The Hottest Startups in Berlin

Berlin is still one among the most famous technology centers in Europe, with Atomico’s State of Technology Europe 2021 Report ranks the city second only to London in terms of investment capital, after its startups raised $7.1 billion (about 7.3 billion euros) in 2021 alone. on a continuous upward trajectory, with investment up 150% year-on-year since 2017.

Bettine Schmitz, angel investor and founder of auxxo, a venture capital fund focused on female founders. “We now have a solid base of angels, investors and scale startups that are producing future or C-level experienced founders.” With many key valuations, such as N26 and Have contentand new investors coming in, Berlin is more vibrant than ever.

Julien Fredonie, head of strategic joint venture partnerships in Europe and Africa for Honda’s Xcelerator program, notes Berlin’s transformation from an e-commerce and apps powerhouse into a public hub. serious deep tech: Think hardware, AI, Web3, space, new materials, energy, and biotechnology. “Berlin is becoming a leading center of climate technology in Europe,” he said. “It attracts global talent, with a good quality of life and an international mindset.”

Formo

A pioneer in lab-grown cheeses (which really taste good), Formo was founded in 2019 by Raffael Wohlgensinger and Britta Winterberg and became Europe’s first cellular agricultural company by How to use milk protein to produce animal-free dairy products. “Through precise fermentation, our rewinded microorganisms produce milk ingredients that resemble nature, reducing the need for industrial milk and eliminating some harmful factors,” says Wohlgensinger. for our food system. Lionheart Ventures, Happiness Capital and Albert Wenger pitch to raise 42 million euros—The largest venture funding round ever in the European food tech industry. Now, Formo’s focus is on scaling up production in micro-dairy mills, bringing the product to market by 2023 and, by 2030, replacing 10% of Europe’s dairy consumption. “Precise fermentation is used to produce highly specialized compounds, not large ingredients like milk, so we are investing in large facilities to incubate milk on a scale,” says Wohlgensinger. large tissue,” Wohlgensinger said. Taste remains the star of the north — Formo is working with Michelin-starred chef Ricky Saward to develop European specialties like mozzarella and ricotta. formo.bio

FORMEL Leather

Sarah Bechstein’s desire to make a career in dermatology began with a severe acne condition she experienced in her teens. While studying at the prestigious training hospital Charité Berlin, one of her professors treated her acne outbreak with a mixed drug, combining two or more drugs for a single treatment. more humanized. “I knew this was the treatment I wanted to give my patients,” says Bechstein. “As telemedicine liberalization happens, I see it as an opportunity for me to make a difference in this broken system.” With co-founders Florian Semler and Anton Kononov, Bechstein launched FORMEL Skin in June 2020, a digital platform for dermatologists to deliver faster diagnoses to patients with chronic skin diseases. Through a questionnaire and photo submission, specialists then form a personalized treatment plan that is adjusted through regular check-ups. It provided 150,000 treatments across Germany and Switzerland, with plans to expand beyond Europe soon. Prices start at around €50 for a monthly subscription and it will go up 36 million euros so far from Singular, Heal Capital and Vorwerk Ventures. formelskin.de

Enpal

With the title “Germany’s first green unicorn“After receiving 150 million euros from technology investor Softbank in October 2021, Enpal was founded in 2017 and is currently Germany’s largest provider of solar solutions, with over 12,000 landlords on its books. Its proprietary AI software plans a solar installation in seconds, and a team of Enpal installers will install photovoltaic panels on the roof. With a subscription model starting at €49 a month to pay for the rental and use of the panel, Enpal solves many of the pain points of solar adoption, from the bureaucracy of installation to high upfront costs. Enpal Academy trains future solar installers and employees who also have difficulty in 400 out of 1,000 employees trained and active in the installation. Founders Jochen Ziervogel, Mario Kohle and Viktor Wingert aim to make renewable energy accessible to everyone, both domestic and foreign, and aim to create a network of customers Enpal to share power for electricity, mobility and heating. enpal.de

Moss

Acceleration to reach unicorn status, Moss has been rated higher 500 million dollars less than two and a half years after launching in early 2019, with the latest funding led by Tiger Global Management and A-Star. It offers a corporate credit card that allows small and medium businesses (SMBs) to track their spending. Transactions show up instantly in the Moss dashboard and employees can create virtual cards for online payments. Published 20,000 cards and processed 250,000 transactions in Germany and the Netherlands, founders Ante Spittler, Anton Rummel, Ferdinand Meyer and Stephan Haslebacher are now bringing the Moss model to the UK. getmoss.com

