You may know Munich for its famous Oktoberfest beer festival, Bayern München, Baroque and Renaissance cathedrals, and for its beautiful nearby lakes. But for this article, we’re much more interested in Munich as a startup and tech hub. The Bavarian capital is known for great VC support, international corporations, top talent and its innovative startup community.
The city also made it to spot number 6 on our TOP 30: Europe’s biggest startup hubs in 2020, and is certainly a city to keep your eye on. For this listicle, we took into consideration exceptionally promising companies founded between 2018-2021, as well as aspects such as team size, funding, growth rate, innovation, and market size.
finn.auto – Founded in 2019, finn.auto’s mission is to make mobility fun and sustainable. It offers all-inclusive, immediately available, monthly car-subscriptions – and to ensure more sustainability, they plant trees so that every journey is CO2 compensated. The Munich-based startup team secured a funding round in 2020, of over €20 million.
limehome – Founded in 2018, this 110-person hospitality startup has recently hit the headlines with its Series A funding of €31 million. The proptech company brings together the design aspirations of a premium hotel with the efficiency of a consistently digital operating concept, already achieving the title of the hotel concept with the second most locations in the DACH region. To learn more, check out our podcast with their founder.
air up – This Munich-based team, founded in 2018, has created something unique in drinktech that you might not have seen previously (we hadn’t!). Have you ever heard of a drinking system that flavours water by scent alone? Yes, you heard that right! Through the power of ‘Pods’, your still or sparkling water transforms into the taste of cola, peach, and more. The team landed a funding round of around €17.7 million in 2020.
Capmo – Construction technology startup Capmo was founded in 2018 and offers a holistic software for the construction industry to complete projects in a timely and cost efficient way. In more detail, its software allows processes across all construction phases to be digitized, centrally controlled and all stakeholders coordinated. In January 2020, the team raised a new round of €5 million.
Alasco – Cloud-based software solution Alasco (founded in 2018) aims to help real estate companies manage their project finances better. To avoid spending extensive time and resources on budget calculations, invoice approvals and spreadsheet-based cost controlling, Alasco allows teams to connect all financial data and partners of real estate projects. The result? Automated workflows, solid real-time data and faster decision-making. The team landed €7.5 million in 2020.
holoride – This Munich-based startup is turning vehicles into moving theme parks. Founded in 2019, holoride is developing the future of ‘in-vehicle media’, linking XR with real-time motion data, like acceleration and steering. In other words, all visual impressions are enriched by the real-time physical feedback of the vehicle the individual is in. The startup recently landed €10 million in fresh funding, in April 2020.
HAWK:AI – HAWK:AI is on a mission to fight financial crime. Founded in 2018, the team is focusing on transaction and consumer monitoring in real-time, bringing together best data sources and recommending operator actions with a self learning system in a cost efficient cloud delivery model. This money-laundering detection & investigation platform secured €10 million in June 2021.
OroraTech – This startup’s mission is the early detection and monitoring of wildfires. Founded in 2018, the team of 40+ provides global real-time information services, drawing on thermal imaging nanosatellites equipped with in-space AI image processing. Having secured a seed round in 2020, the team then nabbed a Series A round in 2021 of €5.8 million.
TWAICE – This AI-driven startup is addressing the transparency and predictability of batteries. Founded in 2018, Twaice offers a predictive analytics software that optimizes the development and operation of lithium-ion batteries – via its ‘digital twin’ of deep battery knowledge and artificial intelligence. The team of 65 employees recently snapped up funding of €35.5 million.
Avi Medical – Founded in 2020, Avi Medical is combining technology with a human touch, to elevate the patient experience. The 40-person team secured around €29.3 million in June 2021 for its mission to make going to the doctor as easy as possible, which includes acute symptoms, chronic illnesses, sick notes or preventive health care.
By the way: If you’re a corporate or investor looking for exciting startups in a specific market for a potential investment or acquisition, check out our Startup Sourcing Service!
