Hamburg, Germany · Startup 1KOMMA5° (named for the 1.5°C climate target) is one of Europe’s fastest-scaling energy transition companies, reaching unicorn status in roughly 21 months. Based in Hamburg, the firm tackles the “last mile” of decarbonization by combining a roll-up acquisition strategy with a software-defined energy platform. Instead of only selling solar panels, 1KOMMA5° acquires local installer businesses across Europe and digitizes them to deliver end-to-end home electrification — solar, batteries, heat pumps, and EV chargers — with consistent quality and financing. The company’s differentiator is Heartbeat, a proprietary energy management system that turns these assets into a virtual power plant. Heartbeat orchestrates when batteries charge or discharge based on real-time spot prices and grid conditions, allowing households to capture savings from dynamic tariffs and to export power during peak demand. In 2025, the system expanded to automated trading of household energy, making “free” electricity periods during windy or sunny hours a tangible consumer benefit. This blending of hardware deployment and energy-software automation allows 1KOMMA5° to capture margin both on installation and on recurring software and energy services. Founder Philipp Schroder (former Tesla country director and Sonnen executive) used his industry network to skip early accelerators, and the company instead embedded itself in the Hamburg Startup City ecosystem. Its acquisition engine is relentless: by buying regional market leaders, it locks in the most scarce resource in the sector — skilled installers — while rapidly expanding geographic reach. By early 2026, 1KOMMA5° had expanded beyond DACH into the Nordics, Spain, and Australia, positioning itself for a cross-continental footprint ahead of a public listing. The company has signaled an IPO-readiness push, backed by record turnover reported for 2024 and an expansion into branded hardware components to increase margin and supply-chain resilience. Its investor base blends strategic and growth capital: Porsche Ventures provided early backing, G2VP brought Silicon Valley cleantech expertise, Eurazeo and eCapital added European growth capital, and Norrsken VC underscored the impact thesis. In 2026, 1KOMMA5° is a case study in how Europe can scale climate tech through operational execution rather than pure technology — a disciplined roll-up with a software heart that turns millions of households into coordinated energy assets.
Startup Growth CleanTechEnergyIoT
Munich, Germany · Startup Agile Robots is a Munich-based robotics company founded in 2018 as a spin-off from the German Aerospace Center (DLR). It builds robots that combine precise force-torque sensing with AI-driven computer vision to handle delicate industrial tasks such as assembly and inspection. Backed by investors including the SoftBank Vision Fund, it manufactures both robotic arms and complete automation systems and is one of Germany's most valuable robotics startups.
Startup Growth RoboticsAIManufacturing
Heidelberg, Germany · Startup Aleph Alpha is a Heidelberg-based artificial intelligence company founded in 2019 that develops large language models and enterprise AI infrastructure with a focus on sovereignty, transparency and data protection for European governments and regulated industries. Its Luminous model family and PhariaAI platform target on-premise and mission-critical deployments. The company raised a large Series B round in 2023 backed by investors including Bosch, SAP and the Schwarz Group.
Startup Growth AIEnterprise SoftwareMachine Learning
Freiburg, Germany · Startup Accelerates cancer immunotherapy development with its HLA-Compass platform, a large quantitative database of HLA peptide presentation. AI-driven analytics predict off-target toxicity and support target discovery for safer, more precise therapies.
Startup BiotechMedTechAIHealthTech
Berlin, Germany · Startup Amorelie was founded in 2013 in Berlin by Lea-Sophie Cramer and Sebastian Pollok as a sexual-wellness e-commerce brand aimed at mainstream, design-conscious consumers. ProSiebenSat.1 began investing in 2014 and acquired a majority stake in 2015, with the company valued at close to €100M by 2018. Both founders had exited management by 2020, and the business was subsequently sold on to the EQOM Group.
Startup Acquired E-commerceSexual WellnessConsumer Goods
Berlin, Germany · Startup Arbio Group is a Berlin-based proptech company that operates an AI-native operating system for managing short-term rentals and serviced apartments across Europe. It combines full-stack property management services with technology to automate core operations including dynamic pricing optimisation, guest communication, accounting, and distribution across booking platforms, while keeping human oversight for hospitality quality. The company has grown partly through strategic acquisitions of existing property-management portfolios, and serves property owners and managers across the DACH region and beyond.
Startup Series A PropTechAISaaS
Munich, Germany · Startup Provides software that helps municipalities plan, coordinate and measure climate-protection efforts, integrating energy and emissions data so urban planners can track progress toward climate-neutrality goals. Works with 40+ German cities.
Startup Pre-seed GovTechClimateTechSaaS
Munich, Germany · Startup ARX Robotics is a Munich-based defence technology company building autonomous mobile robotics and digitalisation platforms for European armed forces, founded by former German Bundeswehr officers. Its products include the Gereon RCS tracked reconnaissance robot, the Hector autonomous wheeled platform, and Mithra OS, a software system for modernising existing military vehicle fleets. The company positions itself around strengthening Europe's technological resilience and sovereignty in defence. In 2025 it expanded its Series A round to a total of 42 million euro, with backers including HV Capital, Omnes Capital, the NATO Innovation Fund, Project A and Speedinvest.
Startup Series A DefenseTechRoboticsAI
Frankfurt, Germany · Startup asgoodasnew is a Frankfurt-based re-commerce platform specializing in professionally refurbished consumer electronics including smartphones, laptops, tablets, and wearables. Founded in 2012, the company offers devices graded by condition with up to 30-month warranties, providing a trusted alternative to buying new. asgoodasnew handles its own refurbishment and quality assurance processes in-house, differentiating it from pure marketplace models. The company has grown steadily in the German and European market and is part of the broader circular-economy movement alongside Back Market and refurbed, helping reduce electronic waste across Europe.
Startup Growth Re-commerceE-commerceCircular Economy
Berlin, Germany · Startup AUTO1 Group is Europe's leading digital automotive platform, founded in Berlin in 2012 by Christian Bertermann and Hakan Koç. The company connects used car buyers and sellers across Europe through its B2B platform AUTO1.com for trade dealers and its B2C brand Autohero for consumers. Listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since 2021 (ticker: AG1), AUTO1 Group has a market capitalisation of approximately €5.5 billion as of May 2026 and employs nearly 7,000 people.