Stenon

Founded in 2018, Stenon no longer has time to send soil samples to a lab for testing, helping farmers make faster and more efficient crop decisions. Startup companies make Mobile FarmLab soil analysis tool, which uses sensors to instantly generate parameters including soil temperature, humidity, nutrient content and pH values. Founder Dominic Roth said: “Soil data is an important part of making better decisions, increasing productivity while working sustainably. “Stenon is in a leadership position in providing real-time, high quality soil data and aims not only to provide high return on investment solutions for growers but also to build a soil data layer. globally to improve the food system. It is used by hundreds of farmers in the German-speaking region and will launch in the UK and California next year. Stenon has grown up 26.8 million dollars. stenon.io

Apryl

The explosive talent war for knowledge workers means that today’s companies are aggressively looking for ways to attract and retain the best employees, thereby creating an important shift of power between users. employers and employees. Apryl is the only fertility benefit platform in the EU, allowing companies to support employees on the road to parenthood. Employee benefits include subsidies for care navigation, counseling, access to clinics and treatments such as egg and sperm freezing, IVF, adoption, and surrogacy. . It raised $4.3 million. apryl.co

Mondu

The Buy Now, Pay Later model is rapidly entering the B2B sector and Mondu is the star of Germany’s entry into the field. Founded in 2021 by Gil Danziger, Malte Huffmann and Philipp Povel, it aims to allocate start-up financing and provide flexible payment methods with net terms 30, 60 or 90 daysand have seen thousands of businesses use its platform, stretching cleaning, beauty and manufacturing industry. Just seven months later $14 million seed round, Mondu raised $43 million in a Series A led by US venture capital fund Valar Ventures at the end of May. Next: build a strong team of 100 and expand to Austria before the end of the summer, then more European markets. mondu.ai

Get a loan

Vay users can order a KIA Niro electric vehicle, which is remotely controlled by a human “remote control machine” and driven directly to their location. Once they have driven themselves to their destination, they simply get out and tell the remote operator, who will take over and drive away. Founded by Thomas von der Ohe, Fabrizio Scelsi and Bogdan Djukic in 2018, it raised funds $95 million in Series B funding by the end of 2021, led by investors Kinnevik, Coatue and Eurazeo, with La Famiglia and Creandum their continued support. Vay will launch a fleet of remote control cars in Hamburgand investors claim that this service can 60% cheaper than Uber. Vay also wants to expand from driverless rental taxi services to logistics and delivery services. loan.io

Pile

Pile’s simple API platform allows existing fintechs, neobanks and startups to integrate cryptocurrencies via wallets or transactions into their services, dealing with the regulatory complexities of smart contracts in the background. The goal is to make it easier and smoother for fintechs to diversify their own products, reduce acquisition costs, and enhance customer loyalty. Founded in May 2022, it has been developed €2.8 million in pre-seed funding round with investors including Anthemis Women’s Innovation Lab, Barclays and Pitch founder Christian Reber. After leaving Penta, the B2B bank she co-founded, founder Jessica Holzbach had big plans for Pile: Expand the founding team from 4 to 12, test faster international payment gateways and develop tools to pay salaries in cryptocurrency. pile.capital

Alpas

Founded by Isabel Poppek and Nils Vollmer in 2020, Alpas’ procurement software helps medium to large manufacturing companies find, compare and manage suppliers. Currently, it focuses on industrial companies purchasing machinery and electrical parts, making sourcing at the top of the value chain more transparent. By applying AI, the software is 10 times faster than existing players, according to the founders, and streamline the identification, comparison and management of existing and previously unknown vendors. For example, when searching for a cooling fan, you can drill down into detailed supplier profiles, get automated quotes to match others, and predict potential supplier risks. level — save up to 40% on procurement costs. Y Combinator alumni include German consortium BASF, Swiss Federal Railways AG and Landis + Gyr among its clients. With investment from venture capitalist Ann-Kristin Achleitne and former Spotify CTO Andreas Ehn, it raised $2.2 million so far. alpas.ai