Berlin is a hotbed of notable tech startups across industries such as fintech, blockchain, mobility and more. The city is a breeding ground for entrepreneurial skills and capital that makes it a thriving ecosystem for next-generation tech companies. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, these German businesses were thriving quite well and have opted for Kurzarbeit (short-time work) instead of job loss.
Top deals in Berlin in Q2 2020
Some of these fast-growing startups have also raised further investment to help them grow and further develop their business and products. Having said that, here is a list of Berlin-based tech startups that have bagged maximum funding from VC investors in Q2 2020 as reported by PitchBook.
N26
Founder/s: Valentin Stalf, Maximilian Tayenthal
Founded year: 2013
Total funding: €711 million
Germany-based digital banking startup N26 works 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 having over 5 million customers in 25 markets, N26 is focused on overseas expansion with the US being its priority.
The banking app secured nearly €92 million as an extension to the Series D funding back in July last year in May 2020 from its existing investors. With this investment, its valuation goes to €3.2 billion and it becomes one of the highest valued fintech companies across the world. Also, the investment during COVID-19 pandemic crisis marks the shift in digital banking adoption.
TIER Mobility
Founder/s: Lawrence Leuschner, Julian Blessin, Matthias Laug
Founded year: 2018
Total funding: €138 million
The Berlin-based micro-mobility startup Tier Mobility is a hot startup from Germany that specialises in e-scooter rentals and operates in 55 cities across 11 countries. Recently, the startup unveiled the most advanced e-scooter with user swappable batteries, indicator lights, and an inbuilt helmet. This best-in-class e-scooter lets users can earn free rides by swapping the batteries at the various charging stations set up across the UK.
Back in June this year, TIER Mobility secured €20 million from Northzone, White Star Capital, Goodwater Capital and RTP Global as an extension to its Series B funding round. The ride-sharing and e-mobility startup prepares for its UK expansion with this investment.
Contentful
Founder/s: Sascha Konietzke, Paolo Negri
Founded year: 2013
Total funding: €143 million
Berlin-based Contentful works with the mission to help leading global brands manage content across digital channels and products. It offers a content platform for enterprises and lets them unify the same on a single hub. This lets large enterprises distribute content to their customers and provides JAMstack website template for all global companies.
The leading headless CMS startup completed its Series E funding round by securing nearly €71 million in a round led by Sapphire Ventures along with participation from Salesforce Ventures, General Catalyst, and other new and existing investors. This investment will be used to accelerate the expansion process and meet the requirements and momentum for the omnichannel platform.
Trade Republic
Founder/s: Christian Hecker, Thomas Pischke, Marco Cancellieri
Founded year: 2015
Total funding: €79 million
Trade Republic is a mobile-only, commission-free broker, which lets everyone to invest easily in stocks, derivatives, and ETFs. The company works as a broker to enable a more intuitive, more mobile, and permanently commission-free process. As of 2019, over 150,000 customers have opened a Trade Republic account, which makes it a leading Neo Broker in Europe.
In April this year, Trade Republic raised €62 million Series B funding round led by Founders Fund and Accel. This is one of the largest Series B funding round in the fintech industry in Europe. And, the company announced that the same will be used for the development of an European platform for mobile investing and trading.
solarisBank
Founder/s: Andreas Bittner, Marko Wenthin
Founded year: 2016
Total funding: €155 million
solarisBank, which possesses a German banking licence has built an API-accessible banking platform to meet the requirements of the digital economy. This platform lets digital businesses create custom solutions as per their unique financial requirements. Its vision is to boost the growth of the digital economy with its banking services, payment services and add-on services.
In June 2020, solarisBank bagged €60 million Series C funding taking its valuation to €320 million. This investment round was led by HV Holtzbrinck Ventures, existing investor yabeo, BBVA, ABN AMRO Ventures, SBI Group, Hegus, Global Brain and Lakestar, and new investors Storm Ventures, Samsung Catalyst Fund, and Vulcan Capital.
