When was BayStartUP founded?

BayStartUP was founded in 1996.

Where is BayStartUP's headquarters located?

BayStartUP's headquarters is located in Nuremberg (Germany).

How many companies has BayStartUP invested in?

BayStartUP has invested in 11 companies, including Personio & Blackwave.

Which companies has BayStartUP invested in lately?

Wesort & s2-data.at are the latest investments by BayStartUP.

How many exits has BayStartUP been involved in?

BayStartUP's portfolio has seen 2 acquisitions.

How many unicorns are there in BayStartUP's portfolio?

There is 1 unicorn in BayStartUP's portfolio.

BayStartUP - 2026 Investor Profile, Portfolio, Team & Investment Trends

1. Personio

Cloud-based HRMS platform for SMBs. It provides features such as payroll administration, attendance and recruitment management, onboarding, performance monitoring. The features include SSL encryption and two-factor authentication based security for the data. The product is available on the subscription-based pricing plan.

Key facts about Personio

Founded Year: 2015
Location: Munich (Germany)
Valuation: $*****
Stage: Series E
Total Funding till date: $772M
Employee Count: 2,270 as on Jul 31, 2026
Investors: Meritech, Index Ventures and 29 Others
Latest Funding Round: Series E, Jun 06, 2025, $*****
Highlight: Editors' Pick

2. Blackwave

Black Wave is a spinoff company of technical University of Munich that manufactures complex shaped products by hot extrusion of of carbon fiber reinforced plastics. The company uses a patented six step automated process which involves impregnating the cut fibers into the plastic resin, cutting of raw materials and pressing the raw material using a heated press tool.

Key facts about Blackwave

Founded Year: 2016
Location: Taufkirchen (Germany)
Stage: Seed
Total Funding till date: $11.1M
Employee Count: 125 as on May 31, 2026
Investors: Alpine Space, BayStartUP and 8 Others
Latest Funding Round: Seed, Mar 19, 2024, $*****

3. SpleenLab

Developer of perception software for autonomous ground and air robots. This software enables machines to perform tasks including navigation, collision avoidance, and sensor fusion. The technology supports various hardware platforms and sensors to facilitate autonomous operations across multiple sectors. Capabilities include visual inertial odometry, object detection, and occupancy grid generation for real-time environmental interpretation. The software integrates with robotic systems to provide situational awareness and guidance for unmanned vehicles.

Key facts about SpleenLab

Founded Year: 2018
Location: Saalburg Ebersdorf (Germany)
Stage: Acquired
Employee Count: 48 as on Jul 31, 2026
Investors: APEX Ventures, Beteiligungsmanagement Thuringen and 2 Others
Latest Funding Round: Seed, May 06, 2020, $*****
Highlight: Acquired

4. Wesort

Key facts about Wesort

Founded Year: 2021
Location: Germany
Stage: Series B
Total Funding till date: $11.5M
Employee Count: 18 as on Jul 31, 2026
Investors: SPRIND, vent.io and 3 Others
Latest Funding Round: Series B, Mar 17, 2026, $*****
Highlight: Editors' Pick

5. Neocom

Provider of AI-powered guided selling tools for businesses. Its AI-powered guided selling tool allows customers to find the right product. The company also claims the solution helps to increase the conversion rate. The company offers the solution on a subscription-based policy. It also provides analytics and automated reporting based on the customer inputs.

Key facts about Neocom

Founded Year: 2012
Location: Munich (Germany)
Stage: Series A
Total Funding till date: $5.29M
Employee Count: 20 as on Jul 31, 2026
Investors: Carbide Ventures, Caesar and 13 Others
Latest Funding Round: Series A, Jan 31, 2024, $*****
Highlight: Editors' Pick

View the full list of portfolio companies

BayStartUP has invested in 11 companies over the last 20 years, with an average of 1 new investment annually in the last 10 years. As of Mar 2026, it has made 1 investment in this year. Its most recent first time investment was in Wesort.