Startup Public AutomotiveMarketplaceE-commerce
Mainz, Germany · Startup BioNTech is a Mainz-based biotechnology company founded in 2008 by Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci, a husband-and-wife team of immunologists, alongside Christoph Huber. Originally focused on individualized mRNA cancer immunotherapies, BioNTech gained global prominence through its partnership with Pfizer to develop one of the first approved COVID-19 vaccines (Comirnaty), which generated tens of billions in revenue. The company is publicly traded on NASDAQ and continues to invest heavily in its oncology pipeline, infectious disease vaccines, and next-generation mRNA therapeutics.
Startup Public BiotechmRNAHealthcare
Freiburg, Germany · Startup Black Forest Labs is a German AI research lab focused on generative visual intelligence, describing itself as a frontier lab for models that understand, reason, and act in the world. It is best known for the FLUX family of image generation models, offered via a playground, an API, and open-weights releases on platforms like Hugging Face and GitHub. The FLUX models have been widely adopted across open-source and enterprise platforms. In December 2025 the company raised a $300M Series B at a $3.25B post-money valuation, co-led by Salesforce Ventures and AMP, with participation from a16z, NVIDIA and others.
Startup Series B AIDeep TechDeveloper Tools
Berlin, Germany · Startup Blockbrain builds private enterprise AI assistants that connect to internal knowledge tools such as Slack, Notion, Google Drive, and email. The platform creates context-aware internal search and answer workflows to reduce information fragmentation and speed up employee access to institutional knowledge.
Startup Early Stage AIEnterprise SoftwareB2B SaaS
Regensburg, Germany · Startup Regensburg-based startup applying neuroplasticity research to music learning, helping adult beginners develop instrumental skills through scientifically-structured daily practice sessions of 20–25 minutes. Its AI adapts lesson pacing to each learner's progress and retention patterns. Raised a €2M seed from HTGF.
Startup Seed EdTechAI
Berlin, Germany · Startup CarOnSale is a Berlin-based B2B digital marketplace for used-car wholesale trading across Europe. Licensed car dealers and OEMs use the platform to list, appraise, auction, buy, and sell used vehicles to professional buyers. Beyond the auction itself, CarOnSale operates an integrated software ecosystem that bundles ancillary services such as vehicle inspections and reports, logistics and transportation, financing, pricing algorithms with guaranteed pricing, and payment processing, aiming to streamline cross-border transactions between dealers. The company is also Mercedes-Benz's partner for marketing lease returns and demonstration vehicles in Europe.
Startup Series C MarketplaceMobilityB2B SaaS
Munich, Germany · Startup Celonis is a Munich and New York-based enterprise software company that pioneered the field of process mining – technology that analyzes a company’s IT event logs to visualize and optimize its business processes. Founded in 2011 by three friends (Alexander Rinke, Bastian Nominacher, and Martin Klenk) out of university in Munich, Celonis bootstrapped in its early years and landed Siemens as a key pilot customer for its process analytics tool. The software proved invaluable in identifying inefficiencies in processes like order-to-cash, procurement, and inventory management. By 2015 Celonis was the leader in this niche, and it partnered with SAP which resold Celonis as SAP Process Mining by Celonis. Venture capital soon followed: Celonis raised $27.5M in 2016 (Series A) then $50M in 2018 (Series B). Its growth was massive – from €1M ARR in 2012 to well over €100M by late 2010s. In 2019, Celonis raised $290M at a $2.5B valuation, making it a unicorn. It wasn’t done: by June 2021, Celonis announced a $1B Series D round valuing it at $11 billion, one of Europe’s largest software funding rounds. And in 2022, Celonis reportedly reached a $13B+ valuation, firmly cementing it among Europe’s most valuable private tech companies. The company’s product evolved into the Celonis Execution Management System (EMS), which not only discovers processes but also suggests and implements improvements (sometimes via RPA bots or triggering workflows). Celonis counts thousands of enterprise customers – including Siemens, BMW, Coca-Cola, Uber – and its software helps them save billions by cutting throughput times, reducing errors, and optimizing resource use. With dual HQs in Munich and New York, Celonis has aggressively expanded in the U.S., competing with companies like IBM’s process mining. The firm is also eyeing an IPO; CEO Rinke has mentioned that Celonis is positioning itself for a public listing when market conditions are right. In the meantime, Celonis keeps growing (estimated $400M+ ARR in 2023) and acquiring smaller tech startups to bolster its platform. Celonis epitomizes the success of enterprise software from Europe – deeply technical, essentially creating a new category, and achieving decacorn status within a decade.
Startup Growth SoftwareData
Berlin, Germany · Startup Choco is a Berlin-based food supply chain platform founded in 2018 by Daniel Khachab, Rogerio Da Silva Yokomizo, and Julian Hammer. The company provides an AI-powered digital ordering and inventory management platform connecting restaurants with food distributors and suppliers, aiming to reduce food waste across the supply chain. Choco reached unicorn status in 2022 with a $1.2 billion valuation and has raised over $300 million in funding from Bessemer Venture Partners, Coatue, and Left Lane. The platform links over 10,000 suppliers with more than 15,000 restaurants across Europe and North America.
Startup Series B Food TechSupply ChainSaaS
Speyer, Germany · Startup Speyer-based deep-tech startup building a SaaS platform for green hydrogen production optimisation and virtual power plant management. Its AI-driven platform helps hydrogen producers manage electrolysers, balance supply and demand, and participate in energy markets. Available on the SAP Store.
Startup CleanTechB2B SaaSAI
Düsseldorf, Germany · Startup Cognigy is a Düsseldorf-based conversational AI company founded in 2016 that builds an enterprise platform for AI agents and voice and chat automation, letting large organisations handle customer service across phone, chat and messaging channels. Its low-code platform integrates with contact-centre systems and large language models. In 2025 Cognigy was acquired by the customer-experience software company NiCE.
Startup Growth AIConversational AICustomer Service
Paderborn, Germany · Startup conmeet offers AI workflow automation for SMB craft and construction businesses. It processes inbound messages from channels such as email and chat, drafts responses, supports scheduling, and streamlines quote preparation so teams can reduce office overhead and focus on delivery work.
Startup Early Stage PropTechConstruction TechAI
Berlin, Germany · Startup Contentful is a headless content management system (CMS) that enables enterprises to manage and deliver digital content across websites, apps, and devices via API. Founded in Berlin, the company serves over 4,000 customers including Spotify, Chanel, and Urban Outfitters. Contentful was valued at $3 billion after its 2021 Series F and is one of Europe's most successful developer-tools companies, bridging content management with modern composable architecture.
