Germany is one of the startup capitals in Europe that is home to numerous successful tech companies. The country has a strong foundation for startups with many entrepreneurs and expats. And, the hype around Germany’s tech startup scene is turning into reality, thanks to the investments that are pouring into these startups.
With an increase in the number of mega-investment rounds including funding from overseas investors, a new generation of unicorns have grown. These unicorns are redefining the future of the German tech startup ecosystem.
We already know the famous German tech brands which have grown past the unicorn status, filed IPOs and have become global brands like Delivery Hero, Flixbus, Zalando, HelloFresh and more but what about the new age tech brands which gained the ‘unicorn’ status recently. Let’s find out. Please note, that we have made this list based on research data on Dealroom.
GetYourGuide
Founders: Jochen Mattes, Johannes Reck, Martin Sieber, Pascal Mathis, Tao Tao, Tobias Rein
Funding: €595 million
Founded year: 2009
Why its hot: GetYourGuide is an online marketplace and internet booking engine for incredible travel experiences. The company is on a mission to transform ordinary trips into extraordinary experiences by turning customers’ travel dreams into reality. Back in May last year, GetYourGuide secured a huge funding of €500 million from SoftBank, which values it at €1.6 billion.
Wefox
Founder: Julian Teicke
Funding: €241 million
Founded year: 2015
Why its hot: The Berlin-based insurtech startup Wefox functions with brokers, insurance agencies, and individuals via a digital platform. The company facilitates simple and personalised consultations for different types of insurance. Wefox secured nearly €100 million additional Series B funding led by Omers Ventures along with a slew of other investors.
N26
Founders: Valentin Stalf, Maximilian Tayenthal
Funding: €621 million
Founded year: 2013
Why its hot: N26 was founded with the intention to change the future of banking and make it fast, digital, and easy to use for people all over the world. With its widespread success in Europe, N26 is focused on overseas expansion with the US being its priority. The banking app secured nearly €150 million as an extension to the Series D funding back in July last year, which gives it a valuation of €2.95 billion.
Celonis
Founders: Bastian Nominacher, Alexander Rinke, Martin Klenk
Funding: €334 million
Founded year: 2011
Why its hot: Celonis is one of the market leaders in AI-enhanced process mining and process excellence software. The company delivers significant business value by letting companies to discover inefficiencies across a range of operational functions. It also intends to improve business processes in real-time and monitor them continually to enhance optimal performance. The company raised nearly €261 million Series C funding, which values it at €2.25 billion.
Omio
Founder: Naren Shaam
Funding: €269 million
Founded year: 2012
Why its hot: Berlin-based Omio is a multi-modal travel booking platform. With this platform, users can compare prices, schedules, duration, and other variables for several routes in both markets at-a-glance. At present, Omio is available in 21 languages and attracts an average of 27 million users per month from more than 120 countries. The company secured nearly €132 million growth equity from Kinnevik, Temasek, and Hillhouse Capital.
About You
Founders: Sebastian Betz, Tarek Muller
Funding: €273 million
Founded year: 2014
Why its hot: Hamburg-based About You is one of the fastest growing e-commerce companies that offers a personalised shopping experience on your smartphone. The platform tailors to each customer’s individual style with its collection of over 150,000 products from over 1,000 brands. After securing nearly €265 million funding in 2018, About You attained the unicorn status.
Deposit Solutions
Founder: Tim Sievers
Funding: €171 million
Founded year: 2011
Why its hot: Deposit Solutions is the provider of the Open Banking platform for deposits connecting banks and depositors across Europe. Its mission is to establish open banking as the new industry standard for the deposits business. Open banking platform lets banks offer attractive third-party deposit products to their customers. Back in September 2019, the company secured €40 million Series E funding from Deutsche Bank.
CureVac
Founder: Ingmar Hoerr, Florian von der Mulbe
Funding: €309 million
Founded year: 2000
Why its hot: CureVac is a leading clinical stage biotechnology company in the field of messenger RNA (mRNA) technology with 20 years of expertise in developing and optimising this versatile molecule for medical purposes. The company applies its technologies for the development of cancer therapies, antibody therapies, the treatment of rare diseases, and prophylactic vaccines. CureVac bagged nearly €26 million Series G funding.
CHECK24
Founder: Henrich Blase
Founded year: 1999
Why its hot: CHECK24 offers private customers free comparisons in the areas of insurance, energy, finance, telecommunications, travel and shopping. It creates transparency that pays off for our customers directly through affordable tariffs and prices. The company is now valued at €1.5 billion.
Tricentis
Founders: Franz Fuchsberger, Wolfgang Platz
Funding: €150 million
Founded year: 2007
Why its hot: Tricentis helps enterprise development teams automate software testing via its product Tricentis Tosca. The company is a recognised leader in automation and continuous testing. It is widely credited for reinventing software testing. The platform enables enterprises to accelerate its digital transformation by increasing software release speed, improving software quality, and reducing costs. Back in 2017, the company achieved the unicorn status after securing €150 million Series B funding.
Main image picture credits: Deutscher Zukunftspreis
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