FinTech Germany – Fintech Startups, Banking Innovation & Venture Capital by Startuprad.io™
Startuprad.io™ – Europe’s Voice on Startups, VC, Innovation & Growth
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Startuprad.io™ – Europe’s Voice on Startups, VC, Innovation & Growth
▶ WebplayerFinTech Germany is Startuprad.io™’s podcast on fintech startups, banking innovation, payments, digital finance, embedded finance, AI in finance, and venture capital in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the broader European startup ecosystem. Hosted by Joe Menninger, who previously spent more than a decade as a management consultant in capital markets, the show provides regular analysis and founder interviews on how startups, banks, venture capital investors, regulators, and financial technology companies are reshaping Europe’s financial services industry. Each episode helps fintech founders, investors, banking leaders, corporate innovation teams, policymakers, and operators understand where European fintech is heading — from startup funding...
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Nov 13, 2026 · 30:15
Gnosis Pay, euro stablecoins and self-custody: Gnosis co-founder Friederike Ernst explains why merchant acceptance and regulation are largely solved for crypto payments in…
Nov 5, 2026 · 30:53
Germany’s WIN initiative had invested €2.64 billion by end-2025 against a €12 billion goal for 2030; the €5 billion Scaleup Europe Fund has one commitment disclosed by name. Jörn…
Oct 30, 2026 · 26:29
Trade Republic reports €232.6M net profit, Rabot Energy raises €50M, and German startups pull in €4.5B in Q3, in fewer, larger deals. A note on timing: because of my travel…
Oct 15, 2026 · 57:08
How does a German business angel decide where her money goes? Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt screened about 200 startups and backed 10 since May 2024, with 2 rules she never breaks. Jörn…
Oct 8, 2026 · 23:58
Why does capital in Europe still stop at borders? Jörn "Joe" Menninger reads the EU's 2025 study on legal, tax and market barriers to cross-border investment against new data on…
Oct 1, 2026 · 27:17
FinTech in the Q3 2026 review: Moss unicorn on €35M raised · Pliant >$100M ARR · Augustus $180M at $1B on the US banking-licence path · Scalable Capital pre-marketing the…
Sep 24, 2026 · 19:38
E 778 — WIN's €25B and Who Owns German Start-ups Germany wants its pension money in start-ups: the WIN initiative now targets more than €25B by 2030, up from €12B — and for the…
Sep 15, 2026 · 33:41
A reserved-matters list is normally a control question between an investor and a founder. Under the EU's defence instruments it becomes something else: a market-access question…
Sep 11, 2026 · 40:31
By year ten, European Union scale-ups have raised 50% less capital than their San Francisco peers, and 82% of EU scale-up deals involve a foreign lead or sole investor. Jörn…
Sep 7, 2026 · 31:16
Moss hit a one-billion-dollar valuation. Scalable Capital shipped Germany's first pension-reform product. BaFin calls MiCAR a "seal of quality." German startups produced their…
Sep 3, 2026 · 29:02
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,…
Aug 27, 2026 · 53:51
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…
Aug 13, 2026 · 31:48
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…
Aug 11, 2026 · 19:35
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…
Jul 28, 2026 · 24:24
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…
Jul 16, 2026 · 27:23
Europe's startup ecosystem isn't in a traditional recovery — venture capital has undergone a structural rotation. In this H1 2026 review, Jörn Menninger analyzes how funding,…
Jul 2, 2026 · 25:55
More than €1.7 billion of defence-linked capital moved through Europe in a single month. This episode examines the emergence of a European defence-capital stack — from seed…
Jun 25, 2026 · 21:51
As of 2026, German venture capital has stabilized after a multi-year correction but remains highly concentrated. This episode breaks down where capital is flowing — AI, defence,…