Startup Late Stage Enterprise SoftwareDeveloper ToolsSaaS
Tuebingen, Germany · Startup CureVac is a biopharmaceutical company based in Tuebingen, Germany, founded in 2000 as a pioneer in mRNA technology. The company was one of the earliest to explore messenger RNA as a therapeutic platform, long before mRNA became a household term during the COVID-19 pandemic. While its first-generation COVID vaccine candidate underperformed in clinical trials, CureVac pivoted to next-generation mRNA technologies and partnered with GSK on a second-generation COVID vaccine and other infectious disease programs. The company is publicly traded on NASDAQ and continues developing its proprietary mRNA optimization platform.
Startup Public BiotechmRNAHealthcare
Solingen, Germany · Startup Dash0 is an OpenTelemetry-native observability platform for software engineering teams. Because it is built directly on the open OpenTelemetry standard, it ingests logs, metrics, and distributed traces from any stack, vendor, or environment without requiring proprietary agents, positioning this openness as a way to avoid vendor lock-in. The product covers application and infrastructure performance monitoring, log management with filtering and search, distributed tracing, and Kubernetes monitoring. It was founded by Mirko Novakovic, who previously founded the observability company Instana.
Startup Series B Developer ToolsSaaSEnterprise SoftwareAI
Munich, Germany · Startup DeepDrive is the Munich startup that convinced major automakers to rethink the electric motor itself. Its core innovation is a patented dual-rotor motor architecture. In a traditional motor, a single rotor spins inside a fixed stator. DeepDrive's design spins both the internal and external rotor simultaneously, delivering higher torque density and substantially better efficiency. The practical outcome is compelling: EVs can achieve roughly 20% more range with 50% less motor weight, while reducing bill-of-materials costs.
By 2026, DeepDrive has moved beyond impressive prototypes to industrialization. The company has reportedly secured series nominations with eight of the top ten global automakers for platform launches in 2028–2029. That level of OEM validation is rare at this stage and signals confidence in both the performance and manufacturability of the design. The company is now focused on building automated production lines in northern Munich to scale output for fleet testing and pre-series runs.
A particularly strategic application is the in-wheel motor. Because the dual-rotor unit is compact and lightweight, it can fit inside the wheel hub, freeing up interior volume and enabling fully flat skateboard platforms. That creates new possibilities for autonomous shuttles and urban delivery vehicles where maximizing passenger or cargo space is paramount. It also allows for advanced vehicle dynamics such as torque vectoring without complex drivetrain components, improving both safety and handling.
DeepDrive is a classic spin-out from the UnternehmerTUM ecosystem at TU Munich, with early validation support from the XPRENEURS incubator. Its investor base blends strategic automotive capital with deep-tech venture funding: Leitmotif led the Series B, BMW i Ventures provides rare early-stage OEM participation, Continental's corporate VC is a strategic partner for braking and chassis integration, and UVC Partners and Bayern Kapital anchor local support. In 2026, DeepDrive is one of Europe’s most promising hardware deep-tech bets: a motor breakthrough with clear OEM pull, manufacturability momentum, and the potential to reshape EV platform design.
Startup Series B AutomotiveDeep TechElectric VehiclesHardware
Cologne, Germany · Startup DeepL is a Cologne-based AI translation company founded in 2017 by CEO Jarosław Kutylowski. Renowned for its neural machine translation quality, DeepL quickly surpassed competitors in accuracy and nuance. The company’s cloud platform serves over 100,000 business and government customers worldwide, including enterprises like Zendesk and Deutsche Bahn. DeepL achieved unicorn status in 2023 with a €1 billion valuation and continued to grow explosively – by early 2025 it had raised $410 million (led by investors like Index Ventures and Atomico) and reached a $2 billion valuation. In late 2025, reports emerged that DeepL is considering an IPO amid surging revenue, which doubled year-on-year to $185 million in 2024. DeepL’s core product is an AI-driven translator supporting 30+ languages, used for real-time document and content translation. The firm also launched DeepL Write to improve monolingual writing and an AI Agent to automate business tasks. As of 2025, DeepL is recognized as one of Europe’s premier AI startups, combining cutting-edge NLP research with a fast-growing SaaS business. The company’s success – valued at $2 billion and poised for a public offering – underscores Europe’s strength in deep-tech innovation.
Startup Growth Artificial IntelligenceTranslationSoftwareLanguage Tech
Berlin, Germany · Startup deepset is a Berlin-based AI company founded in 2018 that helps enterprises build custom natural-language and LLM applications. It created Haystack, a widely used open-source framework for retrieval-augmented generation and LLM pipelines, and offers a commercial enterprise platform on top of it for building production AI agents and search systems.
Startup Growth AIMachine LearningEnterprise Software
Berlin, Germany · Startup Delivery Hero is a Berlin-based global online food ordering and quick-commerce company founded in 2011 and listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since 2017. The company operates food delivery platforms in more than 70 countries under local brand names and employs over 40,000 people globally. As of May 2026, Delivery Hero has a market capitalisation of approximately €13.7 billion and Uber has increased its stake to 19.5%, though no completed takeover has occurred. Delivery Hero is one of Europe's largest publicly listed tech companies.
Startup Public Food DeliveryQuick CommerceMarketplace
Berlin, Germany · Startup Berlin-based EdTech startup building an AI-powered training and knowledge platform for frontline teams in the energy and climate-tech sector. The platform helps employers close skills gaps, combat the shortage of qualified workers, and deliver bite-sized training that field employees can complete on mobile.
Startup EdTechAIB2B SaaS
Munich, Germany · Startup Munich-based startup deploying turnkey battery energy storage systems for German commercial and industrial SMEs. Its full-service model covers planning, financing, installation, and operations, enabling clients to cut electricity costs and earn additional revenue through energy arbitrage. Raised €25M seed in June 2026.
Startup Seed CleanTechDeep Tech
Berlin, Germany · Startup Enpal is a Berlin-based cleantech company founded in 2017 that sells and rents residential solar panels, batteries, EV chargers and heat pumps on a subscription model, bundling hardware, installation and financing into a fixed monthly fee. It became Germany's first cleantech unicorn in 2021 and operates a virtual power plant that aggregates its installed base. Revenue surpassed one billion euros in 2025.
Startup Growth CleanTechEnergySolar
Heidelberg, Germany · Startup Clinical-stage biotech developing therapeutics for neuropsychiatric disorders. Lead program Deraphan targets agitation and aggression in Alzheimer's disease dementia and is in Phase 2/3. Raised EUR 51M Series B in 2026.
