#StartupTicker
+++ #StartupTicker +++ Live in STARTUPLAND: Vincenz Klemm (Baobab, Gabi) ++++ PropTech: Market shakeout is progressing +++ VC: Surprisingly many funds +++ Be sure to remember: GeneralMind +++ Konux grows to 9.5 million in sales +++ DHDL is coming back +++
What’s up New? In ours #StartupTicker we provide a compact overview of the most important startup news of the day (Friday, January 30th).
#STARTUPLAND
STARTUPLAND – Meet the brightest minds in tech, funding & innovation.
+++ 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 at STARTUPLAND: Vincenz Klemm (Baobab, Gabi)
Vincenz Klemm knows both worlds: building a startup in Silicon Valley – and founding one in Germany. In STARTUPLAND, the serial founder talks about his journey from the 320 million exit with Gabi in the USA to setting up Baobab in Europe. The focus is on the differences between the US and German startup ecosystems – and the question of which learnings can be transferred and which cannot. His topic in STARTUPLAND: Starting a business between Silicon Valley and Berlin.
#STARTUPTICKER
PropTech
+++ Market shakeout in the PropTech segment! With 1,472 (+17%) active PropTech startups, the German market will reach a new all-time high in 2025 – this is shown in the blackprint PropTech Report 2025. At the same time, the market shakeout is in full swing. “With 24 final market exits (passive reports), the market shakeout has reached a new high. Segments with high fragmentation, low differentiation or project-dependent revenue models are particularly affected,” says the report. Financing volume for PropTech startups falls by 17%. At the same time, venture debt continues to establish itself. The most active investors in the segment include Realyze Ventures, Vireo Ventures and High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF). (blackprint PropTech Report) More about PropTech
Venture capital
+++ Worth reading! “A surprising number of German venture capitalists are launching new funds at the start of the year. These include B2Venture, Ananda Ventures and Carsten Maschmeyer. This should give the industry a boost” – reports the Handelsblatt. In fact, some fund news is piling up right now. On the other hand, there is no question that some investors are currently struggling to fill their money reserves. (Handelsblatt) More about venture capital
GeneralMind
+++ You can hardly get any faster than that! The Berlin startup GeneralMind raised an impressive $12 million around six months “after starting business” – including from Lakestar, Leo Capital, Lucid Capital, Heliad and BOOOM. Behind the young company are the former Razor Group makers Tushar Ahluwalia, Shrestha Chowdhury and Oliver Dlugosch as well as Lennart von Hardenberg, Nishrit Shrivastava and Sergiu Soima. GeneralMind positions itself as an “AI autopilot for automating operational processes in industry and commerce”. The young company’s “autopilot” takes over the “digital paperwork along complex supply chains by autonomously executing manual, repetitive processes between email, Excel and ERP systems”. With the multi-million dollar investment, the team will immediately become a startup in the top league of the country’s emerging AI superstars (Octonomy, Peec AI and voice) with. More about GeneralMind
Konux
+++ Number check! The Munich startup Konux, which has already raised around 120 million euros in recent years, was only able to grow slightly in 2024. According to the annual financial statements, sales of the company, which was founded in 2014 and offers intelligent sensor systems for railway networks, rose to 9.5 million euros (previous year: 7.6 million). “Economic and budgetary restrictions in the rail industry in several core markets as well as delays in negotiations meant that some of the orders expected for 2024 could not be finalized as planned and were delayed accordingly,” the company said. The team was actually aiming for “sales growth of over 100%”. The annual deficit in 2024 was 14.4 million (previous year: 16.3 million). In total, setting up Konux by the end of 2024 already cost around 112.4 million. On average, Konux employed 111 people in 2024 (previous year: 144). The Bavarians have long had an eye on the costs. In 2025, the team expected sales growth of around 20% and a “stable to declining development of operating costs”. More about Konux
The lion’s den
+++ Early return! The successful VOX founder show “The Lions’ Den” (DHDL) will be back with new episodes on February 23rd. The eight new episodes can be seen on free TV every Monday at 8:15 p.m. They will be published again a week in advance on RTL+. The first episode of the new season will be available there from February 16th. The lion pride again consists of Frank Thelen, Judith Williams, Carsten Maschmeyer, Ralf Dümmel, Dagmar Wöhrl and Janna Ensthaler. More about DHDL
Fundraising
+++ Investors have become cautious. And there are no signs that this will change in 2026. If founders still want to raise capital, they should avoid the biggest cardinal mistakes. More in the guest article by Lucas Römer (Roemer Capital)
Exits
+++ Exit time in the German startup scene! The million-dollar exits of Hornetsecurity, Cognigy, sevdesk, IDnow, Contentserv, Iron, Komoot, Urban Sports Club, Scanbot SDK and Libra made headlines last year. More in the deal monitor
#DEALMONITOR
Investments & Exits
+++ RobCo receives 100 million +++ Recare collects 37 million +++ metergrid receives 10 million +++ SEAL Robotics receives 2.2 million +++ STS Ventures invests in mozaik +++ Financial injection for Service4Charger +++ Thieme buys VIREEED +++ Sword Health buys Kaia Health. More in the deal monitor
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