# Startuprad.io: the investor podcast, by episode

> Startuprad.io: European startups and venture capital, with a German-speaking view. 395 episodes, each linked to the investors in it.

Source: https://millionrounds.com/podcasts/startuprad (Millionrounds; every figure on the page links to its filing or article)

The week's news · new episode 22 Oct 2026

# Startuprad.io

Hosted by **Startuprad.io**

European startups and venture capital, with a German-speaking view.

Follow on Apple PodcastsBrowse the episodes

**395** episodes

**5** investors heard as guests

**33 min** an average episode

64 in the last 12 months

## The regulars

Investors named as guests in the most episode titles on Startuprad.io.

[DR *1* **Detlev Riesner** 1 episode](https://millionrounds.com/person/detlev-riesner)[JE *1* **Jochen Engert** FlixBus](https://millionrounds.com/person/jochen-engert)[MP *1* **Maria Pennanen** 1 episode](https://millionrounds.com/person/maria-pennanen)[MW *1* **Michael Wax** Michael Wax](https://millionrounds.com/person/michael-wax-2)[NB *1* **Nikolaus Bayer** BeAI GmbH](https://millionrounds.com/person/nikolaus-bayer)

## Every episode 395 · page 1 of 14

- 395 **Thomas Walther, TU Darmstadt: How Focused Energy Spun Out | E783** 22 Oct 2026 · 1h 11m [EIC Fund](https://millionrounds.com/fund/eic-fund) About this episode E 783, Focused Energy & TU Darmstadt: The Spin-Off System German startups from university labs rarely become global companies. Focused Energy, the TU Darmstadt laser fusion spin-off behind a $240M Series A, did. TU Darmstadt VP Thomas Walther explains the system behind it. TU Darmstadt says it has produced close… ▶Show page
- 394 **Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt, Angel: Green Tech Must Be Cheaper | E782** 15 Oct 2026 · 57 min [Tom Steyer](https://millionrounds.com/person/tom-steyer) About this episode Business angel Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt screened about 200 German startups and made 10 green tech investments since May 2024. Her rule: being greener is not enough. Your product has to be cheaper, faster and better. Host Jörn "Joe" Menninger asks her what that means for founders and investors in Germany, Austria, and… ▶Show page
- 393 **E 781, Europe's Scale-Up Gap: Why Strong Hubs Don't Add Up** 8 Oct 2026 · 24 min [European Commission](https://millionrounds.com/fund/european-commission) About this episode Everyone asks where the Silicon Valley of Europe is. Jörn "Joe" Menninger asks a better question: when the capability your company needs sits in another European hub, can you actually use it? Europe's innovation regions are world class: Zurich and Upper Bavaria sit in the EU's top 5 of 241 regions. But when European… ▶Show page
- 392 **Q3 2026 DACH Review: Isar in Orbit, Helsing $18B, Uber Bid** 1 Oct 2026 · 27 min [Delivery Hero](https://millionrounds.com/fund/delivery-hero) About this episode The Q3 2026 review for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Germany passed the Strategic Necessity Test; Q3 posed the Ownership Test. In this episode: the public prediction card (1 confirmed at 8/10 confidence, in 11 days) · Helsing $1.8B at $18B · Quantum Systems $1.2B · Proxima Fusion €411M · Isar Aerospace reaches… ▶Show page
- 391 **E 779, Leapsome: 10 Years to an Agentic HR Platform** 29 Sept 2026 · 57 min [Creandum](https://millionrounds.com/fund/creandum)[Visionaries Club](https://millionrounds.com/fund/visionaries-club) About this episode Leapsome bootstrapped 5 years to a $60M Series A, rebuilt its core as an HRIS in 2024, and now runs EU-hosted AI agents for 2,000+ organizations. Co-CEO Jenny von Podewils explains the 10-year bet. Chapters: 03:52 Five bootstrapped years 12:44 The 2024 HRIS rebuild 17:04 AI agents in production 30:48 The Density Gap:… ▶Show page
- 390 **E 778, Isar Aerospace, ESA & Europe's Sovereignty Stack** 24 Sept 2026 · 20 min [In-Q-Tel](https://millionrounds.com/fund/iqt)[Scaleup Europe Fund](https://millionrounds.com/fund/scaleup-europe-fund) About this episode E 778, Isar Aerospace, ESA & Europe's Sovereignty Stack Europe found the money and the customers in September: Isar Aerospace reached orbit, The Exploration Company raised $450M and signed ESA for up to €760M, and Mistral raised €3B. Ownership is the trade-off, according to KfW, more than 3 quarters of Q1 venture… ▶Show page
