This Month in German, Swiss, and Austrian (GSA) Startups - November 2023

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Welcome

Welcome to our November 2023 wrap-up with vital news from the startup scenes in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in 30 minutes or less 🙂.

Our Highlights

AI startup Aleph Alpha raises half a billion dollars, CMBlu raises 100 mn € for energy storage, WeFox gets 55 M US$ from Deutsche and Unicredit, and Vanguard pulls the plug on their German robo advisor. It seems that Sono Motors has found an investor to keep going at least until the end of 2024 and the German subsidiary of WeWork also has to file for insolvency.

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Top News

Aleph Alpha raises 500 mn US$

Heidelberg-based Aleph Alpha raises a total investment of more than half a billion US Dollars from a consortium of industry leaders and new investors for their AI for Enterprises and Governments.

CMBlu Energy raises 100 mn €

German Energy scale-up CMBlu offers „warehouses for energy", with batteries storing up to gigawatt hours. They now raised 100 million Euros, with Strabag being the sole investor, one of Europe's largest construction companies, based in Vienna.

WeFox Raises 55m US$

Deutsche Bank and UniCredit back $4.5 billion insurance startup Wefox with $55 million in fresh funds. WeFox is an online insurance broker and it did not raise equity, so their valuation stayed the same.

Sono Motors May Have Found An Investor

Sono Motors was once hailed as a new hope for the German startup scene, listing early in the US in November 2021. The company wanted to increase the reach of electro-cars by adding solar cells but ran into many problems while developing electro-cars. In the end, they had to file for insolvency but are now restarting with tech that allows the retrofitting of solar panels for fossil fuel busses. Sono Motors filed a 6-K form with the SEC saying that the company secured its survival for 2024, apparently most of the 250 employees can find further employment. Read more in our blog post: Sono Motors Finds Investor https://buff.ly/3Rjuo9t

Vanguard Pulls The Plug on Their Robo Advisor in Germany

Vanguard's German robo advisor costs millions and scores only 4 mn assets under management (AuM) at the end of 2022. A disaster according to FinanceFWD. To put this in perspective: Scalable Capital had 11 months after launch more than 100 mn AuM

WeWork Germany Files For Insolvency

WeWork's German subsidiary filed for insolvency - the company had issues everywhere.

Find the full news with all links and show notes here:

https://medium.com/startuprad-io/this-month-in-german-swiss-and-austrian-gsa-startups-november-2023-startuprad-io-e-405-99d9efb6f3ff