Jun 17, 2026 · 24:41
Simone Riva of Partech connects European venture-capital efficiency to regional startup maturity, sovereign-capital effects, IPO-market limits, founder capital discipline, and AI…
Jun 11, 2026 · 44:09
Simone Riva, Partner at Partech, analyzes the conditions under which venture capital creates value or destroys discipline — why VC is not validation, why capital efficiency…
May 29, 2026 · 23:32
Germany raised $3.67 billion across 166 equity rounds through May 2026, up 11.6% year-over-year. Alongside the deep-tech headlines, the month's fintech signal is Bitpanda's…
May 14, 2026 · 37:51
Used electric vehicles have a trust problem: battery state-of-health drives range, resale value, and buyer confidence, yet most buyers can't verify it. Marcus Berger, CEO of…
May 1, 2026 · 24:57
DACH venture capital is undergoing a structural rotation out of generic SaaS and toward defence, space, industrial AI, procurement, and tokenized finance. This episode maps the…
Apr 9, 2026 · 20:40
This Q1 2026 review reads three structural signals in the DACH market: capital concentrating into fewer defensible companies; geography specializing toward Munich; and exits…
Mar 26, 2026 · 27:26
The March 2026 DACH roundup tracks the month's most significant funding rounds, acquisitions, and IPO developments across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland — with robotics and…
Feb 26, 2026 · 16:19
January and February 2026 reveal a disciplined expansion across DACH — after 15,000+ funding announcements, capital concentrated in enterprise AI, ESG/CSRD compliance, defence,…
Feb 11, 2026
Tomasz Mazuryk, Co-Founder & CEO of FundingBox, explains why US-style SAFE instruments fail within Europe’s fragmented legal and public funding ecosystem. He introduces EU Scale,…
Jan 22, 2026 · 26:50
Dr. Oliver Dlugosch, Managing Director at ADA AI, explains how 'AI employees' execute full business workflows — not chatbots, not fully autonomous — why human-in-the-loop…
Jan 21, 2026 · 39:19
AI employees are viable now for bounded operational workflows. Dr. Oliver Dlugosch explains why back-office work resisted automation, where agentic systems win first, why full…
Jan 20, 2026 · 50:17
Adrien Treccani — founder of Metaco (digital-asset custody) and CEO of Supervised — explains why organizations slow as they scale: information processing consumes the capacity to…
Jan 1, 2026 · 1:28:36
Startuprad.io’s 2025 year-end Fintech Review — a structural look at what became irreversible in finance in 2025: AI embedded in core decisions, enforcement-era regulation…
Dec 23, 2025 · 23:55
A decision-grade map of DACH execution signals for 2026: where regulation creates demand, where AI credibility is earned, and which business models are being repriced. This…
Dec 18, 2025 · 19:54
The DACH ecosystem closed 2025 with clear 2026 signals: AI mega-rounds, defence-grade dual-use, and a restructuring of Europe's venture-capital stack. This outlook unpacks what…
Dec 17, 2025 · 0:45
A short update on our publishing schedule. A technical issue caused a brief pause — all content is safe, and we’re back to regular releases from here. 🚪 Connect with Us Partner…
Dec 6, 2025 · 1:09:52
Hakob Astabatsyan, co-founder & CEO of Synthflow AI, explains how memory-enabled voice agents reduce average handle time, lift first-call resolution, and eliminate repetitive…
Dec 6, 2025 · 34:00
AI is no longer the shiny object — it's becoming infrastructure, and that shift is transforming the DACH ecosystem faster than most founders expected, moving from hype into the…
Nov 27, 2025
Europe's narrative shifted from apps and valuations to sovereignty, infrastructure, and resilience. This November 2025 cut unpacks the moves that made European tech sovereignty…
Nov 26, 2025 · 19:36
STS Ventures investor Stephan Schubert (OnVista) breaks down the camel-startup strategy: building companies that survive downturns, grow profitably, and never depend on constant…
Nov 3, 2025 · 25:56