Startup Series B BiotechHealthTech
Munich, Germany · Startup AI-driven materials-discovery platform spun out of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) that accelerates identification of novel materials by up to 90%. Clients including Audi, Airbus and Infineon use it to focus R&D on the most promising candidates.
Startup Pre-seed AIMaterialsDeep Tech
Stuttgart, Germany · Startup Online proofing and approval software founded in Stuttgart in 2014, centralizing review, feedback and sign-off of creative assets like videos, PDFs and designs.
Startup SaaSMarTechDeveloper Tools
Munich, Germany · Startup FINN is a car-subscription platform serving consumers and businesses with an all-inclusive monthly model that bundles insurance, maintenance, and roadside support. The company has expanded B2B fleet workflows with automated management tools and EV-focused offerings for employee mobility programs.
Startup Growth MobilityE-commerceAutomotiveB2B
Berlin, Germany · Startup Flink is a Berlin-based quick-commerce grocery delivery company founded in 2020 by Christoph Cordes, Oliver Merkel, Julian Dames, Saad Saeed, and Nikolas Bullwinkel. The platform delivers everyday groceries in an average of 35 minutes through a network of dark-store hubs, operating in Germany and the Netherlands across 100+ cities serving 22.5 million people. In March 2026 Flink raised $100 million in a Series C round after reaching EBITDA profitability, remaining one of the last independent quick-commerce operators in Europe after rivals Gorillas and Getir exited.
Startup Series C Quick CommerceGrocery DeliveryLogistics
Munich, Germany · Startup FlixBus, operated by Flix SE, is a Munich-based global travel technology company founded in 2011 that provides affordable long-distance bus and train travel across more than 40 countries. The company partners with over 1,000 independent bus operators, handling network planning, pricing, booking, and customer service while the operators run the vehicles. Flix SE also operates FlixTrain in Germany and internationally, and Greyhound Lines in North America. The company has served over 500 million travellers since its launch.
Startup Growth MobilityConsumer
Munich, Germany · Startup Mobility platform offering intercity bus and train travel founded in Munich in 2011. Operates across Europe and North America (acquired Greyhound in 2021) under parent Flix SE.
Startup Growth MobilityMarketplaceTravelTech
Berlin, Germany · Startup Forto (formerly FreightHub) is a Berlin-based tech-enabled freight forwarding platform founded in 2016 by Ferry Heilemann, Michael Wax, Fabian Heilemann, and Erik Muttersbach. The company provides digital management of international sea, air, and rail freight shipments with real-time tracking and supply chain visibility through its platform. Forto serves major enterprise customers across Europe and Asia from 21 offices and has raised over $610 million in funding, reaching a valuation of $2.1 billion.
Startup Late Stage LogisticsFreightSupply Chain
Berlin, Germany · Startup GetYourGuide is a Berlin-based travel experiences marketplace founded in 2009 by Johannes Reck and Tao Tao. The platform connects travelers with curated tours, activities, and attraction tickets in destinations worldwide, offering everything from skip-the-line museum passes to multi-day excursions. GetYourGuide has raised over $900 million from investors including KKR, SoftBank, and Temasek, reaching a valuation above $2 billion. The company serves tens of millions of travelers annually and has expanded into branded 'Originals' experiences operated under its own quality standards, positioning it as the leading European alternative to Viator in the tours and activities category.
Startup Growth TravelMarketplace
Berlin, Germany · Startup Berlin-based AI startup fighting disinformation by analysing the origin and publication context of images and videos to make reliable authenticity assessments. Built on a multi-agent framework of proprietary fine-tuned models developed in collaboration with DFKI. Won the SPRIND Deepfake Detection Challenge Award.
Startup AICybersecurity
Berlin, Germany · Startup Grover is a Berlin-based technology rental and subscription platform founded in 2015 by Michael Cassau. The company lets consumers and businesses rent electronics such as laptops, smartphones, gaming consoles, and smart home devices on a monthly subscription basis instead of buying them outright. Grover promotes a circular economy model by refurbishing and re-renting returned devices multiple times. The company raised over $1 billion in equity and debt financing and operates across Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Spain, and the US. It partners with major retailers including MediaMarkt and Samsung.
Startup Growth E-commerceCircular EconomyConsumer
Munich, Germany · Startup Helsing is a defense technology company building AI software systems for democratic governments and armed forces in Europe. Its platform fuses data from radar, drones, optical and infrared sensors to provide real-time situational awareness and operational decision support. After major growth financing in 2025, Helsing expanded across core European defense programs and into autonomous systems, including the HX-2 platform.
Startup Late Stage Defense TechAIGovTechComputer Vision
Landshut, Germany · Startup Industrial IoT data platform (formerly dc-square) founded in 2012 in Landshut, providing an MQTT broker, edge gateway and stream governance to connect operational data for clients like BMW and Ford.
Startup Series A IoTEnterprise SoftwareDeveloper Tools
Cologne, Germany · Startup HRS Group is a Cologne-based corporate hotel solutions provider founded in 1972 that has transformed from a traditional hotel booking service into a technology-driven platform for corporate travel management. The company provides enterprise hotel programs, meeting and event booking, payment solutions, and rate auditing tools to large corporations. HRS manages hotel programs for many Fortune 500 companies and processes billions of euros in hotel spending annually. While not a startup in the traditional sense, HRS has reinvented itself through technology, building an enterprise platform that competes globally in the corporate lodging space.
Startup Late Stage TravelEnterpriseSaaS
Berlin, Germany · Startup Infarm was a Berlin-based indoor vertical farming startup founded in 2013 by brothers Erez and Guy Galonska along with Osnat Michaeli. The company deployed modular hydroponic farming units inside supermarkets, restaurants, and distribution centers, growing herbs and leafy greens close to the point of consumption. At its peak, Infarm raised over $600 million from investors including Atomico, Balderton, and LGT Lightstone, and operated across Germany, France, the UK, and North America. The company restructured significantly in 2022-2023 after rapid expansion outpaced unit economics, making it a cautionary tale in European agritech about scaling hardware-heavy models.
Startup Growth AgriTechClimate
Berlin, Germany · Startup Inkitt is a Berlin-based reader-powered book publishing platform founded in 2014 by Ali Albazaz. The platform uses AI and reader engagement data to identify commercially promising stories from independent authors and offers publishing deals to the most successful ones. Inkitt also operates GALATEA, a mobile storytelling app that has reached significant consumer traction globally. The company has raised multiple funding rounds including a Series C led by Khosla Ventures.
