Long known as Germany’s vibrant business hub, Berlin finishes second only to London in Europe’s top startup ecosystem ranking. The city offers entrepreneurs a dynamic location to establish their future companies.
Although its startup scene may not yet rival London’s size, tech giants like Amazon, Zalando, N26, Microsoft, and SAP have established their roots in the city. Talented individuals from institutions such as TU Berlin, ESMT, and CODE are working in various sectors.
On top of that, Berlin remains a cost-effective alternative to other major European cities like London, Paris, and Amsterdam. With lower rent prices and affordable transportation, entrepreneurs can focus on growing their businesses without breaking the bank.
The city also provides businesses plenty of access to venture capitalists and accelerator programs to support their development.
So, here’s a list of startups based in Berlin that secured funding in March 2024, with some of them currently hiring:
Quantistry
Founder(s): Marcel Quennet
Founded in: 2019
Funding: €3M
Hiring: Yes, check job opportunities here.
Founded in 2019, Quantistry offers a cloud-native chemical simulation platform designed to discover sustainable materials. The company is led by quantum chemist Marcel Quennet, computational chemist Arturo Robertazzi, and finance expert Stefan Kupferberg.
Quantistry uses quantum technology, multiscale modelling, and AI to transform chemical R&D. Its SaaS platform has provided customers with competitive advantages in the development of chemical, materials science, and pharmaceutical products.
Securing €3M in funding this March, Quantistry plans to advance its R&D and address current challenges, which include high costs and slow innovation. The round was supported by notable co-investors such as BASF’s business incubator and IBB Ventures.
Frontnow
Founder(s): Bernhard Lihotzky, Cedric May, Marc Funk
Founded in: 2020
Funding: €6.5M
Hiring: Yes, check job opportunities here.
Founded in 2020, Frontnow specialises in AI-driven solutions for online retailers. Its virtual shopping assistant, Frontnow Advisor, and product optimisation tool, Frontnow Enhance, encourage retailers to engage with customers in personalised, meaningful ways.
Frontnow Advisor uses a combination of more than 40 algorithms, including several large language models (LLMs) trained on proprietary corporate data.
Meanwhile, Frontnow Enhance utilises self-learning algorithms to optimise product descriptions in online stores.
Frontnow raised €3.8M in its extended seed financing round this March. Led by Peak with participation from PROfounders Capital and Identity Ventures, the funding will help Frontnow develop its technology and expand enterprise customer base.
Razor
Founder(s): Christoph F. Gamon, Jonas Diezun, Oliver Dlugosch, Shrestha Chowdhury, Tushar Ahluwalia
Founded in: 2020
Funding: $1.1B (€1.01B)
Hiring: Yes, check job opportunities here.
Led by seasoned e-commerce experts Tushar Ahluwalia, Christoph Gamon, Shrestha Chowdhury and Oliver Dlugosch, Razor’s mission is to accelerate the growth of Amazon FBA businesses and online marketplace sellers.
Razor acquires and operates e-commerce accounts on top of pairing them with growth capital and technology expertise. The company ensures that businesses can reach new heights in their development.
With a Series D financing round led by Presight Capital, the startup plans to further enhance its technology infrastructure. This includes fully automating Razor’s consumer-to-manufacturer (C2M) retail processes with LLMs and artificial intelligence.
INSRD
Founder(s): Stefan Michael Balg, John Ismailoglu
Founded in: 2022
Funding: €500,000
Hiring: No
Recognising the common challenge of companies outgrowing their insurance coverage, INSRD offers a flexible insurance solution that evolves alongside the customer’s needs.
Established in 2022, the insurtech startup caters to rapidly expanding companies battling their evolving risks, especially in emerging sectors such as AI, creator economy, robotics, and more.
INSRD’s Protect & Connect platform utilises sophisticated workflow automation and industry-specific AI to guarantee the continued relevance of insurance programs.
In March, INSRD secured €500,000in a pre-seed round from angel investors Alex Grimm, Florian Huber, and Daniel Dippold of EWOR. Other investors include undisclosed tech executives and venture capitalists.
Polar Signals
Founder(s): Frederic Branczyk
Founded in: 2020
Funding: $10.8M (€10M)
Hiring: Yes, check job opportunities here.
Polar Signals, offers continuous profiling products that transform the understanding and optimisation of high-performance systems. It was founded in 2020 by Frederic Branczyk, a leading figure in the Prometheus and Kubernetes communities.
The company focuses on continuous profiling and capturing detailed profiles of running programs to provide engineers with insights into resource usage.
Its flagship open-source product, Parca, offers simple deployment, no dependencies, and deep integration with Kubernetes.
