Weed, crypto, capital markets: what will be important for start-ups in 2022

Some of the hype from 2021 is likely to continue in the new year. But completely new topics could also dominate. An outlook for 2022.

The year 2022 will not be an easy one, at least in the start-up sector. Because while many people found the previous year to be rather mixed, the sector had a lot of positive things to report last year - we have summarized the most important things in our review of the year.

As always, forecasts at the start of the year are mostly guesswork. But one or two expectations can certainly be expressed. What could be on the minds of founders, entrepreneurs and investors in 2022? A brief outlook for the new year.

IPOs yes, Spacs no

A number of young companies are also likely to aim for the capital markets in the coming months. Law firms specializing in IPOs are reporting well-filled pipelines for 2022 and even 2023, which could include heavyweights such as Solarisbank and N26, which are likely to take the plunge. The car parts retailer Auto-Doc is also a candidate. The continued positive mood on the markets could lead to potential stock market candidates pushing the envelope before the situation deteriorates again in the medium term.

Shell companies, known as "Spacs", are likely to play a less important role. There are currently no hot rumors about Spac IPOs in Germany. In general, the big hype from the previous year seems to have died down a little.

Will the crypto hype continue?

Bitcoin & Co. were one of the big topics last year. Be it as a currency speculation object, as a tradable NFT or as the basis for decentralized financial services. There is little to suggest that the topic will lose momentum in 2022. Even "boring" players such as the savings banks are working on crypto wallets.

The next wave of founders working in the field of decentralized finance should be exciting for the start-up world. Unstoppable Finance, Finoa and Timeless are just a few of the companies that announced financing rounds at the end of last year and now want to expand their offering in 2022.

Delivery services, but different

The wheel of ten-minute grocery delivery services such as Gorillas and Flink is unlikely to turn any further. But other companies want to transfer the fast delivery concept to other areas.

Several founders are positioning themselves in the field of drug delivery. These include First A, Mayd and Phaster. Mayd, for example, is backed by McMakler founders Hanno Heintzenberg and Lukas Pieczonka, while Phaster is backed by former Sennder managers. The first multimillion financing rounds have already been raised. Now that the e-prescription is finally to be introduced nationwide this year, the market could be in for a major boost.

Now comes the cannabis

There is still a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the new German government's plan to legalize the sale of cannabis. Who can buy it, where, how and when, and in what quantities: all this will hopefully become clearer in the course of the year.

But of course, resourceful founders are already positioning themselves. In Dresden, Demacan recently produced the first cannabis harvest in this country. Other companies such as Adrexpharma, Bloomwell and Cansativa are also waiting in the wings. The impact that possible legalization will have on the market for CBD products also remains interesting.

In the end, however, everything turns out differently than you think anyway. In this respect, we will be surprised to see which of these topics will actually become important over the course of the year. See you again in December!