- 389 **E 777, AI Agents, Missing APIs and Mittelstand Germany** 22 Sept 2026 · 30 min About this episode Code costs fell. Software licences did not. Delia Hallberg of Amadeni AI on what actually makes a Mittelstand Germany company fire a vendor it has used for years, and it is not the price. Part 2 of 2. Horizontal tools stay; everyone needs email and a browser. The exposure sits in rigid vertical products sold to… ▶Show page
- 388 **E 776, AI Agents Inside a German Mittelstand Company** 17 Sept 2026 · 31 min About this episode AI agents are running an IT department at one of the newer German startups, and its co-founder says most companies adding AI to their processes are about to make things worse. Delia Hallberg founded Amadeni AI in January 2026 and builds AI-supported custom software for Mittelstand Germany. Part 1 of 2 is the… ▶Show page
- 387 **E 775, EDIP, SAFE & the EU Defence Fund: Who Can Sell** 15 Sept 2026 · 34 min [European Union](https://millionrounds.com/fund/european-union) About this episode Germany has the largest defence budget in the European Union, 90.6 billion euros in 2024, and was not among the 19 member states that applied for SAFE. Austria was not among them either, and the Court's 2021-2027 country breakdown records no EU defence funding for Austria. Switzerland is not on the eligibility list… ▶Show page
- 386 **E 774, Delaware Flips: Why Europe Loses the Parent** 11 Sept 2026 · 41 min [European Investment Bank](https://millionrounds.com/fund/european-investment-bank) About this episode Only 3.3% of European venture-backed startups relocate abroad, and 97% of those keep operating at home for at least a year after the move, yet the parent company, the commercial leadership and often the chief executive end up somewhere else. Jörn "Joe" Menninger reads the European Investment Bank's January 2026… ▶Show page
- 385 **E 773, Startup News August 2026: Moss Unicorn, NEURA Robotics, Scalable Capital, Germany, Austria, Switzerland** 7 Sept 2026 · 31 min About this episode Startup news Germany, Austria, Switzerland, August 2026. German startups produced their tenth unicorn when Moss hit a one-billion-dollar valuation. NEURA Robotics completed two acquisitions. Scalable Capital shipped the first pension-reform product. DACH startup news from Startuprad.io. H1 2026 venture capital… ▶Show page
- 384 **Startup News Germany, Austria, Switzerland July 2026: The Structural Rotation** 3 Sept 2026 · 29 min [Delivery Hero](https://millionrounds.com/fund/delivery-hero)[Eli Lilly](https://millionrounds.com/fund/eli-lilly)[Lakestar](https://millionrounds.com/fund/lakestar) About this episode July 2026 was the month Germany's venture capital market completed its structural rotation from software to hardware. Helsing raised $1.8 billion at an $18 billion valuation, Quantum Systems closed $1.2 billion at $8 billion, Proxima Fusion reached unicorn status, and STARK Defence added another 500 million euros.… ▶Show page
- 383 **E 771, Europe's SME Credit Gap Is an Underwriting Problem** 27 Aug 2026 · 54 min About this episode Europe’s small business credit gap is not a shortage of money. It is a shortage of any cheap way to underwrite borrowers who are all different from each other. Patrick Stäuble founded Teylor in Zurich seven years ago. It lends to small and medium-sized businesses, factors invoices, runs a private debt… ▶Show page
- 382 **E 770, Unicorn Atlas #5: HappyRobot's $1.2B Address Gap** 25 Aug 2026 · 27 min [Eurazeo](https://millionrounds.com/fund/eurazeo)[Prysm Capital](https://millionrounds.com/fund/prysm-capital) About this episode On 4 August 2026 HappyRobot announced a 150 million dollar Series C at a 1.2 billion dollar post-money valuation, led by Prysm Capital and co-led by Eurazeo. Three days later the Technical University of Munich announced it as its 23rd unicorn. HappyRobot is a Delaware corporation headquartered in San Francisco, and… ▶Show page
