The latest Start-up Report 2018 is now available
In 2018, Austrian start-ups landed more big deals than ever before. This is the result of the fourth edition of the Start-up Report Austria. A total of 238 million euros were invested in Austrian start-ups last year. In 2017, only 133 million euros were collected. Read the full on Trending Topics, or simply continue to read here on our blog.
The data is collected by serial entrepreneur and startup expert Florian Kandler. “The Austrian startup scene is growing,” he says at the presentation of his evaluation of the Austrian startup year in Vienna.
TourRadar at the top of the rankings
Some of the biggest deal-makers among the domestic founders are also involved. On the podium are Travis Pittman from TourRadar, Chris Müller from Bitmovin, Christian Pirkner from Bluecode, Lorenz Gräff from bsurance and Hanno Lippitsch from Eversports. “These five founders have put every third euro of the entire funding into their pockets,” says Kandler, who collects the data from media reports, databases and information from the community.
TourRadar climbed to the top of the 2018 ranking. The online tour operator collected 42.5 million euros. In 2017 TourRadar ranked second after the Viennese biotech company Hookipa. “We are the first Austrian start-up in which TCV invested,” says TourRadar boss Travis Pittman. With risk capital of 24.4 million euros, Bitmovin ranks second, followed by Bluecode, which secured 11.2 million euros.
Styria in second place
In a comparison of federal states, Vienna stands out clearly. According to Kandler, investments in the capital amount to 145 million euros. Styria ranks second with fundings of EUR 24.85 million, followed by Upper Austria with EUR 9.9 million.
According to the Start-up Report, large investments have increased by 66 percent. All deals amounting to more than two million euros add up to a total of 183 million euros. In 2017 it was only 110.2 million euros. In total, the 15 largest deals in Austria collected 147 million euros in funds. This is an increase of almost 50 percent over the previous year.
Top 15 investments according to Kandler
| HQ | Total | Lead Investor | Employees | |
| Tourradar | Vienna | 42,5 Mio. Euro | TCV | 200 |
| Bitmovin | Klagenfurt | 24,4 Mio. Euro | Highland Europe | 137 |
| Bluecode | Vienna | 11,2 Mio. Euro | not disclosed | 60 |
| Greenstorm | Kufstein | > 10 Mio. Euro | Bregal Milestone | n/a |
| Themis Bioscience | Vienna | 10 Mio. Euro | GHIF | 30 |
| Crate.io | Dornbirn | 9,7 Mio. Euro | Zetta V., Chalfen V., Deutsche Invest Equity | 40 |
| Storebox | Vienna | > 5 Mio. Euro | Signa Innovations | 32 |
| Nuki | Graz | > 5 Mio. Euro | Allegion | 40 |
| Eversports | Vienna | > 5 Mio. Euro | Enern, Russmedia, Market One Capital | 80 |
| USound | Graz | > 5 Mio. Euro | eQventure | 45 |
| Findologic | Salzburg | > 5 Mio. Euro | BE Investments Partners | 50 |
| bsurance | Vienna | 4 Mio. Euro | UNIQA Ventures | 10 |
| cashpresso | Vienna | 3,5 Mio. Euro | Hevella Capital | 15 |
| Adverity | Vienna | 3,2 Mio. Euro | Mangrove Capital Partners | n/a |
| eyeson | Graz | 3,0 Mio. Euro | eQventure | n/a |
Kandler has included in the report those investments which:
- have headquarters and the majority of the team in Austria (that’s why Bluecode, a Swiss company, is included)
- have received at least 250.000 Euro investment excl. subsidies
Austria lagging behind in international comparison
Although the cash registers are ringing at domestic start-ups, investments are rather meagre by international standards. The Berlin-based Fintech N26 of the two Austrians Valentin Stalf and Maximilian Tayenthal will play in a different league with an investment of 260 million euros in January 2019.
According to the EY Barometer 2018, Austria is lagging behind internationally. With an investment volume of 173 million euros in young companies, Austria is only 15th in Europe. Startups from Great Britain attract the most coal to land with 7,210 million euros. In Europe as a whole, investments rose to a total of EUR 21,250 million.
In addition, capital inflows from abroad have declined. “Because you can see that there are more and more sources of money in Austria,” explains Kandler. Money from Austria is “extremely important for an ecosystem”. TourRadar is considering moving to Berlin because of the shortage of skilled workers, says Pittman. It is difficult to find the right talents in Austria.
Number of deals is increasing constantly
