List of the 200 Fastest-Growing Startups Germany [2023 Update]

Product Overview

Contains the 200 fastest-growing German startups, downloadable as an Excel file.

Excellent level of detail: industry, detailed funding data, revenues (if available), employee numbers, CEO names, address, email addresses, URL, etc.

High-quality lists thanks to manual data maintenance by an experienced research team in Munich. Boutique research instead of unchecked crawler data.

This list is an excerpt of our List of the 5,000 largest companies in Germany. Various factors have gone into the compilation of the list: Financing rounds, press releases, detailed company research, and revenue and employee figures from the Federal Gazette. Startups are young, innovative companies whose founding date is in the near past. The list is an editorial, extensively researched compilation.

List of the 10 best-funded startups in Germany

In the following, we present the most strongly financed startups in Germany. The focus is on Auto1 Group, for example, which recently mastered the IPO. Other highly financed companies are also candidates for the stock market. In the following, we present a list of the best-funded German startups and discuss their business focus and investors.

1. Auto1 Group SE (Berlin)

The Berlin-based used car startup Auto1 is one of the best-funded startups in Germany: over 1.3 billion euros in venture capital flowed into the company. This was followed by the brilliant IPO in January 2021. The Auto1 Group focuses on buying and selling used cars, for example via the portal wirkaufendeinauto.

Update 2023: The co-founder of the used car company Auto1, Hakan Koc, now sits on the company’s supervisory board. On the VC scene, the entrepreneur is now planning to enter the telecommunications business. With betterroaming.com, the terrain of data roaming, which is often opaque for customers, is to become transparent and affordable.

2. N26 GmbH (Berlin)

Berlin-based startup N26 is one of the most successful neobanks in Europe. The bank has already acquired at least 3.5 million customers, probably a much higher number. N26’s focus is a “digital first” experience for customers. Currently, Neobank is also expanding in other European countries. Investors include the likes of Insight Venture Partners, Tencent and Allianz X.

3. GetYourGuide Deutschland GmbH (Berlin)

GetYourGuide focuses on brokering trips, tours and activities. Softbank’s Vision Fund is also invested here; the funding sum stands at over 650 million euros. Other investors include Searchlight Capital and KKR.

4. FlixMobility GmbH (Munich)

FlixMobility has developed from a bus travel provider into one of the world’s leading mobility groups. The focus is on offering a comprehensive range of bus travel and rail travel. It even competes with its domestic state rival - Deutsche Bahn - on long-distance routes in the German rail network. This is rewarded by investors such as TCV and Permira with over 500 million euros in invested capital.

5. GoEuro (Berlin)

GoEuro is the operator of the portal Omio, through which rail, bus and air travel can be compared and purchased. Backers have already put over 400 million euros into the Berlin startup, including Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek or Goldman Sachs.

6. Lilum GmbH (Starnberg)

The Bavarian startup Lilum is building vertical takeoff aircraft that will revolutionize air travel. So far, over 375 million euros have been injected into the startup, including from Tencent, Atomico or Baillie Gifford.

7. TIER Mobility (Berlin)

The e-scooter boom in Germany has also been driven by mobility provider TIER Mobility. More than 375 million euros have also been invested in TIER, including by Softbank’s Vision Fund or RTP Global.

8. Celonis SE (Munich)

The Munich-based software company Celonis focuses on the development of process analysis software. With this software, companies can identify savings and visualize processes by analyzing SAP data. Customers of the leading process mining company include Siemens, UBER and Lufthansa. Among the investors who have already invested over 370 million euros in the company is the prominent investor Accel.

9. wefox Germany GmbH (Berlin)

Wefox is one of the best-known insurtechs in Germany. Its focus is on a new experience when taking out insurance. The digital insurance broker raised over 370 million euros, including from the Samsung Catalyst Fund.

10. Grover Group GmbH (Berlin)

Through Grover’s service, electronic devices of all kinds (such as laptops, cameras or smartphones) can be rented on a monthly basis. Investors rewarded this with investments of over 300 million euros; the backers include the Main Incubator or Samsung Next.