Startup Series C PublishingMediaAI
Munich, Germany · Startup Isar Aerospace is a Munich-based space launch company founded in 2018 by Daniel Metzler, Josef Fleischmann, and Markus Brandl, all graduates of TU Munich. The company is developing Spectrum, a two-stage launch vehicle designed to carry small and medium-sized satellite payloads to orbit at a significantly lower cost than traditional European launchers. Isar Aerospace has raised over EUR 300 million from investors including HV Capital, Porsche SE, Airbus Ventures, and Lombard Odier, making it one of Europe's best-funded NewSpace ventures. With a launch site agreement in Andoya, Norway, Isar Aerospace is positioned to offer Europe independent, commercial access to space as demand for small satellite launches accelerates.
Startup Growth SpaceAerospace
Munich, Germany · Startup Kiutra is a Munich-based deep tech startup developing cryogenic systems and services for quantum technologies. The company manufactures helium-3-free cryostats that reach sub-kelvin and millikelvin temperatures, including the L-Type Rapid, X-Type, S-Type, and T-Type product lines, and offers cryogenic characterisation lab services for quantum device development. Kiutra serves leading quantum computing companies and research institutions globally and is a sponsor of Finnish Quantum Days 2026.
Startup Quantum ComputingHardwareDeep Tech
Berlin, Germany · Startup Berlin-based enterprise AI workspace providing a GDPR-compliant environment where teams can use LLMs from multiple providers—GPT-4, Claude, Gemini—through a single interface connected to company data, with full EU data residency. Focused on European enterprises with strict data-sovereignty requirements.
Startup AIB2B SaaS
Munich, Germany · Startup Lilium is a Munich-based aerospace company founded in 2015 by Daniel Wiegand and a team of TU Munich engineers to develop an all-electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) jet for regional air mobility. The Lilium Jet uses 30 electric engines mounted on its canard wings to achieve vertical lift and efficient cruise flight, targeting ranges of up to 300 km at speeds over 250 km/h. Lilium went public on NASDAQ in 2021 but faced financial challenges and entered insolvency proceedings in late 2024. A consortium of European investors acquired the company in early 2025, allowing development to continue. Lilium remains one of the most ambitious European eVTOL programs and a test case for the viability of electric regional air transport.
Startup Growth AerospaceMobility
Stuttgart, Germany · Startup Makersite is a Stuttgart-based AI-powered product lifecycle intelligence platform that helps manufacturers understand and optimise their supply chains and products. The software connects a company's product and supply chain data with material, process, and supplier databases to support automated lifecycle assessments, product carbon footprint calculations, supply chain risk analysis, cost optimisation, and regulatory compliance. It integrates with enterprise CAD, ERP, and PLM systems and partners with firms such as Siemens, PTC, Autodesk, and Ansys. The company was founded in 2018 by Neil D'Souza, previously CTO at Thinkstep.
Startup Series B SustainabilityClimate TechEnterprise SoftwareAI
Berlin, Germany · Startup Mambu is a Berlin-founded, Amsterdam-headquartered SaaS cloud core-banking platform, established in 2011 by Eugene Danilkis, Frederik Pfisterer and Sofia Nunes. It pioneered the 'composable banking' model, in which banks, neobanks, lenders and fintechs assemble modular, API-first components for deposits, loans and payments instead of replacing entire legacy cores. The platform serves 280+ institutions across 65 countries, supports 114 million end clients and processes nearly 200 million API calls daily, with customers including N26, ABN AMRO, OakNorth and Western Union.
Mambu became one of Germany's most valuable fintechs after a €110M Series D led by TCV in January 2021, followed by a €235M Series E led by EQT Growth in December 2021 valuing it at €4.9bn. Total funding is about €410M, backed by a syndicate including EQT Growth (Sweden), TCV, Tiger Global, Bessemer, Runa Capital and German investors Acton Capital, CommerzVentures and Point Nine. In December 2024 it made its first acquisition, buying Paris payments gateway Numeral, and launched Mambu Payments in 2025.
Startup Growth FintechBankingSaaS
Munich, Germany · Startup Fusion energy company founded in 2019 in Munich developing laser-based inertial fusion using nanostructured proton-boron fuel targets, backed by over $400M with partners including Siemens Energy.
Startup Series B Climate TechDeep TechEnergy
Hamburg, Germany · Startup MicroHarvest produces microbial protein using agricultural side streams and a rapid fermentation process designed to deliver sustainable protein ingredients in around 24 hours. The company reported over USD 10.2M in venture funding from investors such as Astanor, Happiness Capital, Simon Capital, and FoodLabs, and received a EUR 5.5M German government grant in February 2026 for an industrial-scale Leuna plant expected to produce about 15,000 tonnes of protein annually.
Startup Growth FoodTechBiotechClimate Tech
Berlin, Germany · Startup Midas (Midas Software GmbH) is a Berlin-based fintech building infrastructure for tokenised real-world assets and composable on-chain investment products. It lets strategy managers turn institutional investment strategies into compliant, blockchain-based tokens (mTokens) that aim to give investors transparency, instant redemptions, and composability across DeFi protocols. Its first product, mTBILL, tokenises US Treasury bills as an ERC-20 token so holders can earn yield on-chain. The company describes itself as a German, BaFin-regulated and MiCA-compliant entity.
Startup Series A FintechPaymentsCryptoDeep Tech
Berlin, Germany · Startup Mister Spex is Europe's leading digitally native omnichannel optician, founded in Berlin in 2007 and listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (ticker: MRX) since 2021. The company sells prescription glasses, sunglasses, and contact lenses online across five European countries and operates 65 physical stores in Germany alongside a network of over 300 partner opticians. Mister Spex serves over 8 million customers and employs around 1,000 people. It pioneered the online-to-offline model in European eyewear retail.
Startup Public E-commerceHealthRetail
Berlin, Germany · Startup N26 is a Berlin-based digital bank with a mobile-first current account and financial products for consumers across Europe. In May 2024, BaFin lifted the growth restrictions previously imposed on the bank, clearing the way for renewed customer expansion. In 2025 N26 rolled out free stock and ETF trading for all eligible customers, adding investing to its core banking offering. The company positions itself as a full-stack European challenger bank with a focus on product breadth and operational discipline.
Startup Growth FintechBankingWealth
Berlin, Germany · Startup Berlin-based open-source workflow automation platform with 350+ integrations that lets technical teams build complex automations combining AI, APIs, and databases without vendor lock-in. Reached a $5.9B valuation in 2026 after SAP's strategic investment.
