All data on the Munich startup scene in review 2021 come from our Data & Insights DashboardIf you want to learn more, you can also search the database for further insights. For easier handling, we have created a Guide as well as Tutorial videos created that explain the most important functions.
A total of €4.2 billion was invested in startups from Munich and the surrounding area last year, almost four times the amount of €1.2 billion in 2020. This also impressively surpassed the previous record year of 2019, in which Munich startups raised a total of €1.7 billion. The number of investments, however, remained almost constant: in 2020, there were 171 closings, followed by 173 this year. The average investment volume has therefore increased significantly in the year just ended. While it was around €7 million in 2020, startups received an average of €24.3 million per financing in 2021.
Numerous mega-investments have played an important role in this development. The list is led by Celonis, the startup raised $1 billion in its Series D750 million euros was also Ionity a corporate spinoff of several car manufacturers such as BMW, Mercedes and VW. In third place is Flixbus with €267 million in its Series G financing round. A total of ten investments broke the €100 million mark last year. In 2020, only one startup managed this: Lilium.
Financing between €100 million and €10 million also increased. While 30 Munich startups secured investments of this size last year, the number rose significantly to 42 in 2021. Incidentally, in 2019, there were only 18 financing rounds in this area.
The development of individual sectors
Given the windfall that reached Munich-based startups last year, it's no surprise that almost all sectors benefited. Enterprise software startups raised a total of €1.5 billion in 2021, more than any other sector. In 2020, the figure was €204 million. The transportation sector followed in second place with €1.4 billion (2020: €511 million). Third place went to the energy sector with €835 million (2020: €152 million).
The robotics sector also saw a particularly significant leap forward. Munich-based robotics startups raised a total of €400 million in 2021, more than six times the previous year (2020: €62.8 million). Startups in the travel and legal sectors, on the other hand, received less than in the previous year. Startups in the travel industry secured €47.7 million, around 30 percent less funding than in 2020 (€68.4 million). Legal startups, which received €18.2 million from investors in 2020, received just €1.5 million in the record year of 2021.
The Munich startup ecosystem is worth 41.3 billion euros
All these developments, of course, had an impact on company valuations. Munich not only welcomed Germany's first decacorn, Celonis – a startup valued at over $10 billion – but also increased the number of Unicorns continued to grow last year. Four Munich-based startups, Sono Motors, Personio, Agile Robots, and Scalable Capital, achieved a company valuation of $1 billion or more. Based on the combined company values, the Munich startup ecosystem was valued at €41.3 billion at the end of last year. In 2020, the ecosystem was still worth €20.2 billion.
Recently, the number of exits also reached a new record high: A total of 27 Munich-based startups were acquired by other companies or listed on the stock market last year. Last year, the founders of 15 startups took such steps. The most sensational of these were probably the IPOs of Lilium and Sono Motors (We have summarized the most important exits of the last year here).
A review of the fourth quarter of 2021
In the fourth quarter of the previous year, Munich-based startups raised a total of just under €1.4 billion, compared to €304 million in the same quarter of the previous year. A large portion of this sum, €750 million, was accounted for by Ionity (Growth Equity and Late VC). In addition, Personio 233 million euros in a Series E. Third place Helsing, which raised almost 100 million euros (We have summarized the most important investments of the quarter here).
The number of investment rounds in the fourth quarter of 2021, at 33, was below the level of Q3 (45 financings) and the same quarter of the previous year (38 financings). The extensive investments in Ionity, Personio, and Helsing caused the average size of investment rounds to skyrocket to around €42.4 million this fall. The average in Q3 2021 was €17.4 million, compared to €8 million in the same quarter of the previous year. This also puts the fourth quarter of 2020 significantly above the annual average of €24.3 million.
The fund landscape in Munich is also developing positively. In the last three months of last year, Munich-based venture capital firms launched three new funds with a total investment volume of just over €1 billion. A year earlier, five funds were launched during the same period, with a total investment volume of €2.7 billion. Incidentally, 14 new funds entered the scene in 2021, with a total volume of around €6.1 billion.
