German Tech Startups Defy the Pandemic

2020 demonstrated the robustness of the German startup ecosystem.

Streaming live on LinkedIn and YouTube.

As the Corona-crises validated the importance of business agility and digital business models, investors continued to trust German tech startups. The largest 100 German startups received USD3.7b of new funding, accumulating total funding of USD13.7b in 2020.

The visibility of female players in the VC ecosystem is slowly but steadily on the rise, but there is still further work to be done, starting with an increased focus on gender diversity in STEM fields, and increasing the digital talent pool.

While the pandemic helped HealthTech start-ups to emerge on the investors’ radar, and online B2C businesses gained unexpected momentum from the lockdowns, B2B is currently the place to be for startups and investors.

In this context, EY and their partner TechQuartier are organizing a panel discussion where those issues will be further discussed by stakeholders of the ecosystem, namely founders, investors from diverse backgrounds.

Agenda:

4 pm: Intro from TechQuartier

4:05pm: Key takeaways from the 2020 report as well as a look at 2021 so far (Dr. Thomas Prüver, Partner, EY)

4:15pm: Panel discussion with:

• Marie-Luise Klose, Senior Manager Venture Development - Deutsche Bahn Digital Ventures
• Dr. Lauren Lentz, Founding Partner – Revent
• Ruzica Pekic, Founder & CEO - Proptiq
• Shilpika Gautam, Head of Strategic Partnerships - Elucidate

The panel will be moderated by Hugo Paquin (Head of Community, TQ), Dr. Thomas Prüver and Karolina Yalamova, authors of the study.

4:55pm: Closing remarks

Join the event and listen to the following speakers talk about how the German startup ecosystem has evolved during the COVID pandemic:

Dr. Thomas Prüver, Partner - EY

Dr. Thomas Prüver is Strategy & Transactions Partner at EY. His industry focus is on tech businesses with a special focus on software, media and internet technologies. Thomas advises on various software deals and has a strong track record from transactions related to fast growing tech businesses. Thomas’ main clients are multinational corporates as well as international private equity and venture capital clients. He is the editor of the annual study “Venture Capital and Startups in Germany”, published since 2014. Thomas graduated from Humboldt University in Berlin he has made a PhD in Banking and Finance.

Dr. Lauren Lentz, Founding Partner – Revent

Lauren is the founding partner of Revent, a venture capital firm backing early-stage technology companies that drive systemic change in climate, healthcare, education, and finance. Founded in 2020, the fund‘s core thesis is that companies driven by a clear purpose to solve a large environmental or societal problem will be particularly economically successful. She loves working with founders to help them articulate, measure, and leverage the difference their product is making in the world. Prior to Revent, Lauren worked for a family office looking to generate climate and societal impact through their investments and spent many years in the broader field of development economics.

Karolina Yalamova, EY, Project Lead of the Growth by Diversity report

Karolina is a professional in the Strategy & Transactions practice at EY. Karolina's experience includes M&A deal advisory in the TMT sector as well as process transformation consulting. As a digital innovation and social impact enthusiast, Karolina worked in digital transformation and in law prior to her role at EY. Karolina is the project lead for the EY “Venture Capital and Startups” study since 2019.

Marie-Luise Klose, Senior Manager Venture Development - Deutsche Bahn Digital Ventures

Marie is always excited about new technologies. She builds the bridge between the investment portfolio of DB Digital Ventures (CVC with funds of EUR100m) and DB Group - balancing between two different worlds. Since joining DBDV in 2017, Marie has been working closely together with the founders to leverage the benefits of DB as a partner, at the same time protecting them from internal politics and complexities. Prior to her current role, Marie worked for Rocket Internet and BMW.

Deutsche Bahn Digital Ventures is the CVC of the national railway corporation of Germany, looking for cutting-edge technology with disruptive potential and scalability. With funds of EUR100m, DB DV invests in start-ups in the areas of Mobility, Logistics, Industrials, Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence and CleanTech, all within and beyond Deutsche Bahn’s core rail businesses. Investments are sourced on a global basis, with emphasis on Europe, the United States and Israel. Funding is provided from the series A to series B stage.

Ruzica Pekic, Founder & CEO - Proptiq

Rose is Founder and CEO of Proptiq, a German proptech that builds digital solutions for co-concepts in living and working and create and focus on community aspects of it. Originally from Croatia where she graduated in Business Administration from the University of Zagreb, she came to Frankfurt in 2014 to study finance. Parallel to her studies she worked in Investment Banking (M&A) and in Private Equity.

Shilpika Gautam, Head of Strategic Partnerships - Elucidate

Shilpika ‘Shilps’ Gautam is a Guinness Record-breaking climate activist, a founder, a fintech pioneer, and a financial services executive. In a career spanning four continents over 15 years, Shilps has built SaaS businesses, ran global sales for investment banks, and worked in early-stage venture investing. As the VP of Partnerships at Berlin-based Elucidate (raised 2.5€ in March), Shilps is helping build the global platform to rid the earth of financial crime.