Germany, Austria, and Switzerland enter a new cycle where the question isn't 'who raised the biggest check?' but 'who's building the most defensible foundation?' Hosts Jörn…
Oct 30, 2025 · 26:35
€700M in climate-tech capital, a €308M biotech round, and Europe's bid for sovereign AI — in this October 2025 DACH Startup News, Jörn “Joe” Menninger and Chris Fahrenbach break…
Oct 23, 2025 · 58:53
He sold e-bot7, his AI startup, for $60 million — then everything broke. Xaver Lehmann, co-founder and former CEO, talks with Jörn “Joe” Menninger about burnout, loss, and…
Oct 21, 2025 · 50:53
Starting a company in Germany once meant notaries, paperwork, and patience. A new wave of LegalTech and Fintech is turning incorporation into a digital-first process — and Jörn…
Oct 14, 2025 · 47:44
Steven Puri, co-founder/CEO of The Sukha Company and a former Hollywood VFX executive, joins Jörn “Joe” Menninger to break down flow-state rituals for founders: deep work,…
Oct 9, 2025 · 51:13
Steven Puri, co-founder/CEO of Sukha, shares his deep-work playbook for founders: body doubling, chronotype time-blocking, demo-first standups, and outcome-based leadership — in…
Oct 6, 2025 · 28:47
€10M to €100M rounds, a VC surge, deep tech, and fresh fintech moves — in this September 2025 DACH Startup News deep dive, Jörn “Joe” Menninger and Chris Fahrenbach track the…
Oct 2, 2025 · 21:32
Fintech giant N26 faces its most severe governance crisis yet as its co-founder CEO steps down under regulatory pressure, while a Berlin AI unicorn jumps from $350M to $2.3B and…
Sep 18, 2025 · 56:21
Dashboards don't decide — agents do. Jennifer Grün, Senior Specialist for Generative AI & ML at AWS, joins Jörn “Joe” Menninger to explore how agentic AI is rewriting SaaS:…
Sep 11, 2025 · 1:00:14
How do you take AI from proof-of-concept to proof-of-value? Jennifer Grün of AWS joins Jörn “Joe” Menninger to unpack AI monetization: hybrid pricing models, proving ROI, and…
Sep 4, 2025 · 29:00
€30M and €100M rounds, fintech M&A, deep-tech breakthroughs, and green deals — this September 2025 DACH Startup News tracks where the next billion-dollar company is brewing…
Sep 1, 2025 · 21:33
Berlin's AI rocketed from $350M to $2.3B, Switzerland locked in €825M of hydrogen funding, and N26 hit its toughest governance test yet — Jörn “Joe” Menninger and Chris…
Aug 21, 2025 · 57:15
What does it actually take to move GenAI from prototype to production? An AWS AI Engineering Specialist joins Jörn “Joe” Menninger to break down Bedrock, MCP, and agentic…
Aug 14, 2025 · 48:11
Startups love GenAI — but many use it unsafely, exposing customer data and legal risk. This episode with Jörn “Joe” Menninger lays out how to adopt AI without breaking GDPR or…
Aug 7, 2025 · 30:35
What if your money app reduced anxiety instead of triggering it? Laura Cornely left private equity to build Count Finance — and joins Jörn “Joe” Menninger on designing personal…
Jul 31, 2025 · 29:20
Every second leadership hire in a startup fails — costing up to €250,000. This episode with Jörn “Joe” Menninger digs into why executive hires flop and how diagnostic hiring…
Jul 24, 2025 · 25:34
What if Europe's energy independence lay in yesterday's EV batteries? Voltfang raised €15M to turn second-life cells into grid storage that can displace coal — the story, with…
Jul 16, 2025 · 48:41
What if finance were a growth weapon, not a bottleneck? Moss CEO Ante Spittler joins Jörn “Joe” Menninger to explain how his Berlin fintech helps 5,000+ SMEs automate spend,…
Jul 10, 2025 · 29:30
Your startup isn't failing because of tech or funding — it's because people don't feel your brand. Jakob Trpin, founder of Yesyesandtwo, joins Jörn “Joe” Menninger on emotional…
Jul 3, 2025 · 38:06
Germany minted its second decacorn, the EU pledged €10B to scale startups, and Helsing and Luma drew big rounds — this DACH Startup Funding 2025 episode breaks it down with Jörn…
Jun 26, 2025 · 41:24
What if one platform handled your startup's banking, accounting, and invoicing — all automated? Blas Pegenaute, CEO of Sequence ERP, joins Jörn “Joe” Menninger on the Swiss…
Jun 19, 2025 · 32:31