Startup Series C B2B SaaSAI
Metzingen, Germany · Startup NEURA Robotics is a German high-tech company founded by David Reger that develops cognitive robots combining integrated sensing with artificial intelligence for human-robot collaboration. Its product lineup includes the 4NE-1 humanoid robot, the MAiRA cognitive collaborative robot with integrated 3D vision and voice recognition, the LARA lightweight robotic arm, the MiPA service robot, and the MAV autonomous mobile robot. The company designs and manufactures its intelligent robots in-house. In June 2026 NEURA announced a record Series C of up to $1.4 billion at roughly a $7 billion valuation, led by Tether with backers including Nvidia, Amazon and Qualcomm.
Startup Series C RoboticsAIDeep TechHardware
Berlin, Germany · Startup Berlin-based football media and technology platform founded in 2008, offering live scores, news, stats and streaming (OneFootball TV) across 200+ leagues to a global audience.
Startup MediaConsumer AppGaming
Berlin, Germany · Startup Parloa is the German champion of enterprise AI for customer service. While consumer chatbots attract headlines, Parloa has built the operating system for large contact centers, enabling non-technical teams to deploy AI agents that handle complex voice and chat interactions. Its platform is trusted by large European enterprises such as Allianz, Decathlon, and Swiss Life, and it focuses on governance, compliance, and integration with legacy systems rather than flashy demos.
In January 2026, Parloa announced a $350M Series D led by General Catalyst, reportedly valuing the company at about $3B. The round validated its strategic shift from "chatbots" to "agent fleet management." Parloa does not just deploy a single bot; it manages and audits thousands of agents, ensuring they remain compliant, minimize hallucinations, and integrate cleanly with back-office systems such as SAP and Salesforce. This operational emphasis is why Parloa has become the default choice for risk-sensitive industries like insurance, retail, and financial services.
Parloa's 2026 roadmap is "voice-first AI." The company has developed speech-to-speech models that reduce the latency and robotic cadence that make older IVR systems frustrating. Its agents can handle interruptions, use backchannel cues, and operate across regions with language and accent adaptation, which is critical for multinational contact centers. With fresh capital, Parloa is acquiring smaller AI boutiques to consolidate the European market and is building a significant presence in New York to serve Fortune 500 clients in North America.
The company is deeply connected to the Berlin AI ecosystem, with ties to Merantix and the wider Berlin AI Campus, and it has a strategic relationship with Microsoft for Startups and Azure deployment. Its investor base includes General Catalyst, Altimeter Capital, EQT Ventures, Newion, and Senovo, giving it a mix of global growth capital and specialized SaaS expertise. In 2026, Parloa stands out as Europe's clearest enterprise AI winner in customer service: a scaled, governance-heavy platform that makes autonomous agents safe and effective inside the largest organizations.
Startup Growth AICustomer ServiceEnterprise Software
Berlin, Germany · Startup Berlin-based healthtech company offering an emergency smartwatch paired with a companion app for elderly people living independently. The SIM-enabled device connects to a 24/7 emergency call centre at the press of a button and keeps family members informed. Serves 25,000 users and has handled over 500,000 emergency calls.
Startup Series A HealthTechIoT
Munich, Germany · Startup Personio is a Munich-based HR software company that has become one of Europe’s most valuable SaaS startups. Founded in 2015 by Hanno Renner (CEO) and three co-founders from the Technical University of Munich, Personio set out to streamline HR management for small and mid-sized businesses. Its cloud platform offers an “all-in-one” suite – from recruiting and applicant tracking to payroll, attendance, and performance management. Personio’s focus on Europe’s underserved SME segment paid off spectacularly: as of 2024, the company serves 12,000+ customers across 70 countries (primarily firms with 10–2,000 employees). This rapid growth attracted major VC funding. Personio became a unicorn in January 2021 with a $1.7 billion valuation, and by October 2022 it raised a $200 million Series E extension at a staggering $8.5 billion valuation – making it one of Europe’s most valuable private tech companies at the time. Investors like Index Ventures, Accel, Lightspeed, and Greenoaks have backed Personio. The company has since expanded to 8 offices (including London, Dublin and Amsterdam) and grown to about 2,000 employees. Despite the size, Personio continues to post strong metrics: in 2023, revenue reportedly doubled and the firm reached over 15,000 customers by 2025. Personio’s success is often attributed to its user-friendly, modular platform tailored to non-technical HR teams at smaller companies. It integrates with 100+ other business tools and emphasizes automation of routine HR tasks. Now valued at $8.5 billion+, Personio is widely seen as a future IPO candidate and a role model for Europe’s B2B SaaS boom – proving that an “SMB HR” niche can scale to a global category leader.
Startup Growth HR TechSoftware
Berlin, Germany · Startup Pitch is a Berlin-based collaborative presentation platform founded in 2018 by Christian Reber, the creator of Wunderlist. The product enables teams to build, design, and present slide decks together in real time with built-in templates, brand controls, and analytics. Backed by investors including Index Ventures, Lakestar, and Thrive Capital, Pitch competes with Google Slides and Canva in the modern workplace productivity space and has attracted hundreds of thousands of teams worldwide.
Startup Growth ProductivitySaaS
Pfaffenhofen an der Glonn, Germany · Startup Pricefx is a cloud-native pricing software company founded in 2011 by Marcin Cichon, Christian Tratz and Martin Wricke. Headquartered in Pfaffenhofen an der Glonn, Germany, with additional operations including Prague and Ostrava, its SaaS platform provides price optimisation and management and configure-price-quote capabilities for enterprises, and it has added AI features such as PricingAI and AI Agents. The company raised a $65 million Series C round in 2020 led by funds advised by Apax Digital, and reported continued growth and AI adoption through 2025.
Startup Series C AISaaSB2B SaaSEnterprise Software
Munich, Germany · Startup Proxima Fusion is a deep-tech fusion energy company spun out from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in 2023. It is developing quasi-isodynamic stellarator systems designed for stable, commercial fusion power generation and is targeting a demonstrator pathway toward net-energy performance in the next decade.
Startup Growth Deep TechCleanTechEnergyClimate Tech
Berlin, Germany · Startup Qdrant (pronounced "Quadrant") provides the memory layer for AI applications. As companies build AI agents in 2026, they quickly discover that large language models do not remember internal company data. Qdrant solves this by offering a high-performance vector database that stores embeddings for documents, images, and conversations and retrieves the most relevant context in milliseconds. That capability is the foundation of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and agent workflows across enterprises.
