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In the third quarter of this year, a total of almost 148.5 million euros were raised by Munich-based startups (We have summarized the most important investments for you here). In contrast, the figure for the same quarter last year was €680.3 million. While this includes the record investment of €476 million in Flixbus, Q3 2019 is significantly ahead at €204.3 million.
Decline in the number and volume of investment rounds
In addition to the investment amount, the number of individual rounds has also declined significantly. While a total of 34 rounds were closed in Q3 2019, the number fell to just 19 in the period from July to September 2020. A particularly large gap is evident in August: Last year, startups from the state capital successfully completed 13 rounds in this month alone; this year, however, the number was two. But September also shows a clear weakness, with only nine investment rounds (2019: 14).
The suspicion that this development is due to the Corona crisis is obvious, considering the time it takes for an investment round to be completed – Daniel Höpfner, Managing Director of the Berlin VC B10, estimates in an article for startup scene This gap primarily affects investments that would have been prepared in April. Furthermore, the long wait for some Corona aid has made investors more cautious, as the Business Angel Network Germany (BAND) has already reported. in May.
Higher average investments and more exits
However, there are also positive developments for the Munich startup scene: The average size of investment rounds has increased compared to the same quarter of the previous year. While the average in Q3 2019 was €6.2 million (excluding the Flixbus investment), this figure rose to €7.8 million in Q3 2020.
And the number of exits also increased: While there were only 5 acquisitions during Q3 last year, this year there were 8 acquisitions and one buyout. Since these were takeovers of healthy companies such as Teleclinic or companies that have run into difficulties independently of Corona, such as the communications subsidiary of Wirecard The impact of the Corona crisis seems to have been small here.
The fund landscape in Munich is also developing positively. Munich-based venture capital firms have launched four new funds in the last three months, totaling €1.675 billion in investment volume. In contrast, only one fund, with €210 million, was launched during the same period a year ago.