How does a Vienna startup crack one of the world's most regulated tech markets and scale past 1M POS integrations? Fiskaly's cloud-first fiscal compliance story, with Jörn “Joe”…
Jun 5, 2025 · 42:41
What if your pitch didn't just inform but made people believe? This episode with Jörn “Joe” Menninger unpacks the storytelling playbook founders use to craft narratives that win…
May 29, 2025 · 31:19
AI unicorns, VC mega-funds, and regulation shakeups — this May 2025 DACH Startup News roundup unpacks the month's biggest moves across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland with Jörn…
May 27, 2025 · 46:42
What happens when an FBI-trained negotiation coach brings elite sales psychology to startups? Matthias Bullmahn joins Jörn “Joe” Menninger for a masterclass in influence,…
May 22, 2025 · 40:06
Why do Europe's startups scale slower than their US counterparts? Andy Goldstein joins Jörn “Joe” Menninger to unpack the transatlantic investment divide and the mindset shift…
May 15, 2025 · 57:00
What happens when Europe's top startup operators become VCs — and point AI at billion-euro legacy industries? This episode with Jörn “Joe” Menninger digs into Visionaries Club's…
May 13, 2025 · 19:49
In Part 2 of his interview, Christian Conrad — coach, former Kellogg's executive, and author of Magical Company Culture — goes deep on the execution side of culture with Jörn…
May 8, 2025 · 48:29
What makes a company culture magnetic? Christian Conrad, coach and author of Magical Company Culture, joins Jörn “Joe” Menninger on building startup cultures that attract and…
May 1, 2025 · 41:53
In April 2025, DACH startups raised over €1.3 billion — while one of Europe's top fintechs spiraled into crisis. Jörn “Joe” Menninger breaks down the month that mixed record…
Apr 24, 2025 · 51:38
Burnout is quietly killing startups. Psychotherapist Imre Remenyi joins Jörn “Joe” Menninger on burnout prevention, leadership, and the culture that lets founders build…
Apr 22, 2025 · 53:52
Timify turns appointment scheduling into a business-efficiency engine. This episode with Jörn “Joe” Menninger looks at how enterprise scheduling automation streamlines operations…
Apr 18, 2025 · 29:35
Who are the DACH companies most likely to hit billion-euro status? This DACH Unicorn Tracker for Spring 2025, with Jörn “Joe” Menninger, decodes the funding, trends, and names…
Apr 15, 2025 · 58:07
How does Germany's Business Angel of the Year pick winners? Carsten Kraus joins Jörn “Joe” Menninger on AI-powered angel investing and the funding strategies behind DACH's…
Apr 10, 2025 · 40:49
How is AI reshaping banking and capital markets? Paolo Sironi, IBM's Global Research Leader for Banking and fintech futurist, joins Jörn “Joe” Menninger on the AI transformation…
Mar 27, 2025 · 38:54
€300M and €1.8B in play, an active VC market, and fresh fintech trends — this March 2025 DACH Startup News with Jörn “Joe” Menninger maps the month across Germany, Austria, and…
Mar 18, 2025 · 44:50
The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) is rewriting financial regulation — and compliance is no longer optional. This episode with Jörn “Joe” Menninger decodes what DORA…
Feb 27, 2025 · 24:31
Finn raised €1B for car subscriptions, Cherry Ventures launched a €500M AI fund, and Lilium slid toward insolvency — Jörn “Joe” Menninger breaks down DACH Startup News for…
Feb 20, 2025 · 55:39
Identity VC is putting European venture capital behind LGBTQ+ founders. This episode with Jörn “Joe” Menninger explores the fund's thesis and why representation reshapes who gets…
Feb 6, 2025 · 45:35
Why do customers really choose one product over another? Tony Ulwick joins Jörn “Joe” Menninger to unpack the Jobs to Be Done framework for building products people actually…
Jan 30, 2025 · 33:55
Acquisitions and fresh funding open the year across German, Austrian, and Swiss startups — this January 2025 DACH Startup News with Jörn “Joe” Menninger sets the tone for the…
Dec 20, 2024 · 59:44
Startuprad.io’s 10th Annual Fintech Review. In this milestone year-end episode, Joe Menninger and IBM thought leader Paolo Sironi reflect on a decade of fintech evolution and the…
