2021 Gave Frankfurt its First Unicorn Startup
Startuprad.io posted about this, as it happened, and later reposted it on Medium (https://medium.com/@startuprad_io/frankfurt-has-its-first-unicorn-startup-e009a28ed7c5). The insurance broker Clark became in 2021 the first unicorn. Clark is a classical insurtech startup of the first generation in Germany, which allows management and comparing of insurance policies on its app for retail clients. Of course, the clients are assisted by algorithms.
They have been in the news as they raised funding at the start of 2021, in total 85 mn US$, led by China-based Tencent (known in China for its messenger QQ). Tencent has also been an investor in some well-known companies. It owned at one point stakes in Snapchat, Spotify, Tesla, Ubisoft, Activision Blizzard, Epic Games, Mail.Ru, or JD.com.
The transaction that made Clark a unicorn is very complex. It apparently involved a share transaction, buying finanzen.de from Allianz insurance. They dealt directly with their venture arm called Allianz X. The transaction in total valued the newly combined company at more than 1 bn US$ ( ~880 mn Euros). Some news outlets also spoke of an investment of existing VCs along with the transaction.
You can listen to the interviews by Startuprad.io here. One from 2017, where they have just been selected by Bloomberg as one of the “50 most promising startups you have never heard of”.
There is also here the interview with the CEO and Founder Christopher via Startuprad.io as an audio or video interview.
