It’s been a challenging year in German startup land. VC funding took a nosedive this year, dropping from $12bn in 2022 to $7.3bn as of December 7, and record numbers of startups went insolvent.
At the beginning of October, 238 startups had gone bankrupt in Germany this year, which is more than the number of insolvencies across the whole of 2022.
There were, however, some reasons to be merry. A few companies raised megarounds and three new unicorns were crowned: defence tech startup Helsing, AI-based translation software DeepL, and savings and investment fintech Raisin.
But who could the next stars of the German tech scene be?
Sifted asked investors from HV Capital, Cavalry Ventures, XAnge and La Famiglia to look into their crystal balls and select the companies they think will be the ones to watch in 2024. The catch? The VCs were not allowed to nominate portfolio companies.
Fadwa Ouardani, VC investor at XAnge
XAnge is a French-German fund investing in digital, deeptech and impact startups
PROSION, Cologne
PROSION Therapeutics is targeting complex so-called "undruggable" proteins by bridging the gap between small molecules and biologics. Its first target is ENA/VSP proteins, which are crucial in cell migration and metastasis in aggressive cancers. PROSION’s technology not only allows clinical targeting of these proteins, but also creates molecules that are small, cell membrane-permeable, chemically stable and protected by patent synthesis.
Polar Signals, Berlin
Polar Signals provides a cloud-based service for continuous profiling, a method that allows real-time software performance analysis. Unlike traditional monitoring, which analyses performance at intervals, continuous profiling collects live data on application behaviour, such as CPU usage, memory consumption and function execution times.
Constant monitoring helps identify performance bottlenecks and inefficiencies, allowing software systems to optimise performance and reduce infrastructure costs.
Packmatic, Berlin
Packmatic aims to streamline the packaging procurement process by helping businesses source the best packaging suppliers and prices based on their specific needs, and transition to sustainable packaging more quickly.
Björn Loose, partner at Cavalry Ventures
Cavalry is an early-stage investor focused on European technology companies
Workflex, Berlin
Even though workcations generated a lot of hype during the pandemic, it looks like they're here to stay. Companies will be expected to offer working remotely as an official employee benefit, raising issues of compliance. Workflex aims to eliminate these risks by addressing all the key tax and legal factors associated with work-from-anywhere, but also with business travel.
Sereact, Stuttgart
Germany’s south is a powerhouse for industrial start-ups, so Stuttgart-based Sereact is certainly one to keep an eye on. It is developing AI systems to automate picking and packing robots but using a special ingredient to do so: an algorithm that enables active manipulation of the environment to facilitate the picking of a wide variety of objects, regardless of shape or texture.
As pick and pack is the step in the process that requires the most human supervision, Sereact significantly increases throughput (the amount of material or items passing through a system or process).
Unnbound, Berlin
Unnbound provides a digital logistics platform that taps into a network of warehouses, making corporate logistics much more flexible. It enables manufacturers and retailers to adjust their warehousing capacity as needed, which is becoming increasingly important in a time of high market volatility.
Judith Dada, partner at La Famiglia VC
La Famiglia is an early-stage VC fund backing tech companies across Europe and the US
Procuros, Hamburg
Founded in 2021, Procuros is building a supply-chain integration platform for all B2B transactions, enabling businesses to connect with their partners through a single API and manage all their B2B operations across industries.
Kombo, Berlin
Kombo is building a unified API that companies can use to offer HR, payroll and recruiting software. The team has reached €1m ARR (annual recurring revenue) within 12 months of launching.
Fabian Gruner, principal at HV Capital
HV Capital invests in digital companies at early stage and growth
ANYbotics
ANYbotics builds autonomous walking robots for industrial inspections and maintenance. The robots excel in navigating challenging terrains, marking a leap in robotics by replacing human labour in hazardous and inaccessible areas.
Remberg
Remberg’s relationship management software focuses not on customers, but on assets such as industrial machinery, vehicles, solar systems and buildings. Its platform allows the flexible management of multi-stakeholder interactions, including after-sales service, maintenance and access.
NewOrbit
NewOrbit develops Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) satellites that aim to fly less than 200km above the Earth's surface, two-thirds lower than the altitude of current LEO satellites such as Starlink. This proximity to Earth presents unique challenges, including increased propulsion needs and specialised design considerations. But it also offers unparalleled advantages, such as markedly higher-resolution imaging and the potential for transformative space-based mobile networks.
