The German Startups Group has revealed its latest tranche of investments, which include a publicly-traded online identification company and promising Berlin startup Squadmail. The news also see the first results of GSG’s link up with Team Europe.
As with previous investments, the latest nine portfolio companies represent a wide variety of size, business model and structure. GSG was itself founded with a view to eventually going public, enabling everyday investors to put their money into Berlin’s booming tech scene without having to take the risk of betting the house on one startup in particular.
The nine new GSG investments include:
Cybits Holding AG – a stock-listed company whose product Verify-U is a purely IT-based identification process approved by the German authorities which enables users to identify all end customers online.
Squadmail – dubbed the Dropbox for email, Squadmail allows users to share their email folders with others, whichever email provider and client they use.
MIMOon – a Duisburg-based company which develops the complex software embedded in LTE terminals and base stations.
A Space For Art – organises art exhibitions outside of traditional galleries and museums in venues such as boutique hotels and premium restaurants.
Wummelkiste – users receive a high-quality monthly arts and crafts box for kids aged from three to eight, with the aim of fostering learning through play.
Kirondo – a service giving parents an easy way to clear out their kids’ old clothes while earning a bit of cash and supporting social causes.
Meine-Spielzeugkiste – a subscription service giving kids better access to popular high-quality toys. Parents can order up to six toys at a time, which they can later buy or exchange for new ones.
sporTrade – a one-stop online shop for sporting goods, where you can buy products and compare prices from multiple retailers while also selling your own used equipment.
9Cookies – a service enabling restaurants and food delivery services to take orders and accept payments via iPad. The online platform also allows for report creation and analysis.
Christoph Gerlinger, who founded GSG with Alex Kölpin before the latter’s departure, revealed that four of the deals had come about through the partnership with Team Europe, and that more investments would be made in the coming months.
And in addition to revealing the latest portfolio companies, Gerlinger also praised plans unveiled by acting German minister for economic affairs and FDP leader Philipp Rösler to create a new segment of the stock exchange specifically for technology companies after the federal election next month.
Gerlinger, who has seen through two IPOs himself, said: “A powerful exit-channel via IPO is currently the main difference between the German startup scene, also referred to as Silicon Allee, and its archetype, Silicon Valley. A safe opportunity for successful startup risk investments at the end of their ramp up phase to generate fair exit proceeds would benefit all previous maturity stages and financing rounds and make the funding of startups much easier from day one. … It would benefit the entire startup ecosystem, and thus create a number of highly qualified jobs whilst simultaneously generating tax revenues in the medium term.”