Industry landscapes
The companies, capital and talent shaping retail in Germany. Find the leaders. Understand the segments. See where the activity is.
An industry ecosystem,
measured in context.
24 featured companies from the funding, hiring, revenue and team-size leaderboards.
Locked revenue figures are available in Radar; the eight company financial previews stay the same throughout this page. A dash means the figure is outside these featured lists. Revenue years vary by company; the figures are not a like-for-like revenue comparison. Compare annual accounts ↗
Recently founded means a recorded 2023–2026 founding year and no recorded parent, acquirer or public-company status. These companies are not labelled startups without that separate classification.
Explore classified startups in Radar ↗A few useful ratios bring the size of this ecosystem into perspective.
379 of 5,085 tracked companies have open roles.
435 of 5,085 tracked companies have a recorded round.
Share of disclosed capital received by the three largest recorded recipients.
Midpoint of 338 rounds with a disclosed amount.
Scale is concentrated. Opportunity is broader. The three largest funding recipients hold 29.1% of disclosed capital, while 91.4% of tracked companies have no recorded funding round.
Explore the segments →Recorded company formation and disclosed funding across the complete annual series shown.
Sum of recorded funding rounds · USD
| Year | Funding (USD) | Founded | Raising |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | $145.87M | 216 | 20 |
| 2017 | $277M | 233 | 23 |
| 2018 | $542.9M | 266 | 27 |
| 2019 | $610.55M | 287 | 26 |
| 2020 | $568.9M | 344 | 32 |
| 2021 | $3.92B | 249 | 56 |
| 2022 | $887.97M | 131 | 55 |
| 2023 | $434.39M | 80 | 32 |
| 2024 | $547.99M | 42 | 18 |
| 2025 | $173.27M | 14 | 6 |
Share of all disclosed company funding.
578 recorded rounds since 2016
Recorded participation in retail company rounds since 2016.
Backed by Bain Capital.
Backed by Warsaw Equity Group and EIT InnoEnergy and others.
Backed by Atomico and Project A and others.
Backed by Antler and Outlast Fund and others.
Backed by Commerzbank and Kfw.
Backed by Sofina and BlackRock and others.
Backed by German Media Pool and SevenVentures and others.
Backed by Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan.
Backed by Target Global and Declaration Partners and others.
Backed by Insight Partners.
Backed by Accel and Insight Partners and others.
Backed by Silversmith and Meritech and others.
Backed by TCV and One Peak and others.
Backed by Fortress and 468 Capital and others.
Backed by Cherry Ventures and Felix Capital and others.
The measured Germany identity-to-filing probe did not produce a qualifying designated legal or national-ID join: designated German registry identities do not carry the LEI or ISIN used by bundesanzeiger facts; legal-name matching is prohibited.
How the Germany companies on this page show up online: the sites people visit, the apps they install, and how often those apps ship.
263 of the 5,087 companies on this page carry a measured traffic record (5.2%); these are the largest of those, by monthly visits. The median among them is 206,704 visits.
| Company | Monthly visits | Authority | Mobile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kleinanzeigenkleinanzeigen.de | 132,440,817 | 82 | 62.2% |
| Idealoidealo.de | 65,507,633 | 86 | 65.3% |
| OTTOotto.de | 50,555,863 | 84 | 80.2% |
| myDealZmydealz.de | 31,522,114 | 69 | 36% |
| adidasadidas.com | 28,765,427 | 83 | 69.7% |
| Kauflandkaufland.de | 24,964,818 | 78 | 75.1% |
| lidllidl.de | 14,870,165 | 79 | 73.7% |
| dm-drogerie marktdm.de | 14,695,459 | 80 | 81.1% |
| Decathlondecathlon.de | 10,187,881 | 74 | 74.2% |
| Mytheresa.commytheresa.com | 9,231,557 | 64 | 80.2% |
Visits and authority are third-party web estimates, not company-reported figures.
