Hi there,

I am doing weekly roundups of who's raising, expanding and cutting in Germany: most of the links are in the newsletter issue.

Just raised money

• 1Komma5° (Hamburg, AI energy management for homes): €70M
• Causa Prima (Munich, AI agents that resolve B2B invoices): $20M seed
• Ubitium (Düsseldorf, universal chip for physical AI): $14M seed
• OllyGarden (Berlin, fixes bad telemetry before observability): $4M seed
• TODAY (Berlin & Copenhagen, AI agents for financial advisors): €2.8M seed

Expanding

• MicroAGI (Munich, robotics) hit $100M+ in annualised revenue six months after launching Shift, its robot-data platform. They are hiring.
• Universal Quantum (UK, quantum computing) raised over €89M in a Series A and plans to expand its German hub in Hamburg.
• Varta (Ellwangen, batteries) is restarting its household-battery division as an independent business after the group's insolvency, keeping around 990 jobs and planning fresh investment at its Dischingen site.
• Bonial (Berlin, retail marketing) bought Nordic retail-marketing company Tjek, going from two to six European markets.
• Doctolib (Paris, health tech) is taking a minority investment from NVIDIA that it says will speed up its AI hiring.
• Taco Bell (US, fast food) opened its first German location in Cologne. Berlin, Bonn and Stuttgart are next.

Cutting

• Ryanair is closing its BER base on 24 October, withdrawing all seven stationed aircraft and 12 routes. It blames Germany's aviation tax and state fees.
• Galeria (Essen, department stores): in its fourth insolvency in six years, at least a third of its stores are at risk. The Bundesagentur für Arbeit will pay the insolvency wages, about €25M a month.
• Trade Republic (Berlin, fintech): employees reportedly describe frequent performance ratings and dismissals ("rank and yank"), per internal documents seen by Tagesspiegel.

Office & pay

• Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing said the government's labour reforms don't go far enough and called for weaker dismissal protection for top earners.

Numbers

• Job ads for graduates with up to three years of experience fell 40% between January and August 2026 compared with 2022, from 138k to 83.5k, per Süddeutsche Zeitung. Unemployed graduates under 30 almost doubled, from 23k in 2022 to 45k in 2025.
• Information and communication has 56% fewer junior ads than in 2023. Construction is the exception, down only 14% and up 7% on last year.
• Three in four of about 2,500 employees surveyed by the AOK's research institute WIdO felt exhausted by their work. Mental-illness sick days among AOK members rose 42% in ten years.
• German startups raised €4.5bn in Q3, the best quarter since the end of 2021, per KfW Research. AI startups got 69% of it.
• Only 24% of German startups that raise a seed round reach Series A, per an Antler analysis of 27.6k rounds.
• The government raised its 2026 growth forecast to 1.3%, from 0.5%.

Thanks for reading! Much appreciated. You can get this weekly for free.

I recently applied for a work visa in a small town in southern Bavaria. The job title is Junior Operations Manager, with typical responsibilities such as managing day-to-day operations, monitoring KPIs, coordinating teams, etc.
I also have a master’s degree, and the offered salary is €4,000 gross per month.

However, I received a rejection from the Federal Employment Agency considering it’s a junior-level position and my first full-time job in this role.

The reason given was:

„Laut Rückmeldung des zuständigen Arbeitgeber-Services entsprechen die Lohnbedingungen für diese Tätigkeit nicht den tariflichen / ortsüblichen Bedingungen wie für inländische Arbeitnehmer/innen.
Diese liegen hier bei mindestens 4.931 €/Monat brutto. Nach Rückmeldung des AGS war der AG weder telefonisch noch per Mail erreichbar.“

Has anyone been in a similar situation? What could be a possible solution?
The company most likely won’t be willing to increase the salary by almost €1,000 per month. However, they might be open to slightly adjusting the role and reducing some responsibilities.
Would changing the job description or responsibilities make a difference in how the salary requirements are assessed?

Hi everyone, I am a UK resident and recently moved to Germany for a decently paid job in my field. I have a rented apartment and am in my probation period. However, recent family situations is causing me to seriously consider going back to the UK. I do have an offer lined up for the UK (in London) which will pay well but I need to find a place to stay as well. The company in Germany has been exceedingly helpful with everything and I am already involved in projects which are quite important to the division I work in.

There are other considerations as well, this new offer is almost 1.5X the salary in Germany (I am looking at £90k with benefits on top). What would you do? Would you give your 2 weeks notice and move to the UK for family and better pay?

I am very confused, any help from anyones experiences is very appreciated. I would like to stay close to family during this time but I am not sure if the right move is to quit so early on after joining this new company in Germany.

