The Berlin SaaS Elite

Germany beats UK for first time in Sifted ranking. The capital provides 15 of 26 German companies.

The European startup landscape is experiencing a historic shift: Germany has overtaken the UK for the first time in the renowned Sifted B2B SaaS Rising 100 ranking. With 26 companies, Germany leads ahead of the UK (24) and France (22) in the ranking of Europe's most promising SaaS startups. Berlin solidifies its position as Germany's tech center with 15 companies – four more than last year.

Sifted's 2025 edition of the B2B SaaS Rising 100 ranks the most promising privately held SaaS startups across Europe and Israel. Now in its fourth year, the list highlights companies valued under $1bn that are shaping the future of enterprise software — from AI infrastructure to legaltech, developer tools to digital health.

This year's methodology builds on previous editions, combining data-driven analysis with editorial and intelligence team evaluation across three criteria: market opportunity, competitive differentiation and momentum. To be eligible, companies must have launched in 2018 or later, raised funding in or after 2019, and sell software products to other businesses.

Let's take a closer look at the 15 Berlin companies that made it into the ranking.

Berlin's Workflow Champions on the Rise

The most spectacular rise was achieved by n8n, which immediately reached 4th place in Europe and 1st place in Germany. Founded in 2019 by Jan Oberhauser, the company offers a free, open-source workflow automation platform that combines workflow automation and complex AI agent development on a single platform. With n8n, users can create complex, multi-step workflows that connect both external APIs and internal tools – without being limited to simple integrations. The platform allows you to start with drag-and-drop and gradually add code as needed. With a valuation now exceeding $2 billion, n8n has become a unicorn shortly after the publication of the rankings, meaning it will not be included in next year's edition.

Fintech Power from the Capital

Berlin demonstrates its strength particularly in the fintech sector. Moss offers a complete solution for corporate spending with physical and virtual company credit cards, digital invoice management and automated accounting integration. The company has already raised €175 million and is among the best-funded German startups in the ranking.

Similarly positioned is Pliant, which specializes in digital business credit card solutions. The platform enables not only card issuance but also automated receipt management and seamless integration into accounting software – complete with cashback and CO2 compensation.

Payrails goes one step further and offers a comprehensive payment platform for global companies. With a single API, merchants can accept payments, manage payouts and automate financial processes. Founded in 2021, the company has already raised over $52 million from top investors including Andreessen Horowitz.

An innovative approach is taken by finmid, which provides infrastructure for embedded financial solutions. B2B software platforms can offer tailored financing solutions to their customers with just a few lines of code.

AI Revolution Made in Berlin

Berlin is increasingly establishing itself as Germany's AI hub. Qdrant develops an open-source vector database in Rust that enables fast and scalable similarity searches for high-dimensional vectors – ideal for AI applications like semantic search and recommendation systems.

deepset supports companies in building custom AI agents with the open-source framework Haystack. The platform enables the creation of production-ready solutions for Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and conversational AI.

Taktile positions itself as the "AI Workbench for Risk" and offers a no-code platform for automated risk decisions. Users can create complex decision logic without programming knowledge while relying on AI support.

Healthcare in Digital Transformation

In the healthtech sector, Nelly is at the forefront and landed at 11th place in the ranking. Founded in 2021, the platform aims to become Europe's largest healthcare fintech platform and offers a GDPR-compliant digital process that enables patients to manage their entire healthcare journey via smartphone.

Patient21 takes a different approach and modernizes outpatient care by operating over 50 clinics. The platform focuses on the doctor-patient relationship and removes bureaucratic barriers through digital appointment booking and connected experts.

Specialized Solutions for Niche Markets

Apheris serves the life sciences industry with a platform for secure, federated data and AI collaborations. Organizations can connect sensitive pharma or health data and jointly train AI models without sharing data or compromising intellectual property.

M^ZERO Labs develops infrastructure for secure, programmable and interoperable stablecoins. Companies can develop their own, brand-specific digital currencies with flexible features in just minutes.

Marketing and Operations of the Future

Charles establishes itself as a WhatsApp marketing platform and official Meta partner. Companies like MediaMarkt use the platform for AI-powered chatbots and automated campaigns in conversational commerce.

Hive offers a holistic e-commerce operations platform that goes beyond traditional logistics. Brands can manage fulfillment, freight, inventory and returns through a single app.

CoachHub leads the funding ranking and has already raised €358.4 million. The digital coaching platform offers companies worldwide personalized online coaching with over 4,000 certified coaches.

Berlin's Dominance in Numbers

The Berlin success story is also reflected in investments: CoachHub (€358.4 million), Patient21 (€230.3 million) and Moss (€175 million) lead the German funding ranking. The three best-placed German VC firms in the separate SaaS investor ranking are also based in Berlin: Cherry Ventures, Global Founders Capital and Visionaries Club.

London, Paris and Berlin account for 60% of the listed startups, underscoring their role as global technology centers. In Germany, Berlin clearly dominates with 15 companies ahead of Munich with four companies.

Berlin's startup landscape benefits from a comprehensive AI ecosystem with hundreds of AI startups. A complete directory of Berlin AI companies can be found at www.ai-berlin.com.

The Sifted ranking shows: Berlin has established itself as a European tech metropolis and proves that German founders are not only keeping up, but significantly shaping the future of the European SaaS landscape.