#StartupTicker
+++ #StartupTicker +++ STARTUPLAND: Capital is not the solution – access is +++ Startup of the week: Levelbuild +++ Taxdoo is ceasing its previous business at the end of April +++ Join Capital launches new fund (235 million) +++ Katharina Wilhelm switches from Index to Creandum +++
What’s up New? In ours #StartupTicker we provide a compact overview of the most important startup news of the day (Monday March 9th).
#STARTUPLAND: 9 more days!
STARTUPLAND: Founders. VCs. Visionaries
+++ Our third STARTUPLAND Conference will take place on March 18th at the RheinEnergieStadion in Cologne. A fascinating journey into the startup scene awaits you again – with lectures from successful founders, educational interviews and pitches that inspire. More about STARTUPLAND
Live in STARTUPLAND: serial founder and investor Dominik Matyka
Serial founder and investor Dominik Matyka has been at the intersection of venture capital, entrepreneurship and strategic network building for over a decade. With Cavalry Ventures (now NAP), his family office and the #BCD (bettercalldominik) network, a network of 700+ investors and entrepreneurs who act as a virtual family office, he not only allocated capital, but above all built up one thing: reliable access. In STARTUPLAND Dominik talks about why capital has become a commodity today – and why the actual differentiation comes from networks, trust structures and curated access. The question is why most companies (whether startup or scale-up) fail not because of funding or grow too slowly, but because of a lack of doors to customers, decision-makers and co-investors. His theme: Capital is not the solution – access is
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Level build
+++ The young company Level build is our startup of the week! The startup from Leipzig, founded by Michael Woitag, Martin Walter and Christopher Moritz Arndt, provides a no-code platform that aims to significantly reduce digital complexity in the construction industry. “Companies can map their processes without programming, reduce software costs and gradually digitize them,” it says. There are more new startups in our startup radar
Taxdoo
+++ End! Out of! Over! And a new start! The Hamburg-based TaxTech Taxdoo has raised around 75 million euros in recent years – including from well-known investors Accel, Tiger Global and Visionaries Club. So far, the company, founded in 2016, has automated the payment of sales tax for retailers when they sell products to other European countries. But that’s over now! “We are the market leader. We have around 3,000 customers. We handle 14.5 billion euros in e-commerce sales. And yet my co-founder Christian and I decided to stop this business at the end of April,” writes founder Roger Gothmann on Linkedin. Instead, the Hanseatic people want to “concentrate all resources on what secures the future of the company: “AI-supported accounting for online retailers. A system that doesn’t just tell a retailer how profitable they are at the end of the month: but every day.” A bold step at a time when AI is developing rapidly. But this is clear to the team! “Will it be easy? No. We are consciously accepting a temporary loss of sales. We are entering a market with financially strong competitors. And we are relying on something that changes daily: artificial intelligence,” writes Gothmann. Respect for the consequences! (Linkedin) More about Taxdoo
JoinCapital
+++ Millions for DeepTech teams! The Berlin-based early stage investor Join Capital, founded in 2015, is currently launching its third fund (target size 235 million). The team around Jan Borgstädt, Sebastian von Ribbentrop and Tobias P. Schirmer is planning 25 investments in DeepTech startups (DefenceTech, SpaceTech and Security). The European Investment Fund (EIF) has already invested 50 million euros in the new Join fund via the InvestEU Defense Equity Facility (DEF). The lender recently invested in ISPTech in this country, among other things. The company from Lampoldshausen develops propulsion systems for spacecraft that are based on green fuels. Join’s portfolio otherwise includes over 30 startups from all over Europe. More about Join Capital
Creandum – Catherine Wilhelm
+++ Reinforcements! Katharina Wilhelm, previously a partner at the well-known investor Index Ventures, is moving to the Swedish early-stage venture capitalist Creandum as a partner – see Manager Magazine. From Berlin, Wilhelm, who has been on board with Index since 2021, will in future manage the investor’s German office together with Simon Schmincke. The Swedish lender has been active on a large scale in Germany for several years. In 2024, the Klara investor launched its last fund (500 million euros). In this country, Creandum is involved in CarOnSale, Superscale, doinstruct, Project Eaden, Sereact and Plancraft, among others. (Manager Magazine) More about Creandum
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Investments & Exits
+++ Battery company UniverCell receives 30 million +++ Procurement startup Lio collects 30 million +++ Cellbox receives 3.5 million +++ Financial injection for Fainite. More in the deal monitor
What else happened recently? That’s always in the #StartupTicker
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