ahead of the curve but I think
we're done for the month, don't you think? Yeah, yeah, I
feel behind the Curve. 24 pages of startup news
pressured into your brain via our voices in
less than one hour in two episodes. Guys, it was
a pleasure. Thank you very much. Leave us feedback. How you like it, what
we can do better. And yes, we'll try our best to
read our scripts better but actually cut us some slack, please.
Please. It' now almost. It's now
almost 23 hours here and we're both
tired. Sometimes you need to cut a corner to stay
ahead of the curve. Totally, guys.
Be back on Thanksgiving. Bye bye. Bye bye.
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