441 of these companies (8.7%) publish at least one Android app — 628 apps in all, carrying 694.3M installs between them.
| App | Installs | Rating | Store category |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zalando – online fashion storeZalando | 100.7M | 4.6 | Shopping |
| adidas: Shop Shoes & Clothingadidas | 89.6M | 4.7 | Shopping |
| Kleinanzeigen - without eBayKleinanzeigen | 65.9M | 4.1 | Shopping |
| idealo: Price Comparison AppIdealo | 26.6M | 4 | Shopping |
| Mein dmdm-drogerie markt | 25.2M | 4.8 | Shopping |
| OTTO – Online Shopping & MöbelOTTO | 24M | 4.7 | Shopping |
| Lounge by Zalando | OutletZalando Lounge | 20.9M | 4.6 | Shopping |
| Combyne - Outfit creationCombyne | 19.8M | 4.4 | Lifestyle |
| ALDI TALKALDI TALK | 19.1M | 3.9 | Communication |
| Rossmann PLRossmann | 18.4M | 3.6 | Shopping |
Installs are lifetime totals to date at the June 2026 store reading — a measure of reach, not of people using an app today.
The busiest app inside each of this page’s own segments, with the quarterly release trend behind it (2023Q4–2026Q2).
| Segment | Apps | Installs | Leading app | Release trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fashion Tech | 50 | 165.9M | Zalando – online fashion store 100.7M | |
| Horizontal E-Commerce | 49 | 153.7M | Kleinanzeigen - without eBay 65.9M | |
| Retail Chains | 27 | 142M | adidas: Shop Shoes & Clothing 89.6M | |
| Sportswear | 2 | 97.3M | CONFIRMED | Sneakers & more 7.7M | |
| Retailers | 40 | 63.7M | Mein dm 25.2M | |
| Coupons And Deals | 46 | 59M | kaufDA: Einkaufsliste & Deals 15.5M | |
| Consumer Electronics E-Commerce | 40 | 34.4M | ALDI TALK 19.1M | |
| Social Platforms | 3 | 21.5M | Combyne - Outfit creation 19.8M |
A company can carry several segment tags, so these rows overlap and should not be added together. Trend lines are zero-based and share one quarter grid, so a flat line is a quiet segment, not a missing one.
New apps published, beside apps whose most recent update landed in that quarter — the second bar is how much of the shelf is still being maintained.
Darker bars are new releases, lighter bars apps updated. 409 of 628 apps carry a release date. The series ends at 2026Q1, the last quarter that closed before the June 2026 reading.
Explore the segments behind the headline numbers.
Rank segments by scale, hiring or disclosed funding.
Companies can sit in several segments. Counts and funding overlap.
The largest measured segment in this report snapshot.
134 companies hiring · $2.3B disclosed funding
Explore in RadarCommon revenue models; a company can use more than one.
Recorded corporate activity linked to companies in this landscape.
Polish investment firm Warsaw Equity Group has led a €5 million Series A funding round in German EV charging technology company &Charge, joining forces with Porsche Ventures and existing backers including InnoEnergy and Redstone.
The chain of stores receives a total of ten million euros through this interim financing.
Freenet AG has successfully secured a EUR 350 million promissory note loan, intended primarily to repay bridge financing for the acquisition of mobilezone Deutschland.
In March of this year, Migros announced that it has agreed to sell most of its tegut stores to Edeka as part of its decision to withdraw from the German market.
REWE Group has reached an agreement with Switzerland's Migros to acquire up to 40 tegut stores.
Euronet's push to enhance its European merchant payment infrastructure was further demonstrated earlier this year through an agreement with Athens-based CrediaBank to acquire its merchant acquiring subsidiary.
Casavo's continued restructuring took a major step forward this week after the company acquired an estate agency group, Casando.
Fast Finance 24 Holding AG (ISIN: DE000A1PG508) is providing further strategic progress in its investment in Digisell Services GmbH.
Germany’s Andercore, an AI-driven trade platform for industrial supply, has raised €33.5 million ($40 million) in equity and debt to expand its geographic footprint and deepen its category coverage, while supporting the long-term development of its AI platform to eventually allow suppliers to sell directly through the system.
Before that, it completed acquisitions of creative agency School House; marketing firm Taylor & Pond, and e-commerce marketplace accelerator Finc3, all of which have since merged under the Front Row umbrella.
Top 10 categories among 969 recorded events in the 24-month window.
