Hi there,
I am still improving some of the workflows behind the newsletter, so please allow for a couple of more weeks until the content stabilises. What is also stabilising is our next get-together on the 2nd of October. We still have some tickets available, and there are rumours of some surprises on the day of the event.
EU–INC is asking for your help to prevent the removal of the central registry and standardised stock options. Related, Langdock, a Berlin AI startup, re-registered in Germany as a Societas Europaea, ditching Delaware in the process. Usually the traffic runs the other way. I really liked what Lennard Schmidt wrote about it.
🙏 Please consider supporting this newsletter so that I can keep my independence.
👀 Jobs
7 job highlights of the week
Statista — Analyst, Education — Hamburg
Jung von Matt — Social Media Director — Hamburg
Cello — Senior Product Designer — Remote
🌍 Community board
Last year 36% of companies in our survey gave no equity, 32% gave it to everyone. The 2026 Employee Benefits in Germany survey is open. Six minutes, anonymous, closes 30 Sept, you can get the results free.
The medianet CreativeTech AI Hackathon brings tech, creative & business talents together to build AI tools for real challenges in film, advertising and CreativeTech. Join the 8-week programme for free, develop prototypes, test ideas and apply today!
Have an ask, offer or useful project? Share it! You need beta testers for something you built. You're running a survey or research and need responses. You're stuck on a problem someone here has already solved. You're volunteering, mentoring, or building something non-profit. You learned something the hard way and wrote it up.
It doesn't have to be finished or impressive — if it helps someone reading this, it fits. Keep it community-driven: testing, asking, helping, sharing. If you're promoting a commercial service or project, see partnership options in the footer.
💸 Funded in Germany
Nomos | Berlin | Home battery and EV energy platform | €20M | Careers.
Integral | Berlin | AI-run accounting, tax and payroll | €18M Series A | Careers.
Ground A | Düsseldorf | Laser-based drone and air defence | €9.1M pre-seed | Careers.
Skylance | Hürth | Laser-guided anti-drone missiles | €1M seed | Careers.
FRYTE Mobility | Munich | Charging coordination for electric truck fleets | €3.5M seed | Careers.
Furo | Munich | AI software for industrial battery storage | €3.44M | Careers.
Grubel | Munich | AI research lab for legal work | €3M pre-seed | Careers.
Depotcharge | Munich | Shared depot charging for electric trucks | €2.7M pre-seed | Careers.
BIOWEG | Quakenbrück | Bacterial cellulose replacing fossil polymers | €35M total financing | Careers.
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📡 Signals
United Internet (Montabaur, web hosting) is cutting around 800 jobs at subsidiaries 1&1 and Ionos to save €55M a year.
Volkswagen (Wolfsburg, autos) wants €31B in savings by 2030, with restructuring costing up to €16B up front and as much as €10B set aside for workforce reduction, early retirement and social plans. [more] Its robotaxi unit Moia lost its last interested investors and will be rebuilt from scratch. [more, €]
DeepL (Cologne, language AI) says it is back on a growth trajectory after May's layoffs, launching a voice translation product for Teams and Zoom and focusing on enterprise customers. [careers]
Emirates (Dubai, aviation) won landing rights for Berlin alongside €40B of UAE investment commitments, opening a front against Lufthansa at its weakest German hub.
Cohere (Toronto, AI) closed its takeover of Aleph Alpha.
Commerzbank (Frankfurt, banking) looks unlikely to avoid UniCredit's takeover, and finance minister Klingbeil is now drawing red lines around the terms instead. [more]
North Data (Hamburg, company data) is now 80% owned by the Vienna Stock Exchange.
Aware Health (Berlin, blood diagnostics) was acquired by Zurich-based Aeon, which takes over the platform, contracts, equipment and customers — the Berlin team carries on under the Aeon brand without interruption.
Hyrox (Hamburg, fitness events) founders bought back a majority stake with backing from L. Catterton and WNDR.
Pyure (Berlin, climate tech) acquired Berlin energy and media company klima&so.
Deutsche Bahn (Berlin, rail) is tightening home office rules on jobs it also advertised as "wherever you want". [more, €]
Letting doctors sign people off sick from day one would increase Berlin's official sick rate from 5.8% to 6.4%, AOK Nordost estimates.
Germany had 1.02M open positions in Q2 2026, 35k fewer than a year earlier, with business services falling hardest and 81% of roles needing to be filled immediately. [more]
German courts registered 2.3k corporate insolvency filings in June, up 15.8% on June 2025. [more]
German borrowing costs hit their highest level since 2009 even as bond markets steadied after the global sell-off. [more, €]
Deutsche Bank (Frankfurt, banking) settled out of court with former investment banker Dario Schiraldi. He sued for €152M in lost salary and bonuses. [more, €]
Deutsche Bahn (Berlin, rail) will miss its plan of 40 full line renovations by 2036 with no certainty the main routes will be finished within the 2030s. [more, €]
📅 Events
This week we reviewed 105 upcoming events and handpicked 23. Check all 38 events at luma.com/handpicked
Featured events
Thinking about a Master’s or an MBA? Visit Germany’s number one business school on September 26! Explore the degree programs, meet current students, and find the best option that fits your career goals. | Sat, 26/09 10:00 | ESMT Berlin
We have a couple of spots left for our coworking next Tuesday. We will have snacks, coffee and great company. Join us here.
Our picks
ESMT Bites: mini lectures, big ideas | Thu, 17/09 13:00
Unpacking Democracy | Wed, 23/09 18:00 | Impact Hub Berlin
One Bundle Cinema Mixer | Fri, 25/09 19:00 | Prachtwerk
DesignDays.Berlin: Closing Event | Sat, 26/09 18:30 | CUPRA City Garage Berlin
Ringbahn Read: Silent Reading in the S41 | Sun, 27/09 10:30 | Ostkreuz
One Last Prompt #3 (by episcope) - Back to school edition | Wed, 30/09 19:00 | Berlin, Germany
🧦 Who pays for this
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This is my full-time job and I love it. I do work with sponsors, but they buy slots, not opinions. €5 a month from readers is what keeps it that way.
If you can't afford to support me, read for free — someone else is paying for you. But everyone gets the exact same newsletter. Thank you!
🧭 Career compass
Salary levels of “Azubis”, an extremely successful program in Germany. You can earn up to €1.5k as an apprentice. You can also see the average gross salaries; they are lower than a regular tech salary, but you can easily get up to 60k.
Reddit: Switzerland vs Germany, which is better for a career? Another recent comparison: Berlin vs Paris.
How much time off are fathers entitled to in Germany? In short: it’s a matter of luck (employer generosity) or trade-off (spending vacation days or going unpaid)
IAB research: expanding childcare significantly raises mothers' employment. The same study shows the negative impact of 300k missing childcare places.
For developers, an interesting discussion on Reddit: 14 years of experience, but I don't feel like a senior developer anymore.
😅 Memewhile
imagine this on a Monday?
Handpicked projects
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Going into a salary review or offer? Walk in with the numbers and 12 negotiation tips.
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