In 2018, Austrian startups have landed more deals than ever before. This is the result of the fourth edition of Startup Report Austria. A total of 238 million euros were invested last year in Austrian startups. In 2017, only 133 million euros were collected, as trending topics reported.
The data are 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.
Among the party are some of the biggest deal-makers among the local founders. On the podium are Travis Pittman of TourRadar, Chris Müller of Bitmovin, Christian Pirkner of Bluecode and Lorenz Gräff of bsurance. “These five founders put every third euro of the entire funding in their pockets,” says Kandler, who compiles the data from media reports, databases and information from the community.
At the top of the 2018 ranking TourRadar climbed. The online tour operator collected 42.5 million euros. In 2017 TourRadar ranked second after the Vienna-based biotech company Hookipa. “We are the first Austrian startup in which TCV invested,” says TourRadar CEO Travis Pittman. With venture capital of € 24.4 million, Bitmovin ranks second, followed by Bluecode, which secured € 11.2 million.
In comparison to other federal states, Vienna stands out clearly. Investments in the capital amount to 145 million euros, according to Kandler. Steiermark ranks second with funding of 24.85 million euros, followed by Upper Austria with 9.9 million euros.
According to Startup Report, large investments have increased by 66 percent. All deals totaling more than EUR 2 million total EUR 183 million. In 2017, it was only 110.2 million euros. In total, the 15 largest deals in Austria have collected 147 million euros in funds. That is an increase of almost 50 percent compared to the previous year.
Kandler has included those investments in the report that:
Central and most of the team in Austria have (therefore Bluecode, a Swiss company, for example)
at least 250,000 euros investment excl. have received funding
Austria in international comparison behind
Although the cash registers are ringing in domestic startups, investments are rather meager by international comparison. For example, the Berlin fintech N26 of the two Austrians Valentin Stalf and Maximilian Tayenthal is playing in another league with an investment of 260 million euros in January 2019.
According to the EY Barometer 2018, Austria falls behind in international comparison (Trending Topics reported). In Europe, Austria’s investment volume of 173 million euros in start-up companies puts it in only 15th place. Startups from the United Kingdom land the most coal at 7,210 million euros. Total investments in Europe increased to 21,250 million euros.
In addition, capital inflows from abroad declined. “Because you see, 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 was difficult to find the right talent in Austria.
Also published on Medium.