Start2 Group

Valley of Death Hinders German Health Startups

A Tagesspiegel Fachforum in Berlin highlighted why health startups in Germany frequently fail to scale: public seed funding ends before companies reach profitability, and regulatory hurdles plus investor risk aversion deepen the so-called "Valley of Death." Panelists — including TK head Dr. Jens Baas, High-Tech Gründerfonds’ Dr. Achim Plum, Bitkom’s Lena Hornecker and policymakers — stressed that later-stage capital is scarce, and that about 80% of exits above €20 million go abroad (mostly to the U.S.). The forum proposed six measures to improve outcomes: mobilize capital, cut bureaucracy, use the state as anchor customer, harmonize health-system structures (including digital ID and interfaces), increase female founding rates, and cultivate reinvestment by founders and investors. The article was published on 2026-05-16.

Badesofa: German Startup Making Waves in U.S. Market

Badesofa is a German D2C startup founded by Annika Götz and Natalie Steger that sells bathtub cushions and sauna cushions. Launched in 2020, the company reports a current revenue in the “good seven-figure” range, has been profitable since day one with a double-digit margin, and reinvests about 20% of revenue into marketing. Early editorial coverage and an appearance on the TV show Die Höhle der Löwen generated major PR; an investor offer from Ralf Dümmel (€150,000 for 15%) did not finalize, and ies Capital GmbH and a family shareholder (Martin Steger) hold stakes. Despite softer D2C conditions in 2022, Badesofa began selling into the U.S. (since November), using Shopify Markets, Amazon and US-dollar payments, Fulfillment from Germany, production in Poland, and agencies for performance, Amazon and influencer PR. The team is 14 people in Cologne and the German Accelerator program supports the U.S. market push.

MyPostcard Nets 800,000 Downloads at €1 CPI

OMR founder Philipp Westermeyer reports Day 8 of his New York diary, highlighting meetings with MyPostcard founder Oliver Kray, a visit to Facebook’s NYC office, and a conversation with a data-driven bookazine publisher. Kray — who entered the U.S. via the German Accelerator — grew MyPostcard to roughly €5 million in annual revenue by focusing on App Store Optimization, large-scale long-tail Google Ads (“Adwords hack”) and partnerships (example: Ferrero). The company is expanding into the U.S.; an OMR podcast with Kray is forthcoming. Westermeyer also visited Facebook’s New York office (noting the rooftop meeting with Kristin Reagan) and met Christian Busch, who runs the German Accelerator in New York. In the evening he spoke with Sebastian Raatz, a former Bauer exec who now distributes high-priced, topic-driven “bookazines” in 40,000+ U.S. retail locations using data-led topic selection and no external capital.