DACH News May 2026: $3.67B Funding & Helsing's $1.2B

DACH News May 2026: $3.67B Funding & Helsing's $1.2B

Author: Startuprad.io™ – Europe’s Voice on Startups, VC, Innovation & Growth May 29, 2026 Duration: 23:32
Germany raised 3.67 billion dollars across 166 equity rounds through May 2026, up 11.61 per cent year-over-year. The headline signals: Helsing is raising 1.2 billion dollars at an eighteen-billion-dollar valuation, led by Dragoneer and Lightspeed, making it Germany's most valuable startup; SAP is acquiring Prior Labs of Freiburg with a commitment of more than one billion euros to build a frontier AI lab for structured data; Isar Aerospace's second orbital launch attempt has a window of May 18 to 24 from Andoya Spaceport; Bitpanda's Frankfurt IPO is approaching its H1 deadline with MiCA compliance due June 30; SPREAD AI raised 30 million dollars with In-Q-Tel on the cap table; and ATMOS Space Cargo secured 25.7 million euros to build Europe's first orbital return infrastructure. Germany recorded 142 acquisitions through May, up from 108 through April. Enjoy the show? - Blog recap: https://www.startuprad.io/post/startup-news-germany-austria-switzerland-for-may-2026-helsing-sap-and-the-orbit-question - Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/TDQCdXIBBQ0 🎧 The Audio Podcast Subscribe here: https://linktr.ee/startupradio 🚪 Connect with Us - Partner with us: partnerships@startuprad.io - Subscribe: https://linktr.ee/startupradio - Feedback: https://forms.gle/SrcGUpycu26fvMFE9 - Follow Joe on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/comm/mynetwork/discovery-see-all?usecase=PEOPLE_FOLLOWS&followMember=joernmenninger © Startuprad.io

Tune in to Blockchain Germany-Web3 Startups, Crypto Innovation & Venture Capital by Startuprad.io™ for an authentic, ground-level view of how decentralized technologies are reshaping business across Europe. Host Joe Menninger connects you directly with the people building this new frontier, moving beyond the hype to explore the real work happening from Berlin and Frankfurt to Zug and Vienna. Each conversation in this podcast pulls back the curtain, offering a mix of founder experiences, practical investor perspectives, and nuanced analysis you won't find in headlines. It’s about understanding the strategies, challenges, and unexpected opportunities defining Web3 and crypto ventures right now. As part of the Startuprad.io™ network, this series focuses squarely on the European ecosystem, serving as a vital resource for entrepreneurs, investors, and anyone curious about the practical merger of technology and capital. You'll hear detailed discussions on navigating regulation, building sustainable token economies, and where smart venture funding is flowing. Forget abstract theory; here, you get the operational intelligence and personal narratives from those at the beating heart of the continent's decentralized shift. This is where the future of European tech is being debated and built, one episode at a time.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Blockchain Germany – Web3 Startups, Crypto Innovation & Venture Capital by Startuprad.io™
Podcast Episodes
Delaware vs EU Inc: The Domicile Question in 2026 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:31
MiCA gave digital-asset companies a European passport for their licence. Company law never followed. Jörn "Joe" Menninger examines what the European Investment Bank and the Joint Research Centre found about where Europea…
Germany's New Startup Strategy Is Really a Scaleup Strategy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:24
Germany's new Startup and Scaleup Strategy: 152 measures, DefenceTech, procurement reform, DeepTech financing. Why this is really about the European scaleup gap — and whether Germany can close it. Hello and welcome every…
Europe's Startup Recovery Never Came: H1 2026 Rotation [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 27:23
Europe's startup ecosystem is not experiencing a traditional recovery. In this special H1 2026 review, Jörn "Joe" Menninger analyzes why venture capital has undergone a structural rotation rather than returning to the in…
The Defence Capital Supercycle: €1.7B in a Month [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 25:55
More than €1.7 billion of defence-linked capital moved through Europe in a single month. This episode examines why defence technology has become the dominant venture asset class, how STARK reached a €3.5 billion valuatio…
DACH News April 2026: VC Leaves SaaS for Deep Tech [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:57
DACH venture capital is undergoing a structural rotation. Capital is moving away from generic SaaS and toward startups tied to defense, space, industrial AI, procurement, tokenized finance, and physical infrastructure. T…
Q1 2026 Review: Germany's Startup Selection Event [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 20:40
This episode analyzes three structural signals shaping the DACH startup ecosystem in Q1 2026. First, startup capital is concentrating into fewer, more defensible companies. Second, Germany’s startup geography is speciali…