November 2026The human story behind the startups40 journeys so far

On the cover

N26

Valentin Stalf, Maximilian Tayenthal

The company dropped its original teen prepaid card and became a full account on a smartphone, then won a German banking licence in 2016 and opened across the eurozone.

Read the journey

No. 2 of Germany’s top 50

Valentin Stalf
Valentin Stalf. Photo: TechCrunch, CC BY 2.0

Germany: all journeys

Celonis company photo

Celonis

Alexander Rinke, Bastian Nominacher, Martin Klenk

2011 | Munich

Valentin Stalf

N26

Valentin Stalf, Maximilian Tayenthal

2013 | Berlin

Deepl company photo

DeepL

Jaroslaw (Jarek) Kutylowski

2017 | Cologne

Personio

Personio

Hanno Renner, Ignaz Forstmeier, Roman Schumacher

2015 | Munich

Flix company photo

Flix

Daniel Krauss, André Schwämmlein, Jochen Engert

2011 | Munich

Helsing

Helsing

Torsten Reil, Gundbert Scherf, Niklas Köhler

2021 | Munich

Trade Republic

Trade Republic

Christian Hecker, Thomas Pischke, Marco Cancellieri

2015 | Berlin

Black Forest Labs

Black Forest Labs

Robin Rombach, Andreas Blattmann, Patrick Esser

2024 | Freiburg im Breisgau

Raisin

Raisin

Tamaz Georgadze, Frank Freund, Michael Stephan

2012 | Berlin

Uğur Şahin

BioNTech

Uğur Şahin, Özlem Türeci, Christoph Huber

2008 | Mainz

Auto1 Group

Auto1 Group

Christian Bertermann, Hakan Koç

2012 | Berlin

Taxfix

Taxfix

Mathis Büchi, Lino Teuteberg

2016 | Berlin

Parloa

Parloa

Malte Kosub, Stefan Ostwald

2018 | Berlin

Isar Aerospace

Isar Aerospace

Daniel Metzler, Josef Peter Fleischmann, Markus Brandl

2018 | Ottobrunn

Quantum Systems company photo

Quantum Systems

Florian Seibel

2015 | Gilching

Staffbase

Staffbase

Martin Böhringer, Lutz Gerlach, Frank Wolf

2014 | Chemnitz

Tier Mobility

Tier Mobility

Lawrence Leuschner, Matthias Laug, Julian Blessin

2018 | Berlin

Solaris

Solaris

Marko Wenthin, Andreas Bittner

2015 | Berlin

Forto

Forto

Michael Wax, Erik Muttersbach, Ferry Heilemann

2016 | Berlin

Enpal

Enpal

Mario Kohle, Viktor Wingert, Jochen Ziervogel

2017 | Berlin

1Komma5°

1Komma5°

Philipp Schröder

2021 | Hamburg

Choco

Choco

Daniel Khachab, Julian Hammer, Rogério da Silva Yokomizo

2018 | Berlin

Martin Hirsch

Ada Health

Claire Novorol, Daniel Nathrath, Martin Hirsch

2011 | Berlin

Mambu

Mambu

Eugene Danilkis, Frederik Pfisterer, Sofia Nunes

2011 | Amsterdam

Scalable Capital company photo

Scalable Capital

Erik Podzuweit, Florian Prucker, Adam French

2014 | Munich

Pitch

Pitch

Christian Reber, Adam Renklint

2018 | Berlin

Aleph Alpha

Aleph Alpha

Jonas Andrulis, Samuel Weinbach

2019 | Heidelberg

Lilium

Lilium

Daniel Wiegand, Sebastian Born, Patrick Nathen

2015 | Weßling/Gauting near Munich

Wefox

Wefox

Julian Teicke, Dario Fazlic, Fabian Wesemann

2015 | Berlin

Getyourguide company photo

GetYourGuide

Johannes Reck, Tao Tao, Tobias Rein

2009 | Berlin

Babbel

Babbel

Markus Witte, Lorenz Heine, Thomas Holl

2007 | Berlin

Trivago

Trivago

Rolf Schrömgens, Stephan Stubner, Peter Vinnemeier

2005 | Düsseldorf

Flink company photo

Flink

Christoph Cordes, Oliver Merkel, Julian Dames

2020 | Berlin

Gorillas

Gorillas

Kağan Sümer, Jörg Kattner

2020 | Berlin

Blinkist

Blinkist

Holger Seim, Tobias Balling, Niklas Jansen

2012 | Berlin

Tado

Tado

Christian Deilmann, Johannes Schwarz, Valentin Sawadski

2011 | Munich

Marley Spoon

Marley Spoon

Fabian Siegel, Laura Maria Fernandez

2014 | Berlin

Sennder

Sennder

David Nothacker, Julius Köhler, Nicolaus Schefenacker

2015 | Berlin

Volocopter

Volocopter

Stephan Wolf, Alexander Zosel

2011 | Bruchsal

David Reger

Neura Robotics

David Reger

2019 | Metzingen

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