Here are BayStartUP's Year-on-Year Investment Trends:

Year	No. of Investments
Year	1^st Round	Follow-on	Total
2026 (YTD)	1	0	1
2025	0	0	0
2024	1	0	1
2023	0	0	0
2022	0	0	0
2021	2	0	2
2020	3	0	3
2019	0	0	0
2018	1	0	1

View all investments by BayStartUP

BayStartUP has made 8 investments in Seed stage with an average round size of $789K, 1 investment in Grant (prize money) stage with an average round size of $83.2K and 1 investment in Series B stage with an average round size of $11.5M.

Here are BayStartUP's investments by stage:

Stage of entry	No. of Investments
Seed	8
Grant (prize money)	1
Series B	1

Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments

View all investments by BayStartUP

BayStartUP has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the High Tech, Enterprise Applications, Retail, Aerospace, Maritime and Defense Tech and Auto Tech. Notably, it has invested in 9 Enterprise (B2B) companies, 8 Tech companies, 5 Software companies and at least 4 companies focusing on Saas.

Here are BayStartUP's investments by sector:

Sector	No. of Investments
High Tech	5
Enterprise Applications	4
Retail	2
Aerospace, Maritime and Defense Tech	1
Auto Tech	1
Others	11

Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments

View all investments by BayStartUP

BayStartUP has made most investments in Germany (9), followed by Austria where it has made 1 investment.

Here are BayStartUP's investments by geography:

Country	No. of Investments
Germany	9
Austria	1

Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments

View all investments by BayStartUP

BayStartUP has made 1 investments in 2026 so far - Wesort.

Here are the most recent investments by BayStartUP:

Filter this list

Date	Company	Location	Round Details	Round Amount	Co-Investors
Mar 17, 2026	Wesort	Germany	Series B	8355	Infinity Recycling [+3]
Jan 31, 2024	s2-data.at	Austria	Seed	3801	-
Nov 16, 2021	LODGEA	Germany	Seed	6401	DTM Deutsche Tele Medien [+1]
Mar 25, 2021	URGROW	Germany	Seed	7133	CFH Management [+1]
Dec 02, 2020	Neocom	Germany	Seed	5990	Caesar Business Angels [+2]

See more recent investments made by BayStartUP

BayStartUP has 1 unicorn in its portfolio - Personio. The most recent unicorn in their portfolio is Personio which became a unicorn in 2021, 5 years before BayStartUP first invested in it.

Here is a list of unicorns in BayStartUP's portfolio:

Filter this list

Tracxn Score	Company	Short Description	Founded year	Sector	Location	Company Stage	First Investment/ Acquisition Details
73	Personio	Cloud-based HRMS platform for SMBs	2015	Enterprise Applications	Munich	Series E	nvizmdw

View more details about unicorns in BayStartUP's portfolio

2 companies from BayStartUP's portfolio have been acquired. The most recent acquisition was SpleenLab in Oct 2025 by Quantum Systems for $*****.

Here are BayStartUP's portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:

Filter this list

Company	Acquisition Date	First Invested on	First Round of Investment	Round Size
SpleenLab	Oct 21, 2025	May 06, 2020	Seed	6117
Crashtest Security	Dec 12, 2022	Apr 10, 2018	Seed	6886

View all acquired companies in BayStartUP's portfolio

BayStartUP has a team of 10 members including 2 Partners and 6 Principals located in Germany. BayStartUP's team does not sit on the board of any company as of now.

Here is a list of all team members in BayStartUP:

Name	Designation	Location	Board Memberships	Contact Details
Carsten Rudolph	Partner	Germany	-	-
Heiko Neumann	Partner	Germany	-	-
Lukas Trump	Principal	Nuremberg	-	1 Email
Kerstin Bombos	Principal	Germany	-	1 Phone number
Barbara Dombay	Principal	Germany	-	-
Carolin Plagmann	Principal	Germany	-	1 Phone number
Johannes Wurm	Principal	Germany	-	1 Phone number
Oliver Roerig	Principal	Germany	-	-

View team details of BayStartUP

Over the past 20 years, 28 investors have co-invested in BayStartUP's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.

Top Co-investors of BayStartUP: 23 investors entered a company along with BayStartUP. These include investors like CK Venture Capital (2 companies).
Invested after BayStartUP: A total of 5 investors have invested in BayStartUP's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include Alpine Space (1 company) and Ann-Kristin Ledung (1 company).