2 companies with recorded IPO activity
IPO1 reports
IPO · Frankfurt Stock Exchange2 reports
64 tracked people moves
Appointment Fressnapf CEO
Appointment Head of Europe
Appointment Chief Executive Officer
Promotion Vice President—People and Culture
Resignation Previously Vice President People & Culture
Appointment Member of the Supervisory Board
Resignation Previously Member of the Supervisory Board
Promotion Director Digital Marketing
Products, platforms and features in the recorded window
Partner program
Stored value platform
Sneakers
Sneakers
Instant delivery
AI tool
AI-powered commerce platform
AI tool
20 recorded customer wins
Customer: Migros ZurichRetail
Customer: Cooperative Migros ZürichRetail
Customer: bardahlIndustrial
Customer: pbs holdingE-commerce / B2B commerce platform
Customer:
Customer: nomagic
11 companies with reported reductions
2,700 rolesclosure
40 rolescost reduction
500 rolescomplex structure
Scale not stated rolescost reduction
220 rolescost reduction
10.0% rolesstrategic realignment
22 recorded events
1,750 forints per consumerHungarian Competition Authority (GVH)
finedHungarian Competition Authority (GVH)
European Commission
green light
26 tracked suits
Corporate due diligence failure under Germany’s Supply Chain ActRegulatory · Filed
Abuse of superior market powerRegulatory · Dismissed
Reported company results in the recorded window.
Median across 293 reported growth observations; companies may contribute multiple periods.
Company-linked deal reports; status is preserved as recorded.
| Acquirer → target | Status | Date | Value / context |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edeka→migros | Announced | 2026-04-20 | Not stated in snapshot |
| REWE→migros | Announced | 2026-04-20 | Not stated in snapshot |
| Euronet→paynopain | Announced | 2026-04-16 | Not stated in snapshot |
| Euronet→CrediaBank\'s merchant acquiring subsidiary | Announced | 2026-04-16 | Not stated in snapshot |
| casavo→Casando ↗ | Announced | 2026-04-15 | Not stated in snapshot |
| Edeka→tegut | Announced | 2026-03-11 | Not stated in snapshot |
A discussion or rumour is not a completed transaction. An unstated value is not zero.
18,355 postings in the preceding 12 months. The full 41,988-posting snapshot covers 332 employers.
171 tracked postings mention remote work.
4,139 postings specify a level.
Top skills across 41,988 tracked postings in the available jobs snapshot.
Median across 430 postings with pay data, expressed in USD.
| Company | Open roles |
|---|---|
| MediaMarktSaturn Retail Group ↗ | 11 |
| lidl ↗ | 11 |
| Tchibo ↗ | 11 |
| Edeka ↗ | 11 |
| Hugo Boss ↗ | 11 |
| XXXLutz ↗ | 11 |
| E Breuninger ↗ | 11 |
| Decathlon ↗ | 11 |
| Company | Employees |
|---|---|
| Edeka ↗ | 369,000 |
| lidl ↗ | 360,000 |
| ALDI ↗ | 86,000 |
| dm-drogerie markt ↗ | 66,000 |
| MediaMarktSaturn Retail Group ↗ | 51,000 |
| otto group ↗ | 41,000 |
| Triumph International ↗ | 36,500 |
| Fielmann ↗ | 22,222 |
2,009 founders and chief executives across 1,424 companies.
Praxi Partners, ex-Co-Founder IVY, Goldman Sachs. LSE BSc 2003, University of Cambridge MPhil 2004, HBS MBA 2010
Co-Founder-GeneralMind · Ex-Co-Founder-Razor Group, StalkBuyLove, Westwing · London Business School MSc 2011…
Ex-Cluno, HLA Fleet Services, McKinsey · University of Dayton MBA 2006, University of Augsburg JD 2007
Ex-Funding Circle Deutschland, PayPal, eBay, Dentons, HÄRTING lawyers. University of Bayreuth 2002, King's College London 2007…
2hearts, ex-Co-Founder Happee, Rocket Internet. University of Los Andes BSc, Maastricht University BSc
Ex-Otto Group, Roland Berger. HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management
Ex-Founder Xoanon, Oracle. Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich 2003
CEO Schustermann & Borenstein
ex- CEO @ Unibicate GmbH; WHU - Otto Beisheim Graduate School of Management
Co-CEO Chrono24, ex-CEO TeamViewer, Rossmanith, Zeta Software. Stuttgart Media University 2001
Ex-SYMMETRICS, CGI, symmetrics gmbh, amira project development, CMS. Leibniz University Hanover 2008
Venture Partner - Target Global. University of Warwick Bachelor of Science 2007
101 profiles with education records.