- 381 **E 769, Talent Without Recycling: The European Scale-Up Question, Part 5** 13 Aug 2026 · 32 min [Atomico](https://millionrounds.com/fund/atomico)[Delivery Hero](https://millionrounds.com/fund/delivery-hero) About this episode E 769 · Part 5 of The European Scale-Up Question, recorded solo by Joe Menninger in Frankfurt am Main. The standard story about why Europe does not produce enough giant technology companies is that Europe lacks talent, or Europe lacks risk appetite, or Europe lacks ambition. That story is wrong. Europe has 3.5… ▶Show page
- 380 **E 768, Unicorn Atlas #2: Moss, Berlin's Finance-AI Unicorn Betting on Control, Not Autonomy** 10 Aug 2026 · 20 min [Cherry Ventures](https://millionrounds.com/fund/cherry-ventures) About this episode Hello and welcome everybody. This is E 768 of Startuprad.io, recorded solo by Joe Menninger from Frankfurt am Main. Unicorn Atlas entry number two. On 5 August 2026, Berlin fintech Moss closed a €35 million Series C at a €1 billion valuation, becoming Germany's newest unicorn. Portage, the fintech-specialist… ▶Show page
- 379 **E 767, Unicorn Atlas #1: Helsing, Europe's $18 Billion Defence AI Bet** 30 Jul 2026 · 35 min [CPP Investments](https://millionrounds.com/fund/cpp-investments)[Torsten Reil](https://millionrounds.com/person/torsten-reil) About this episode Hello and welcome everybody. This is E 767 of Startuprad.io, recorded solo by Joe Menninger from Frankfurt am Main. This is the first entry in a new series, the Unicorn Atlas. Every entry takes one European unicorn and asks who owns it, what it actually makes, whether the headline numbers hold up under primary… ▶Show page
- 378 **E 766, Germany's New Startup Strategy Is Really a Scaleup Strategy** 28 Jul 2026 · 24 min [Future Fund](https://millionrounds.com/fund/future-fund) About this episode Germany's new Startup and Scaleup Strategy: 152 measures, DefenceTech, procurement reform, DeepTech financing. Why this is really about the European scaleup gap, and whether Germany can close it. Hello and welcome everybody. This is E 766 of Startuprad.io, recorded solo by Joe Menninger from Frankfurt am Main. A… ▶Show page
- 377 **Europe's Startup Recovery Never Happened (H1 2026 Review)** 16 Jul 2026 · 27 min About this episode Europe's startup ecosystem isn't in a traditional recovery. In this special H1 2026 review, Jörn “Joe” Menninger analyzes why venture capital has undergone a structural rotation rather than returning to the previous cycle's patterns. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io… ▶Show page
- 376 **Germany's AI Bottleneck May Be Electricity** 9 Jul 2026 · 25 min About this episode Could electricity, not chips or talent, be Germany's real AI bottleneck? In this episode, Jörn “Joe” Menninger covers the GreenTech Monitor 2026, the AI-energy nexus, and why data centers are now central to industrial competitiveness. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io… ▶Show page
- 375 **The Defence Capital Supercycle: Europe's New Venture Capital Infrastructure** 2 Jul 2026 · 26 min About this episode More than €1.7 billion of defence-linked capital moved through Europe in a single month. In this news analysis, Jörn "Joe" Menninger examines why defence technology has become the dominant European venture asset class, tracing STARK's €3.5 billion valuation two years after founding, KNDS's preparation for Europe's… ▶Show page
- 374 **Germany's VC Market After the Correction: Stable Is Not Strong** 25 Jun 2026 · 22 min About this episode German venture capital has stabilised after a multi-year correction, but stable is not the same as strong. In this analysis, Jörn "Joe" Menninger unpacks a market that has stopped falling yet remains highly concentrated, with AI, defence technology, biotech, energy infrastructure, and robotics absorbing a growing… ▶Show page
- 373 **Europe's Scale-Up Gap Isn't Capital, It's Demand** 18 Jun 2026 · 19 min About this episode Europe doesn’t just have a capital problem, it has a customer problem. In this scale-up series episode, Joe Menninger argues that even with funding fixed, European startups struggle to scale because institutions buy slowly: fragmented, risk-averse procurement that favors incumbents. Capital keeps startups alive;… ▶Show page