Dec 19, 2024 · 48:36
€100M, €1B, and €2.5B milestones close out the year — this December 2024 DACH Startup News roundup with Jörn “Joe” Menninger recaps the funding highlights across Germany,…
Dec 12, 2024 · 42:41
Ertan Özdil, CEO of Weclapp, joins Jörn “Joe” Menninger on how cloud ERP automates finance and operations for startups and SMEs — and why the back office is where efficiency…
Nov 28, 2024 · 38:09
A €79M headline round and the tech trends shaping Germany, Austria, and Switzerland — this November 2024 DACH Startup News with Jörn “Joe” Menninger rounds up the month that…
Oct 31, 2024 · 21:40
$1B valuations, a €178M round, and fresh fintech and sustainable-tech moves — this October 2024 edition of This Month in German, Swiss, and Austrian Startups, with Jörn “Joe”…
Oct 3, 2024 · 48:20
Magic AI raised $320M, Intel put a €30B plan on halt, and DACH startups kept moving — this September 2024 DACH Startup News with Jörn “Joe” Menninger breaks down the month's…
Sep 2, 2024 · 49:14
€450M, €4.9B, and €50M milestones — this Summer 2024 DACH Startup News wrap-up, a Labor Day special with Jörn “Joe” Menninger, recaps the season's funding and AI trends. Full…
Aug 29, 2024 · 49:48
Maximilian Rofagha, CEO of Finimize, joins Jörn “Joe” Menninger on building a fintech community, the strategy behind it, and how content and trust scale a consumer finance brand.…
Aug 8, 2024 · 39:56
Annelise Osborne joins Jörn “Joe” Menninger on fintech, financial innovation, and digital assets — where tokenization, capital markets, and new financial infrastructure are…
Jun 27, 2024 · 35:45
€100M, €300M, and a $4.5B milestone — this June 2024 edition of This Month in German, Swiss, and Austrian Startups, with Jörn “Joe” Menninger, wraps the month's biggest funding…
Jun 13, 2024 · 50:01
Max Narr, General Partner at Blue Forest Ventures, joins Jörn “Joe” Menninger on deep-tech venture capital and the hard problem of commercializing research into fundable…
May 30, 2024 · 35:04
A multi-billion month of DACH funding — this May 2024 edition of This Month in German, Swiss, and Austrian Startups, with Jörn “Joe” Menninger, wraps the biggest rounds and…
May 28, 2024 · 42:38
MiCA is the EU's landmark crypto-asset regulation — and it changes the rules for every fintech touching digital assets. Alireza Siadat, Head of Digital Assets at Annerton, breaks…
Apr 25, 2024 · 32:32
Over €1 billion in rounds, from a €1.025B milestone to €150M and €100M raises — this April 2024 DACH startup roundup with Jörn “Joe” Menninger covers the month's biggest funding…
Mar 28, 2024 · 29:20
A €900M-plus month of DACH funding — this March 2024 edition of This Month in German, Swiss, and Austrian Startups, with Jörn “Joe” Menninger, rounds up the biggest deals. Full…
Feb 29, 2024 · 34:41
$117M, $95M, and €50M rounds shape the month — this February 2024 DACH startup roundup with Jörn “Joe” Menninger covers the latest tech and startup highlights across the region.…
Jan 25, 2024 · 27:04
European unicorns and fresh funding open the year — this January 2024 edition of This Month in German, Swiss, and Austrian Startups, with Jörn “Joe” Menninger, sets the tone for…
Jan 23, 2024 · 17:42
How did DACH startup valuations and venture investment shift across 2023? This year-in-review with Jörn “Joe” Menninger unpacks the trends that shaped Germany, Austria, and…
Dec 25, 2023 · 2:03
Dear Esteemed Listeners, As the holiday season wraps us in its joyful embrace, I wanted to take a moment to extend my heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of you who has…
Dec 22, 2023 · 37:58
The 2023 year-end Fintech Review for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, featuring prominent industry voices — Paolo Sironi (IBM), Kimmo Soramäki (FNA), and Luca Frignani — on the…
Dec 21, 2023 · 23:18
A year-closing wrap-up of DACH startup funding and tech news — this December 2023 edition of This Month in German, Swiss, and Austrian Startups, with Jörn “Joe” Menninger and…
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