Key Takeaways
- Serial entrepreneurs Stefan Smalla and Paul Schwarzenholz launch Draxon, focusing on VR and AI for workforce training.
- Early investors Point Nine and HV Capital have already backed Draxon.
- Volkswagen is shutting down its used car platform Heycar, affecting 126 employees.
- Vienna-based energy optimization startup Podero secured €5.5 million in funding.
- Several other investments, acquisitions, and market reports round out the startup news.
Well-known serial entrepreneurs Stefan Smalla (Westwing, The Quality Group) and Paul Schwarzenholz (Flaconi, Zenloop) are back with a new venture called Draxon.
Based in Bonn, Draxon aims to revolutionize employee training using Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence. Their focus is on making learning faster, safer, and more effective for frontline teams in high-risk sectors like airports and airlines.
According to Deutsche Startups, early-stage investors Point Nine and HV Capital, both familiar with the founding team, have already invested. Each now holds an 11% stake in the young company.
Meanwhile, Volkswagen has decided to shut down its Berlin-based used car platform, Heycar. This closure reportedly affects 126 employees, 26 of whom are in Germany. At its peak, Heycar employed around 450 people.
Launched in 2017, Heycar received approximately €400 million in funding over the years, with previous involvement from Mercedes, Renault, and Allianz. Despite ambitions to challenge market leaders like mobile.de and Autoscout24, and recent expansion efforts in the UK and France, the platform strategy did not succeed.
In other funding news, the Vienna-based startup Podero raised €5.5 million. Podero develops software to optimize electricity consumption and currently employs 16 people. The investment came from Planet A, Systemiq Capital, and Pale Blue Dot.
The importance of crisis prevention planning for startup resilience was also highlighted, emphasizing that early preparation helps founders navigate challenges and react quickly to change.
Further industry insights mentioned include the rebranding of a B2B software investor, details on the billion-euro HessenFonds for startups, the growth of the venture debt market in Germany, and a study on corporate venture capital’s significant role in German investments.
The deal monitor also reported several key activities: Emmi AI received €15 million, Kyuden International Corporation invested in LiveEO, Repark secured fresh funding, DuMont acquired Rausgegangen, Senken bought Ivy, and Hochzeit.click took over HochzeitsLocation.info.
