You can find the newsflash for July and all other episodes of our podcast on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon Music, Deezer, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Radio Public, Breaker, Overcast, Castbox, Podcast Addict and Anchor.
In episode 83 as well, our monthly review starts with an overview of financing rounds (from minute 1:40): In July, LoopID completed its first financing round. The startup develops digital solutions for the circular economy, which are intended to help brands develop circular business models. For Flix, on the other hand, the first financing round is somewhat further back in the past – in its 13-year history, the mobility company has already convinced several investors. And in July the sequence continued: The global investment company EQT acquired a minority stake of 35 percent in Flix together with Kühne Holding. The biotech Scirhom secured 63 million euros, the delivery robot startup Cartken received 9.2 million euros, Planqc raised 50 million euros for its quantum computer development and the AI startup Trail raised 1.45 million euros.
Numerous financing rounds in July
There was also news about financing in July from the defense tech unicorn Helsing. The startup, which retrofits existing weapons systems with AI, was able to secure another 450 million euros. This puts the company valuation of the company founded in 2021 at between 1.8 and 2.7 billion euros according to Munich Startup Insights. Handelsblatt even estimates it at 4.5 billion euros. The valuation of the restaurant SaaS startup Allo is somewhat lower, with 4.6 million euros raised in July. The startup offers restaurant owners a digital end-to-end operating system for managing their establishments. The EIC Accelerator also distributed a lot of money: In the current funding round, seven of the 68 selected startups are from Munich. Dcubed, Kiutra, Marvel Fusion, Phlair, Proxima Fusion, Tozero and Turn 2x each receive 2.5 million euros in funding.
But that’s still not all: Because in July, several other startups were able to secure funds. Laundryhero, which offers an AI-optimized laundry service, found its first business angel and Workerhero was able to raise four million euros. The startup relies on AI-driven sourcing and matching to bring companies together with suitable candidates for open positions. Catalym also celebrated a major success. The startup was able to complete its Series D financing round with 138 million euros. The money is intended to advance the approval process for the cancer drug Visugromab. Specifically, phase 2b of the clinical trials is now pending. And with DeepC, investors struck again. With an expansion round of twelve million euros, the medtech startup completed its Series A.
Acquisitions, partnerships and other success stories in the newsflash
From minute 10:55, we continue with acquisitions of Munich startups that took place in July. The software holding company Everfield acquired the Munich smart parking provider Parkhere and Ryte completed its exit to Semrush. The startup, which specializes in website optimization from a user experience perspective, wants to benefit from the sales of the US company through the sale. Semrush, in turn, plans to expand its own offering with Ryte’s solution. In addition, the used car platform Instamotion was acquired, which saved the company from insolvency. The new owner, Czech online used car dealer Carvago and the EAG Group behind it, wants to conquer the DACH market.
There was also a lot happening in terms of expansions and partnerships in July, as our newsflash shows from minute 12:50 onwards. For example, the holiday home company Holidu has entered into a strategic partnership with French holiday home provider Toploc, and electric motor manufacturer Deepdrive is deepening its collaboration with BMW. Following a successfully completed pilot project with promising test stand results, the collaboration between the two companies now moves to the first real-world road test. In addition, Envoria has entered into a partnership with Vodafone Business and Nui Care is now working with ADAC.
To conclude this episode, we look at other important news from the ecosystem (from minute 15:20 onwards). For example, BioM celebrated the opening of MAxL in July, a new early-stage incubator specifically for promoting preseed and early-stage startup teams in the life sciences and healthtech sectors. Reverion was able to secure victory in the TUM Presidential Entrepreneurship Award, 2NA Fish won the Munich Startup Award and Epicure was finally crowned winner of the Munich Business Plan Competition 2024.