Born as an open-source project in Berlin, Qdrant has become a default choice for teams building on modern AI stacks, especially in Rust and performance-critical environments. Its adoption accelerated because it can run anywhere—from embedded devices to large Kubernetes clusters—without locking users into a proprietary cloud. This flexibility, combined with strong performance and transparent licensing, has allowed Qdrant to surpass older competitors in developer mindshare and production deployments. By late 2025 it had raised a Series B and was widely described as a "soonicorn" within the AI infrastructure category.
The 2026 breakthrough is Qdrant's hybrid search engine. Pure vector search captures semantic similarity but can miss precise keyword matches that matter in enterprise contexts. Qdrant combines semantic retrieval with keyword filters and metadata constraints, enabling queries such as "find a part like this" while also honoring exact identifiers like "Part #404-X" or compliance tags. This hybrid approach is now table stakes for enterprise RAG, and it has made Qdrant the database of choice for large-scale deployments at organizations such as Discord, Mozilla, and Deloitte.
Qdrant Cloud is the company's managed service offering and is growing quickly as enterprises move from prototypes to production. It provides enterprise controls, observability, and multi-region deployments without sacrificing the portability that developers expect from the open-source core. Qdrant's ecosystem roots include Techstars Berlin and a strong open-source community, where the project has amassed tens of thousands of GitHub stars. Its investor base includes Spark Capital, Unusual Ventures, 42CAP, and IBB Ventures, giving it both global capital and local Berlin support. In 2026, Qdrant is the clearest European winner in vector databases: the infrastructure layer that lets AI systems remember and reason over real company data.
Startup Growth AIInfrastructureDeveloper Tools
Gilching, Germany · Startup Quantum Systems is a Gilching-based (near Munich) defense and commercial drone company founded in 2015 that designs and manufactures autonomous fixed-wing VTOL unmanned aerial systems. Its flagship Vector and Trinity platforms combine vertical takeoff with long-endurance fixed-wing flight for ISR (intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance) missions. The company gained significant attention during the Ukraine conflict, where its drones were deployed for battlefield reconnaissance. Quantum Systems has raised over EUR 60 million and is backed by investors including HV Capital and NATO Innovation Fund. It is one of Europe's most prominent dual-use drone manufacturers.
Startup Growth AerospaceDefense
Frankfurt, Germany · Startup Frankfurt-based cyber threat intelligence company that delivers AI-analysed, contextualised threat reports ready to act on without a dedicated in-house team. Its platform Mercury and conversational AI analyst KARLA monitor digital threats, geopolitical risk, and supply-chain exposure for European mid-market organisations. Raised €7.3M Series A in April 2026.
Startup Series A CybersecurityAIB2B SaaS
Berlin, Germany · Startup Raisin is a Berlin-based fintech founded in 2012 that operates an open-banking savings and investment marketplace, letting retail customers across Europe and the United States access deposit products, ETFs and pensions from hundreds of partner banks through a single account. It merged with Deposit Solutions in 2021, trades as WeltSparen in Germany, and has intermediated tens of billions of euros in deposits.
Startup Growth FintechSavingsWealth
Berlin, Germany · Startup Razor Group is a Berlin-based e-commerce aggregator that acquires and operates Amazon marketplace brands, using technology and operational expertise to scale product portfolios. The company has consolidated multiple competitors and built one of Europe's largest portfolios of marketplace-native consumer brands. Razor Group focuses on supply chain optimization, product development, and cross-border expansion to grow acquired brands.
Startup Growth E-commerceConsumerMarketplace
Augsburg, Germany · Startup Reonic is a German climate tech company that builds planning and workflow software for renewable energy installers, helping them work more efficiently. Its AI-powered platform covers the full customer journey for installations of solar PV systems, heat pumps, energy storage and EV charging, integrating CRM, system design, proposal generation and a mobile field app. The company was founded in Augsburg, Bavaria, and has expanded with additional offices. In September 2024 Reonic raised 13 million euro in Series A funding led by Northzone, with participation from Point Nine and Puzzle Ventures.
Startup Series A EnergyCleanTechB2B SaaSClimate Tech
Berlin, Germany · Startup sennder is a Berlin-based digital freight forwarder founded in 2015 that uses technology to connect shippers with trucking carriers across Europe. The platform digitizes the traditionally fragmented and paper-heavy European trucking market, using algorithms to match loads with available capacity, optimize routes, and provide real-time shipment tracking. sennder acquired Uber Freight's European operations in 2021 and has raised over $300 million in funding. The company works with major shippers and connects to a network of tens of thousands of trucking companies, making it one of Europe's largest digital freight platforms.
Startup Late Stage LogisticsFreightMarketplace
Grünwald, Germany · Startup simpleclub is a German-language digital learning platform for secondary-school students, apprentices in vocational training, and individual fields of study. It originated from the founders' educational video projects on YouTube and was incorporated as a company in 2015. The platform provides curriculum-aligned learning content, including content aligned to IHK standards, video lessons, exam-preparation tools, and an AI-powered learning assistant. It operates several lines: a consumer offering for school students, a B2B offering for companies training apprentices and skilled workers, and an offering for education and retraining providers.
Startup Series A EdTechAIConsumerB2B SaaS
Berlin, Germany · Startup Embedded banking platform providing regulated accounts, cards, and payments APIs. Solarisbank is a startup based in Berlin, Germany at the growth stage. The company operates in the Fintech, Banking space. Learn more at their website.
Startup Growth FintechBanking
Berlin, Germany · Startup Spryker is an enterprise commerce platform offering a composable, API-first architecture for B2B and B2C digital commerce. Based in Berlin and Hamburg, Spryker enables large enterprises to build custom transactional experiences across marketplaces, IoT commerce, and unified commerce scenarios. The company serves enterprise customers across manufacturing, retail, and wholesale, and has raised over $200 million from investors including TCV and One Peak.
Startup Growth E-commerceEnterprise SoftwareSaaS
Berlin, Germany · Startup Stelovo is a small consumer app for planning nights out with friends — you propose a few time slots, everyone votes, and the app picks the moment that works for the group. Positioned against heavier event-management tools, it's a quiet, design-led take on group scheduling for existing friend circles rather than a public events product. The project ships as a lightweight web app under a single-founder or small-team indie model.