55 profiles with prior-work records.
Profiles cover recorded founders and leaders; contact details remain in Radar.
442,745 articles in the measured 12-month window.
Retail coverage across Germany · articles per complete quarter
| Quarter | Articles |
|---|---|
| 2021Q2 | 75,060 |
| 2021Q3 | 82,604 |
| 2021Q4 | 69,617 |
| 2022Q1 | 89,552 |
| 2022Q2 | 84,083 |
| 2022Q3 | 81,767 |
| 2022Q4 | 99,409 |
| 2023Q1 | 101,889 |
| 2023Q2 | 93,096 |
| 2023Q3 | 102,553 |
| 2023Q4 | 88,755 |
| 2024Q1 | 111,859 |
| 2024Q2 | 122,954 |
| 2024Q3 | 117,779 |
| 2024Q4 | 120,764 |
| 2025Q1 | 171,473 |
| 2025Q2 | 104,458 |
| 2025Q3 | 176,274 |
| 2025Q4 | 85,615 |
| 2026Q1 | 87,614 |
Article volume measures coverage, not market sales.
1,614 recorded company events across 100 companies; percentages use that event total.
Retail coverage across Germany · ranked by full-period article count.
Recent and prior counts use the source comparison windows.
Retail coverage across Germany
| Keyword | Recent | Prior | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| countries | 4,193 | 1,858 | 126% |
| multilateral diplomacy | 1,605 | 1,079 | 49% |
| national security strategy | 964 | 621 | 55% |
| study overseas | 652 | 372 | 75% |
| overseas study | 591 | 344 | 72% |
| semester abroad | 531 | 308 | 72% |
| violin concerto | 526 | 42 | 1152% |
| violin virtuosity | 525 | 36 | 1358% |
| aerial bombardments | 521 | 185 | 182% |
| quarterly financials | 506 | 345 | 47% |
| europa league | 442 | 2,230 | -80% |
| olympic team selections | 772 | 1,904 | -59% |
| nationalist composers | 3 | 1,891 | -100% |
| aleatoric music | 9 | 1,470 | -99% |
| quarterfinals | 378 | 1,334 | -72% |
Retail coverage across Germany
territories, disputed islands, countries
24.0% critical · 15.1% positiveinflation reports fx, currency intervention policies, eur/usd
40.1% critical · 43.9% positivegdp growth rate, gdp acceleration, economic output growth
29.4% critical · 46.3% positiveRetail coverage across Germany. Topic labels describe recorded classifications and can include broad context.
Company counts, hiring and disclosed funding across the recorded hubs.
44.7% across the displayed hubs
61 companies hiring · $5.6B disclosed funding
Explore companies in Berlin ↗
17.4% across the displayed hubs
30 companies hiring · $790.6M disclosed funding
Explore companies in Munich ↗
15.1% across the displayed hubs
27 companies hiring · $342.0M disclosed funding
Explore companies in Hamburg ↗
7.4% across the displayed hubs
15 companies hiring · $141.2M disclosed funding
Explore companies in Cologne ↗
5.1% across the displayed hubs
16 companies hiring · $10.1M disclosed funding
Explore companies in Stuttgart ↗
5.1% across the displayed hubs
10 companies hiring · $352.0M disclosed funding
Explore companies in Dusseldorf ↗
2.7% across the displayed hubs
1 companies hiring · $18.5M disclosed funding
Explore companies in Leipzig ↗2.6% across the displayed hubs
4 companies hiring · $5.8M disclosed funding
Explore companies in Frankfurt Am Main ↗Clear definitions for making better comparisons.
It measures the tracked company ecosystem, recorded funding, hiring and other available evidence. It is not a market-size estimate.
No. A company can belong to several segments, so segment counts and funding can overlap.
A dash or unavailable panel means the current reviewed source snapshot does not support that figure.
Company ecosystem snapshot: 6 August 2026. Funding is recorded in USD; filed accounts retain their stated currency and reporting basis. Each section identifies its own coverage. The news and research behind these sections is explorable in Prism.
Canonical landscape ↗