Hello everyone,
I am 23 woman from the Middle East and I would like to move to Germany with a work visa to build a secure future for myself.
reason is that in my home country, I face many difficulties due to my gender. I experience discrimination, restrictions on my personal freedom, and live in an environment marked by religious extremism. so I have very few opportunities to build an independent and free life. Therefore, I am looking for a chance to start a new life in a European country, because they respect human beings and their freedom.
in frw months i'll have a bachelor's degree in pharmacy (with an pass grade:( ,, and have also completed a course in aesthetics and cosmetics.
To be honest, I do not necessarily want to work in my field of study. I prefer practical or vocational activities over an academic career. Unfortunately, I find the German language difficult, but I speak English well and would like to work in a field where English is sufficient, such as tourism, hotels, customer service, or at international companies.
In which areas do you think I would have the best chances of getting a job and a work visa? How can I find employers who hire international applicants and support them with the visa?
Any advice, helpful website, or personal experience would greatly help me. Thank you very much

Hi everyone! I’m German and currently studying at a university in the United States. I’m interested in applying for Associate Consultant internships at McKinsey, Bain, and BCG in both Germany and the U.S., with the goal of pursuing a full-time role later on.

I’d appreciate advice on a few questions:

1. For applications to German offices, should I submit my CV in a German-style format or a U.S.-style résumé?
2. Are interviews in Germany usually conducted in German, English, or both? Which language should I prioritize when practicing cases?

If any of you had a similar experience applying from the U.S. in Germany, I’d appreciate your tips.

Hi everyone,
I recently had interviews with large German companies like DHL and Deutsche Telekom, and I’m curious about their hiring process.
Neither company asked about my salary expectations during the application process or in the first interview, which was mainly technical.
They mentioned that the next interview would be in person at their office.
At what stage do large German companies usually discuss salary expectations? Is it normal to reach the second interview without discussing salary at all?
I’d be interested to hear from anyone who has gone through a similar hiring process, especially at DHL or Deutsche Telekom.
Thanks!

hello, im from poland and ive considered working abroad. i use mag 135, whats the realistic pay in germany? i have a few years of experience, have a drivers license and use english pretty well id say. i barely speak german tho.

Hallo...
I had completed bsc nursing in India.. I am fresher no experience..
I am cleared B1 Telc and also I had completed my b2 Kurs..

As a fresher nurse, can I get good job in Deutschland?..
Or Berufserfahrung spielt eine wichtige Rolle im Job?

Bitte Antworten auf die Frage 🙏🙏
Hinweis:  I can't speak german fluently 😅

With B2 certificate+ nursing degree in India= can I get a job in Germany in the year 2026-2027😅😢

Hey guys,
I am a non-EU student studying Masters in Germany. I had a good first interview with a company based in Austria. I got the interview invitation 3 working days after I applied. In fact, I got in touch with the hiring manager and the main HR person on linkedin right after I applied which may have helped me get noticed. They seemed to have liked me during the interview because honestly everything went well and I could see that in their body language and also the hiring manager complimented me a couple of times. He even emphasized that I have some very interesting overlaps with the job requirements (which I did). I did get a rejection call from them 2 weeks later which is understandable because the position was not exactly entry-level and I couldn’t start working until April or May of next year since I am doing my Masters Thesis currently. They probably went with someone who is available sooner and/or has a couple of years of work experience.

However, during the rejection phone call; I was told by the HR person that the hiring manager will contact me next week to give feedback. Is that common? What can I expect from this because I haven’t heard of feedback calls after rejection in the DACH region? Also, this is the next week, so if I do not receive a call today, would it be okay to send a polite email to the hiring manager thanking him for his time and indirectly hinting towards the feedback conversation?
I appreciate any insights!

Hi Everyone,

Looking for more ground truth situation here. What's the job market in Germany?

Does Big Tech pay well there?

Are German companies hiring immigrants who don't know German?

A Teams call. >100 people. Everyone fired! Our work is being outsourced. No development jobs in German location. Too expensive. A few months of garden leave on top of 3-month notice period + severance which will be in detail through another email. ALG 1, here I come!

What I did: Checked Linkedin today, found a few related jobs. Saved one for later. Created a new folder in Google Drive named "Job search 2027". Cleaned up a few other folders while in Google Drive.
Also had just bought a new robot vacuum cleaner thinking to spend a bit as I was being sure of my career in this company. Spent 3 hours watching the vacuum do something useful. Realised that the tech in this system is the one which took away my job!
Was seeing videos recently about how people are planning for their FIRE journey. I also started to dream about that life. Alas, destiny has something else in store for me. Let's see. Will update tomorrow!

Hi everyone👋

I got a job 6 months ago and believe now is the right time to get legal insurance to protect me in case of future layoffs / landlord issues and beyond.

As an expat I seek your advice for the best and affordable legal insurance that is English friendly.

Would appreciate any recommendation based on personal experience.

Thank you!

After further feedback from you guys, We made meaningful changes that bring more value. The point of zenply.de has always been organizing your career in one place so things don't get overwhelming and people on the hunt don't feel lost.

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Now you have a personal recommendation feed of active job-postings that you have the best shots at. Plus a personal career roadmap that shows you exactly what you have, what's missing, and what's the best next step.

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Hello,

Do you feel secure when you do your job - whatever it is- very well? (Of course private sector) Have you witnessed any layoffs occured to a person who is very very good at job/work?

Looking forward to your ideas and experience