Start-ups Investment Report

WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management now has one of the most successful entrepreneurship ecosystems in the world. For years, WHU has been known for its excellent management education, its entrepreneurial spirit, and the numerous successful start-ups it has produced. WHU alumni have founded 15 unicorns, including HelloFresh and Zalando, both of which are listed in the DAX40. Hundreds more start-ups have seen domestic or international success, and many others are establishing themselves right now.

The new “Starts-Ups Investment Report” offers an immediate overview of the developments in the rapidly changing landscape of WHU’s start-ups over past quarters. It provides details on the start-ups’ current seed funding rounds and Series A, B, and C funding rounds, as well as on any initial public offerings (IPOs), exits, and acquisitions.

January 2022<o:p></o:p>

-Lendis amassed $91M in capital for its IT asset management technology, which they are using to focus on those working from home. The two founders, alumni of WHU, are Julius Bolz and Stavros Papadopoulos.

-Ostrom, which has raised €4.4M, seeks to render the switch to green energy easier and more affordable. Matthias Martensen is a co-founder.

- Alaiko collected $30M from Next47 and Tiger Global during the series A funding round. Two of the company’s co-founders, Gabriel Thomalla and Moritz Philipp Weisbrodt, are WHU alumni.

- Sastrify, co-founded by Sven Lackinger and Maximilian Messing, raised $15M during the Series A funding round.

- academa.de successfully completed a funding round through business angels. One of the co-founders, Malte Brettel, is an alumnus of and Associate Professor at WHU.

- McMackler, co-founded by WHU alumnus Felix Jahn, succeeded in securing a collective €50M in capital from Baillie Gifford and Warburg Pincus.

- The company Juniqe, co-founded by Sebastian Hasebrink and Marc Pohl, was bought out by myposter GmbH.

February 2022<o:p></o:p>

- Cosuno raised $30M during the Series B funding round. Their co-founder, Maximilian Seifert, is an WHU alumnus.

- numa, founded by WHU alumnus Christian Gaiser, secured $45M for future financial growth.

-Comtravo, from founder Michael Riegel, was bought out by TripActions.

- Blue Water Vaccines entered the American stock market and is now listed in the Nasdaq. The founder is WHU alumnus Joseph Hernandez.

March 2022<o:p></o:p>

- HeyJobs, founded by WHU alumnus Marius Jeuck, raised $47M during the Series B funding round.

- Two other WHU alumni, Dr. Konstantin Lange and Tim Marbach also found success. They collected $5M for their own iPrice Group in a corporate funding round.

-InstaFreight, from WHU alumnus Maximilian Schaefer, raised a further $40M in venture capital.

-Steffen Kiedel, co-founder of Superlist, received €10M for his company through a seed funding round.

- The co-founders of Sunvigo, Michael Peters and Vigen N., raised €10M in venture capital.

- WHU alumnus Justus S. received €8.3M in capital for his company Kadmos.

- Dr. Tim Breker and sustainable packaging company Vytal received €10M in additional capital.

-Forto, co-founded by WHU alumnus Ferry Heilemann, raised a further €250M in funding.

A further four WHU start-ups on the verge of becoming unicorns<o:p></o:p>

The 15 unicorns founded with WHU contribution so far could be joined by a further four in the near future. This is according to an analysis performed by the technology conference Viva Technology in cooperation with the investment firm GP Bullhound. They have compiled a list, “The Top 100 Next Unicorns,” of the 100 start-ups in Europe that have the best prospects of soon achieving unicorn status. Babbel, McMakler, Lingoda GmbH, and Taxfix, all of which co-founded by WHU alumni, were among the companies who made it onto the list.