Startup Pre-seed ConsumerSocialScheduling
Berlin, Germany · Startup Synthflow AI is a Berlin-based no-code platform for building and deploying AI voice agents that automate phone conversations. It lets non-technical business users create customisable voice agents without engineering resources, applying a no-code approach to conversational phone AI. The agents handle inbound and outbound calls for use cases such as customer service, appointment scheduling, and lead qualification, and connect to external systems through integrations with calendars, CRMs, and telephony platforms. The company also operates in-house telephony infrastructure and targets enterprise and BPO/contact-center customers.
Startup Series A AISaaSB2B SaaS
Berlin, Germany · Startup Taktile is a Berlin-based provider of an agentic decision platform for financial institutions, combining AI automation with human oversight for regulated environments. Its platform lets banks and insurers build and deploy automated decision flows and AI agents across onboarding and KYC, credit decisions, fraud detection, AML and compliance, and insurance underwriting. The company emphasises transparency and control, positioning around traceable decisions. Founded by Maik Taro Wehmeyer and Maximilian Eber, who met at Harvard and previously worked together at QuantCo, Taktile raised a 51.5 million euro Series B in February 2025 led by Balderton Capital.
Startup Series B FintechAIB2B SaaSEnterprise Software
Hamburg, Germany · Startup Taxdoo is a Hamburg-based tax automation platform founded in 2016 that specializes in VAT compliance, financial accounting, and tax reporting for e-commerce businesses selling across European borders. The platform automates the complex web of cross-border VAT obligations that arise when online sellers store and ship goods across multiple EU countries. Taxdoo integrates with major e-commerce platforms and marketplaces including Amazon, Shopify, and eBay, and handles VAT registration, filing, and reporting across jurisdictions. The company serves thousands of online merchants navigating Europe's fragmented tax landscape.
Startup Growth FintechTaxE-commerce
Berlin, Germany · Startup Taxfix is a mobile-first tax filing app that simplifies income tax returns for individuals in Germany and other European markets. The app guides users through their tax declaration using a conversational interface and automatically optimizes deductions. Taxfix has served millions of users and raised over $200 million in venture funding, making tax filing accessible to people who previously avoided the complexity of traditional tax software.
Startup Growth FintechConsumerSaaS
Munich, Germany · Startup The Exploration Company is a Munich-based space startup founded in 2021 by Helene Huby, a former Airbus and ArianeGroup executive. The company is developing Nyx, a reusable orbital vehicle designed to carry cargo to the International Space Station and future commercial space stations. Nyx uses a green propulsion system and is designed for multiple missions, reducing cost per flight. The company has raised over EUR 150 million, including a major Series B, making it one of Europe's best-funded space startups. The Exploration Company represents Europe's push for independent orbital logistics capabilities beyond traditional government-led programs.
Startup Growth SpaceLogistics
Berlin, Germany · Startup TIER Mobility is a Berlin-based micro-mobility company founded in 2018 by Lawrence Leuschner, Matthias Laug, and Julian Blessin. The company operates shared e-scooters, e-bikes, and e-mopeds across over 250 cities in Europe and the Middle East. TIER has raised more than $600 million in equity and debt and acquired competitors Nextbike and Spin to consolidate its market position. The company distinguishes itself through a focus on sustainability, using swappable batteries and carbon-neutral operations. TIER is one of Europe's largest micro-mobility operators and a key player in the continent's urban transport transition.
Startup Growth MobilitySustainability
Berlin, Germany · Startup Tourlane is a Berlin-based travel tech company that combines technology with personal travel advisors to create customized multi-day trips. The platform uses data and algorithms to match travelers with personalized itineraries for long-haul destinations, then pairs them with expert advisors for booking. Tourlane has raised over $100 million and serves customers primarily in Germany and the US, bridging the gap between OTA convenience and traditional travel agency expertise.
Startup Growth TravelTechConsumerMarketplace
Berlin, Germany · Startup Trade Republic is Europe's largest savings platform and a commission-free neobroker offering stocks, ETFs, derivatives, and crypto trading via a mobile-first app. Founded in Berlin, the company holds a German banking license and serves over 4 million customers across 17 European countries. Trade Republic has been valued at over $5 billion and is a leading force in the democratization of retail investing across Europe.
Startup Late Stage FintechWealthBanking
Berlin, Germany · Startup API-first investment infrastructure provider (brokerage, settlement, custody) for banks, brokers and fintechs like Revolut and N26. Regulated by BaFin and the FCA. Founded 2017.
Startup Series C FintechDeveloper ToolsSaaS
Berlin, Germany · Startup Vay is a Berlin-based mobility company founded in 2018 that develops teledriving technology, where trained human drivers remotely operate road vehicles from a station using a live video and control link. It offers a driverless door-to-door car service without an in-car driver and runs commercial operations in Las Vegas as well as testing in Europe.
Startup Growth MobilityAutomotiveTeledriving
Berlin, Germany · Startup Berlin-based AI companion for nurses and care workers that listens as staff speak care notes aloud and instantly converts speech into structured EHR records, giving clinicians back up to 30% of their shift. Deployed at 1,500+ care facilities across Germany serving 100,000+ nurses. Raised €43M Series A led by Balderton Capital.
Startup Series A HealthTechAIB2B SaaS
Dresden, Germany · Startup Wandelbots is a Dresden-based robotics company founded in 2017, spun out of TU Dresden, that makes industrial robots easier to program. Its software abstracts away vendor-specific robot languages so that a single interface can control robots from different manufacturers, and it has moved toward AI-driven ('Physical AI') robot control for manufacturing.
Startup Growth RoboticsAIManufacturing
Berlin, Germany · Startup Wefox is a Berlin-based insurtech company that digitizes insurance distribution and management for both brokers and end consumers. The platform enables insurance agents to manage policies digitally while also offering direct-to-consumer products. Wefox was valued at $4.5 billion at its 2022 peak and operates across Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and Poland. The company represents one of Europe's most ambitious attempts to modernize the insurance value chain through technology.
Startup Late Stage InsurTechFintech
Berlin, Germany · Startup Zalando is a Berlin-based online fashion and lifestyle platform founded in 2008 by Robert Gentz and David Schneider. It grew from a Rocket Internet-backed shoe retailer into Europe's largest online fashion marketplace, listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in 2014. Zalando operates across 25 European markets, connecting over 50 million active customers with thousands of brands. The company transitioned from a pure retailer to a platform model, enabling brands to sell directly through its Partner Program while offering logistics, marketing, and fulfillment services via its Zalando Fulfillment Solutions infrastructure.
Startup Public E-commerceFashionMarketplace