Thursday, January 13, 2022
Lots of big deals
It’s raining money for German startups
In the past year, German startups not only received more money than ever before. According to a study by EY, it was also the year of the really big deals with a volume of more than 100 million euros – the number of which has grown significantly.
According to a study, German startups have never received as much venture capital as they did last year. The total value more than tripled to almost 17.3 billion euros in 2021, according to the startup barometer published by the consulting firm EY. The number of financing rounds rose by 56 percent to 1,160, also setting a new record.
Startups in the software and analytics sector benefited the most. As reasons for the explosion, EY partner Thomas Prüver cited interest in new business models that have the potential to replace existing businesses, but also the high investment pressure on the investor side: “There is a lot of money in the market”.
According to the barometer, 2021 was also the year of big deals with a volume of more than 100 million euros. Their number rose to 33 from just eight the year before. Among others, the insurance startup Wefox, the online broker Trade Republic, the digital asset manager Scalable Capital and the solar system rental company Enpal were among the startups that were able to collect sums in the hundreds of millions.
The delivery service Gorillas can claim the title of the largest deal, which received 831 million euros and in which the Dax group Delivery Hero participates. Behind came the SAP competitor Celonis, which received 830 million euros from investors. With 10.5 billion euros, a large part of the 17.3 billion euros raised went to startups from Berlin. The federal state of Bavaria came in second at 4.4 billion euros.