These are Germany's new unicorns

In 2021, more start-ups cracked the billion mark than ever before. An overview of the success stories.

It was easy to lose track of the news that poured in on interested observers last year. Almost every week, a new start-up announced that it had now achieved unicorn status. High time to round up the newcomers to this exclusive club. Here are Germany's new unicorns from 2021.

Agile Robots financing round: 220 million US dollars Investors: Softbank, Chimera Investments, GL Ventures, Sequoia China, Xiamoi Group, Foxconn International Internet

The Munich-based company is a spin-off of the German Aerospace Center and develops software and hardware products in the field of robotics. To date, the robots have mainly been used in medical and industrial applications.

Berlin Brands Group financing round: 700 million US dollars for 40 percent of the shares Investor: Bain Capital

The Berlin Brands Group (BBG) brings together more than 45 own and acquired brands and retailers that work online and cover the areas of living, electronics and home fitness, among others.

Clark financing round: Acquisition of Allianz X's Finanzen Group, in return for which the latter receives shares in Clark Investors: White Star Capital, Tencent and Yabeo

The Clark app is an insurance manager that organizes everything from cancelling to changing contracts for household and health insurance.

Commercetools financing round: 140 million US dollars Investors: Insight Partners, REWE Group, Accel Valuation: 1.9 billion US dollars

Commercetools sells companies digital infrastructure for their online stores; customers include Porsche, BMW and BASF.

Contentful financing round: 175 million US dollars Investors: Tiger Global, Base10's Advancement Initiative, Tidemark Valuation: three billion US dollars

The Berlin-based company operates a platform that serves as an interface between websites, apps and devices, allowing channels and tools to be integrated.

Enpal financing round: 150 million euros added, 280 million euros in total Investors: Softbank, HV Capital, Solarcity co-founder Peter Rive Valuation: 1.1 billion US dollars

The Berlin-based company rents out solar systems on a subscription basis, saving customers the high investment and maintenance costs. Founded in 2017, Enpal claims to have 10,000 users who can buy the solar systems at a reduced price after 20 years.

Flink financing round: 600 million US dollars Investors: Doordash, Cherry Ventures, Northzone, Rewe (concludes strategic partnership as part of this), Prosus, Target Global, the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Valuation: 2.1 billion US dollars

Flink has existed since 2020 and achieved its unicorn status after just seven months: Like its competitors Gorillas and Grovy, the Berlin-based company delivers groceries to your home within minutes.

Forto financing round: 240 million US dollars Investors: Softbank, Citi Ventures, G Squared, Northzone, Inven Capital, Cherry Ventures, Unbound Valuation: 1.2 billion US dollars

The logistics start-up's software enables a transparent supply chain in real time for all parties involved, from the carrier to the recipient of the products.

Gorillas financing round: 245 million euros Investors: Tencent, DST Global, Fonds Coatue, Atlantic Food Labs

No one could avoid Gorillas in 2021: the delivery start-up brings groceries to your home within ten minutes and has expanded to 60 cities worldwide since its foundation in 2020.

Infarm financing round: 200 million US dollars Investors: Partners in Equity, Hanaco, Atomico, Lightrock, Bonnier, Qatar Investment Authority

The start-up currently uses vertical farming to grow 75 varieties of herbs and vegetables, which are then sold in glass boxes in supermarkets such as Edeka and Kaufland.

Mambu financing round: 110 million euros Investors: TCV, Tiger Global, Arena Holding, FT Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Acton Capital, Runa Capital Valuation: 1.7 billion US dollars

A further 235 million euros was raised for the fintech in December 2021, bringing Mambu's valuation to 4.9 billion euros. The Berlin-based company offers a SaaS platform for financial service providers such as N26.

Personio financing round: 125 million US dollars Investors: Index Ventures, Accel, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Northzone, Global Founders Capital, Picus Capital, Meritech Valuation: 1.4 billion euros

The Munich-based start-up offers HR software for companies that supports and organizes all steps from payroll accounting to recruiting. Today, Personio is worth 5.5 billion euros.

Raisin DS financing round: merger of Raisin and Deposit Solutions

Following the merger of the fintechs, investor Kinnevik valued the start-up at 1.3 billion euros. It offers interest marketplaces where customers can compare the conditions for saving and invest accordingly.

Razor Group financing round: 125 million US dollars Investors: Fortress Investment Group, 468 Capital, Blackrock, Jebsen Capital, Redalpine, Global Founders Capital

The Razor Group has been acquiring successful Amazon retailers and brands since 2020 in order to integrate them under its own umbrella and continue to operate them successfully.

Scalable Capital financing round: 150 million euros Investors: Tencent, Blackrock, existing investors Valuation: 1.4 billion US dollars

The neobroker offers customers portfolio management, investing in ETFs, funds and shares.

Sellerx financing round: 500 million US dollars Investors: Blackrock, Sofina, Victory Park Capital

Another start-up whose concept is to buy Amazon merchants and the third young company to become a German unicorn with this principle. In addition to the financing round, Sellerx also acquired its competitor KW-Commerce.

Sennder financing round: 160 million US dollars Investors: Accel, Lakestar, HV Capital, Project A, Scania

Founded in 2015, the start-up offers software for the organization of logistics companies, primarily to facilitate and digitalize the work of freight forwarders.

Solarisbank financing round: 190 million euros Investors: Decisive Capital, Pathway Capital Management, Ilavska Vuillermoz fund, existing investors Valuation: 1.4 billion euros

In addition to its own financing round, the company also acquired its British competitor Contis for over 100 million euros in July 2021. The fintech enables financial service providers to process their transactions by providing its SaaS platform.

Tier financing round: 200 million US dollars Investors: Softbank, Mubadala Capital, M&G Investments, Mountain Partners Valuation: two billion US dollars

An e-scooter start-up should not be missing from the list of unicorns for 2021: Tier has been offering not only scooters, but also bicycles and mopeds since 2018. Today, the start-up can be found in 60 German cities.