Taxfix
Founder/s: Lino Teuteberg, Mathis Büchi
Founded year: 2016
Total funding: €100 million
Berlin-based Taxfix is a mobile tax app, which automates the tax filing process. It asks users a set of 70 simple questions from around 3,000 questions customised to the users’ circumstances to maximise their tax refunds. It lets users submit the filing to the respective tax office and get up to €1000 tax return on an average.
Recently, Taxfix secured around €60 million Series C funding from Index Ventures along with existing investors. This funding round was led by Index Ventures, Creandum, Valar Ventures, and Redalpine. The German mobile tax app will use the investment to grow its teams in Madrid and Berlin and expand into new countries.
Homeday
Founder/s: Dmitri Uvarovski, Steffen Wicker
Founded year: 2015
Total funding: €60 million
Homeday is one of the largest platforms in Germany to find the best local agents and sell properties. The proptech startup operates with the mission to revolutionise the real estate market all over the world by building the global destination for property owners who want to sell their properties. It provides real estate sellers a full brokerage service sans any commission.
In June this year, Homeday secured €40 million funding from Axel Springer SE and Purplebricks. Besides this investment, the Berlin-based startup is backed by Project A, a leading VC firm in Europe with offices in London, Munich and Berlin. Homeday will use the investment for the development of its hybrid brokerage solutions.
Zeitgold
Founder/s: Jan Deepen, Kobi Eldar, Stefan Jeschonnek
Founded year: 2015
Total funding: €51.2 million
The Zeitgold app lets users scan receipts and invoices and its software matches these documents automatically with bank account transactions. All the data and documents will be transferred to the tax advisor automatically. Even the tax advisors can use the customised version of the software that was launched last year.
The intelligent software platform for small business accounting automation secured €27 million Series B funding in a round led by Vintage Investment Partners in May. The round involves funding from existing investors such as Battery Ventures, HV Holtzbrinck Ventures, Saban Ventures, and btov Partners, as well as insurance company AXA Germany and Deutsche Bank. The investment will be used to develop its proprietary AI-powered software and continue focusing on the growth of the business to become the leading accounting automation platform in Europe.
Zeotap
Founder/s: Daniel Heer, Projjol Banerjea, Stephan Schwebe
Founded year: 2014
Total funding: €57.2 million
Zeotap provides SaaS-based customer intelligence platform (CIP), which lets companies to connect and transform the first-party data into actionable intelligence. Also, these companies will be able to predict and understand their customers’ behaviours and invest in more meaningful experiences. Its newly launched ID+ project empowers the marketing ecosystem of publishers, brands, and vendors alike with a privacy-compliant mechanism so that they can overcome identity resolution challenges.
In July this year, Zeotap bagged nearly €35 million in a Series C funding round from Neue Capital, coparion, Caroline Rupert’s family office, Kathaka, MathCapital and TTCER Partners and existing investors including New Science Ventures, Iris Capital, Capnamic Ventures, HERE, Innov8 (Singtel), and IONIQ and business angels. It intends to use the investment for the development of its customer intelligence platform.
PlusDental
Founder/s: Lukas Brosseder, Peter Baumgart
Founded year: 2017
Total funding: €32 million
PlusDental, a Berlin-based digital dentistry platform specialises in digital dentistry and aesthetic orthodontic treatments with clear aligners. Initially, it was selling sets of transparent splints for teeth straightening and offered customers to make their teeth imprint at the comfort of their home and receive a customised set of splints. Last year, it partnered with dental practices to scan the oral cavity.
This dentistry platform has secured €32 million Series C funding from international investors in May. The investment was led by Hong Kong-based Ping An Global Voyager Fund, Christian Wegner, the founder of the Re-commerce platform Momox, Lakestar, and HV Holtzbrinck. PlusDental will use this fresh Investment to develop its proprietary digital dentistry platform and continue the expansion of business in Germany and Europe.
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