- 372 **European VC: The IPO Myth and the AI Wrapper Trap** 17 Jun 2026 · 25 min About this episode Europe’s venture market has matured, but the IPO dream still misleads founders, and “generative AI wrappers” may soon struggle to raise. Partech partner Simone Riva on where European VC actually works, the costliest founder mistake, and what makes a startup defensible. A clear-eyed read on capital efficiency, exits,… ▶Show page
- 371 **When to Raise Venture Capital, and When It Destroys Discipline** 11 Jun 2026 · 44 min About this episode Capital accelerates everything, including your problems. Partech partner Simone Riva on when European startups should raise venture capital and when it quietly destroys discipline. Using Emma Sleep (≈€950M revenue, minimal funding) and Flix (capital-intensive, global) as bookends, he lays out the decision rules that… ▶Show page
- 370 **Europe's Scale-Up Gap: Why Capital Isn't the Problem** 4 Jun 2026 · 21 min About this episode Europe doesn’t lack startup capital, it lacks the architecture to move capital from innovation to scale. In this scale-up series episode, Joe Menninger explains why the gap bites at Series B and beyond: a thin institutional LP base, too few billion-euro funds (11 vs 137 in the US), and the “dry powder” that can’t… ▶Show page
- 369 **DACH Startup News, May 2026: Helsing's $18B, SAP's AI Bet & the Orbit Question** 29 May 2026 · 24 min [BlackRock](https://millionrounds.com/fund/blackrock) About this episode May 2026 was the month DACH stopped catching up and started setting the pace. Joe and co-host Chris Fahrenbach, in his final news episode after 11 years, break down Helsing’s $1.2B raise to an $18B valuation, SAP’s €1B+ bet on a 15-month-old AI lab, Isar Aerospace’s orbital attempt, and why Bitpanda is heading to… ▶Show page
- 368 **Can EU Inc Become Europe's Delaware?** 21 May 2026 · 42 min [Nikolaus Bayer](https://millionrounds.com/person/nikolaus-bayer) About this episode Building a company across Europe still means sitting on top of 27 different legal systems, so can “EU Inc,” the proposed 28th regime, finally be Europe’s Delaware? Nikolaus Bayer, deputy chairman of Business Angels Deutschland (BAND) and founder of IRIS Analytics (acquired by IBM), weighs the promise against the one… ▶Show page
- 367 **Aviloo and the Used-EV Battery Trust Problem** 14 May 2026 · 38 min About this episode The battery is the most expensive part of an electric car, and for years, the only data on its health came from the manufacturer selling you the warranty. Marcus Berger, CEO of Aviloo, on building the independent, manufacturer-agnostic battery test that now covers 96% of EV models across 15 countries, just as the EU… ▶Show page
- 366 **Europe's Hidden Growth Tax: Regulatory Fragmentation** 7 May 2026 · 21 min About this episode Europe’s single market has 500 million customers, but for startups, scaling across it means re-entering a new legal, tax, and compliance regime in every country. This scale-up series episode names the cost: a “hidden growth tax” of regulatory fragmentation that makes cross-border seed deals close 3–5× slower than in… ▶Show page

## Who the show talks about

Firms named in its episodes, and people named in descriptions: talked about, rather than on the show.

[M **Michael Wax** *7*](https://millionrounds.com/person/michael-wax-2)[**Revolution** *7*](https://millionrounds.com/fund/revolution)[**Visionaries Club** *7*](https://millionrounds.com/fund/visionaries-club)[**Google** *5*](https://millionrounds.com/fund/google-assistant-investments)[**Cherry Ventures** *3*](https://millionrounds.com/fund/cherry-ventures)[**Delivery Hero** *3*](https://millionrounds.com/fund/delivery-hero)[**Future Fund** *3*](https://millionrounds.com/fund/future-fund)[**Atomico** *2*](https://millionrounds.com/fund/atomico)[**BlackRock** *2*](https://millionrounds.com/fund/blackrock)[A **Alireza Siadat** *1*](https://millionrounds.com/person/alireza-siadat)[A **Andreas Bodczek** *1*](https://millionrounds.com/person/andreas-bodczek)[**Ant Financial** *1*](https://millionrounds.com/fund/ant-financial)

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