Startup news for the weekend week 44/25

Investments

empact receives over 100 million euros in growth financing

The Cologne-based energy start-up empact has concluded growth financing of around 100 million euros. The new strategic partner is Sustainable Development Capital LLP (SDCL), a London-based investment company specializing in energy efficiency and decentralized energy solutions. The previous investors, the family offices of the Hopp, Strüngmann and Bauwens Adenauer families, are also participating again in the financing round. With the fresh capital, empact intends to continue its mission of advancing clean and resilient energy systems in buildings.

Main Capital invests in Shippingbo

Main Capital Partners invests in Shippingbo, a provider of integrated logistics management solutions (OMS, WMS, TMS), to accelerate its international expansion. Shippingbo's management team retains a significant stake and continues to run the company operationally. Shippingbo offers a cloud-based platform for the automation of fulfillment, warehousing and transportation processes and serves around 1,000 customers, including DHL, Venom and Teddy Smith. With the partnership, Shippingbo plans product innovations, the expansion of complementary modules, international expansion in markets such as Spain, Belgium and Switzerland as well as a targeted buy-and-build strategy.

Qala secures 2 million US dollars in pre-seed financing round

The Swiss startup Qala has closed a pre-seed financing round of 2 million US dollars. The round was led by QBIT Capital and Haatch, with participation from Backbone Ventures, ROI Ventures and several experienced technology and data security investors via SICTIC. Qala develops solutions that provide organizations with real-time visibility into their data, reducing security and compliance risks. The company intends to use the fresh capital to further expand its technology for better data control and security.

AnyTax exits stealth with €1 million pre-seed funding

Berlin-based startup AnyTax has officially exited stealth mode and announced its €1 million pre-seed round, which closed earlier this year. Investors include IBB Ventures, HEARTFELT_, BLACKVRST Equity and several business angels. The startup is developing an embedded tax platform that enables financial platforms to integrate real-time tax analysis, automated tax returns and personalized tax planning directly into their applications with just a few lines of code. With its solution, AnyTax aims to bridge the gap between financial and tax technology and make tax a seamless part of modern financial applications.

Awards & Events

eBay Awards 2025: Six retailers honored for extraordinary success stories

eBay Germany has honored six retailers with the eBay Awards 2025. Outstanding achievements were honored in the categories of sustainability, foundation, service, social commitment, local hero and eBay veteran. The 18-year-old Leonard Wolke was voted Founder of the Year with his store CleverSmart Bricks, which he built up from his passion for LEGO®. Other winners include Berliner Büchertisch eG, AfB gGmbH, zeitauktion, powerdealz24 and slap.auction. For the eighth time, the awards recognize entrepreneurial success and commitment within the eBay community.

Launch of the Saxon Founder Award 2026

The Saxon Founder Award 2026 was officially launched in Leipzig. Individuals, teams and young companies with innovative business ideas can apply online at www.futureSAX.de/gruenderpreis. until February 25, 2026. The Free State of Saxony is looking for outstanding start-up concepts in the categories Newcomer of the Year, Start-up of the Year and Scale-up of the Year. In addition to prize money, the winners receive access to the futureSAX network with over 12,000 contacts as well as media support. Minister of Economic Affairs Dirk Panter emphasized the importance of the competition for the visibility of Saxony's start-up culture, while futureSAX Managing Director Susanne Stump highlighted the diversity and innovative strength of the start-up scene. The award ceremony will take place on June 17, 2026 as part of the Saxon Innovation Conference in Dresden.

ATechX Demo Day & Pitch Night connects tech start-ups and the real estate industry

On November 13, 2025, ATechX, the innovation platform of the real estate company Aroundtown, is hosting the "ATechX Demo Day & Pitch Night" at the KulturBrauerei Berlin for the first time. The event brings together founders, investors and industry representatives to present innovative ideas with relevance for the real estate and technology industry. An international jury of experienced venture capital experts and founders evaluate the pitches and award prizes such as free office space and membership of the ATechX network. The event is supported by Vonovia, Antler, Fifth Wall, PT1, Round Hill Capital and Realyze Ventures, among others. The aim of ATechX is to support start-ups in scaling disruptive solutions along the entire real estate life cycle.

Cooperations & partnerships

Vivid and lemon.markets launch European platform for multi-asset investments

Vivid is expanding its investment offering via lemon.markets' brokerage and custody platform, providing business and private clients with access to various asset classes such as money market and investment funds. Through lemon.markets' API-based infrastructure, Vivid can quickly integrate new investment products and scale across Europe. The new omnibus setup of lemon.markets efficiently bundles customer portfolios, reduces operational complexity and enables easy growth across national borders. The partnership marks the first major cooperation since the acquisition of lemon.markets by dwpbank and strengthens the common goal of making multi-asset investments more widely accessible in Europe.

Helbing Lichtenhahn and Noxtua develop Swiss legal AI Swiss-Noxtua

The Basel-based specialist publisher Helbing Lichtenhahn and the Berlin-based AI company Noxtua are jointly developing Swiss-Noxtua, a specialized legal AI for the Swiss market. The solution combines the publisher's legal content and expertise, including the Basler Kommentar and Commentaire romand, with Noxtua's European AI technology. Hosted on Swiss data centers, Swiss-Noxtua covers all work steps from research and analysis to document creation and will be available in several national languages in the future. The cooperation is part of Noxtua's European initiative to establish a sovereign legal AI infrastructure in the entire DACH region with Beck-Noxtua, MANZ-Noxtua and Swiss-Noxtua.

More exciting news from the ecosystem

BRYCK Startup Alliance launches as Startup Factory in the Ruhr region

The BRYCK Startup Alliance celebrated its official launch with the"Class of Tomorrow" event at the Colosseum Essen. The innovation center initiated by the RAG-Stiftung brings together partners from science, industry and the startup ecosystem to develop the Ruhr region into a model region for industrial renewal and cutting-edge technological innovations. Supported by the University Alliance Ruhr and over 70 companies from the Initiativkreis Ruhr, the initiative is part of the nationwide"Startup Factories" program. The aim is to achieve more than 1,000 spin-offs, 200 scaling deep-tech start-ups and over one billion euros in raised capital by 2030. The BRYCK Startup Alliance aims to become a leading European location for deep tech innovations.

Inflation rate stable, economy stagnates in the third quarter of 2025

According to preliminary figures from the Federal Statistical Office, the inflation rate in Germany in October 2025 was +2.3% compared to the same month last year. Compared to September, consumer prices rose by 0.3%, while core inflation excluding energy and food was +2.8%. Adjusted for price, seasonal and calendar effects, gross domestic product remained unchanged in the third quarter of 2025 compared to the previous quarter. Compared to the third quarter of 2024, economic output increased by 0.3% on a price-adjusted basis. While investments in equipment increased, exports fell slightly.