In a recent funding round led by Spark Capital, Polar Signals bagged $6.8M (€6.2M) which will enable the startup to further enhance its platform and offer deeper insight into system behaviour.
Other investors include GV, Lightspeed, Haystack, Lorimer, and a group of angel investors, including Guillermo Rauch, Julius Volz, Monica Sarbu, Jimmy Zelinskie, Nikhil Benesch, and Erik Bernhardsson.
Paraspot AI
Founder(s): Nathan Herz, Yakir Saadia
Founded in: 2020
Funding: $1.5M (€1.38M)
Hiring: No
Established in 2020, Paraspot AI is a B2B proptech company offering property inspection with its AI-powered platform.
By utilising its computer vision technology, Paraspot AI enables remote management of guest turnover operations at a fraction of the cost. Its processes prevent security deposit disputes, all while yielding valuable data on property conditions.
Serving clients in the US and Europe, Paraspot AI has partnered with a Property Management Software (PMS) reseller managing over 100,000 properties.
In a March seed round, Paraspot AI raised $1.3M (€1.19M) from several investors, such as 97212 Ventures and ff Venture Capital.
Daato
Founder(s): Satya Kamal Raparthi, Sunny Chowdhury, Thilo Hitz
Founded in: 2021
Funding: €5M
Hiring: Yes, check job opportunities here.
Holistic ESG management platform Daato, based in Berlin, makes ESG metrics accessible and actionable for enterprises and SMEs. The company encourages companies to adopt sustainable, transparent practices to shape ethically responsible business atmospheres.
Around 60,000 EU firms are now facing new ESG reporting requirements driven by the recent EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). Daato’s platform makes it easier for companies to navigate through the changing ESG market towards a sustainable economy.
In a March seed round, Daato announced that it secured more than €5M in funding led by Kopa Ventures in partnership with Neosfer and IBB Ventures. According to the startup, the new funds will enhance the platform’s automation and accelerate market expansion.
Solaris
Founder(s): Andreas Bittner, Marko Wenthin
Founded in: 2015
Funding: €481.1M
Hiring: Yes, check job opportunities here.
The embedded finance platform Solaris, founded in 2015, is a pioneer in the Banking-as-a-Service market with its offerings. Solaris’ products allow financial companies and fintechs to offer unique, customer-centric financial services.
Having enjoyed remarkable growth over the years, the company now has a headcount of over 750 people across ten locations in Europe and India. The company’s net revenues hit €130M in 2022 as it continues to achieve various milestones.
In a Series F round in March, Solaris announced that it received €96M in additional capital and another €100M equivalent in financial guarantee. The round was led by one of Solaris’ early investors, the SBI Group.
The funds will drive its DAC (Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club) credit card program and increase its banking platform’s resilience.
Enapi
Founder(s): Jakob Kleihues, Dennis Laumen
Founded in: 2024
Funding: €2.5M
Hiring: Yes, check job opportunities here.
Founded by Jakob Kleihues and Dennis Laumen, the connectivity platform Enapi links EV charge point operators and eMobility service providers to create better charging experiences for drivers.
Enapi observes that technical interoperability between charge point operators and eMobility service providers has many shortcomings. Current solutions are lacking in scalability and often lead to poor data quality, inaccuracy, and transparency.
Enapi’s platform, which uses the OCPI standard, allows marketplace participants to use its open protocols. It aims to increase community collaboration and elevate the quality of available data.
In a March pre-seed round, Enapi announced that it secured €2.5M in funding. The round was led by Project A Ventures with participation from Seedcamp and HelloWorld.
The fund will be directed towards expanding Enapi’s network, enhancing its data quality, and building clearinghouse functionalities. The company will also start to grant access to a select group of partners, including Electra, Monta, JUCR, Osprey, Octopus Electroverse, and Paua.
The Female Company
Founder(s): Ann-Sophie Claus, Sinja Stadelmaier
Founded in: 2018
Funding: –
Hiring: Yes, check job opportunities here.
Based in Berlin, The Female Company (TFC) is a femcare company that offers sustainable period products, such as organic tampons and washable period underwear.
The company aims to break taboos related to motherhood, pregnancy, and menopause through campaigns and future offerings.
In late March, The Female Company announced that it had raised an undisclosed seven-figure sum from strategic investors following other undisclosed funding rounds years before. Participants of the round include model and entrepreneur Stefanie Giesinger, who said she looked forward to working with the company beyond financial investment.
At the end of 2024, the company plans to launch a period sleepwear collection made from sustainable materials and powered by its Stay-Dry Layer technology.
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