is AI a bubble?
Issue #160 (04 Aug) – literary events newsletter; Coffee with Isabelle; German Startup Monitor; environmental maps; a guide for fresh managers.
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Programming note #160: Journalists like to speak of the summer hole in August, so let's see: we got a lot of funding deals and movement in the last week of July. But there is a definite tech-event hole — it seems like the organisers are taking a break before the September boom! Two points:
Congrats to the winner of our Pearl Summit raffle from the last issue: Arielle S. We’ll be in touch.
I am looking for people involved in employer branding. If you are up for a short 30-minute chat, drop me a mail or approach me on LinkedIn. You will be handsomely rewarded!
Thanks to our sponsor, Getsafe. Check out their amazing travel insurance deal.
The email subject’s answer is in the snippet #7. Will it pop or not? I think it’s just a matter of time.
🌟 Handpicked community
Meet — 4 handpicked events:
I'll be speaking and doing a short Q&A about Handpicked Berlin at CIC, come join us -> Aspiring founders meetup #9 by Employed.World | Thu, 07/08 17:00 | CIC
🚨 Invest like a woman. Own the future. 350+ founders & investors. Bold ideas, real money talks. Courage & clarity across asset classes at PEARL Summit. 🎟️ Get your ticket | Sept 17–18 | Schankhalle Pfefferberg*
Founders & friends Berlin meetup - Funding & financial management | Wed, 27/08 18:30 | Avomind (use HANDPICKED15 for a discount)
Vuejs // 100th meetup in Berlin | Tue, 12/08 19:00 | YPOG
This could be your event! Advertise it.
Show cool stuff or Ask for something:
You can apply to the 2-month Vilém Flusser residency for artistic research (€1,500 stipend) if you are an artist, researcher, designer, film-maker...
“Tired of checking 85 different social media channels and platforms to know what’s happening in the Berlin English-language literary scene?” Subscribe to Bettina's newsletter about Berlin literary events. Excellent work, check it out!
📨 Submit your input for the community here.
👀 Handpicked jobs
3️⃣ job highlights of the week
The remaining jobs are on the Handpicked job board. This week’s focus was Tech & Dev.
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☕️ Coffee Talk with Isabelle Flanagan
Isabelle is the co-founder of Deep Tech Momentum, one of the most important conferences turned platform/marketplace in the city and Europe. I do admire her grit and openness. Here is what she prepared for you:
Shakespeare and Sons Bookstore — I head to Shakespeare and Sons most Sundays after swimming with friends. Their Meshka 3—smoked salmon on a rye bagel with beetroot horseradish cream cheese and capers—is phenomenal despite sounding like a lot, and albeit expensive for a bagel. Don't be discouraged by how packed it looks; the queue moves quickly, and you'll always find a seat if you persevere.
Losing My Virginity: How I've Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way — Richard Branson's autobiography shows a refreshingly whimsical approach to entrepreneurship. Unlike the highly intentional and high performance founders I typically admire, Branson's 70s-era style was opportunistic and experimental. His story reminds me that while building businesses is incredibly hard work, it can also be tremendously fun and lead you down paths you never considered (hot air balloon trip around the globe anyone?)
Hypnobirthing: Practical Ways to Make Your Birth Better — This book transformed my birth experience four months ago into the most magical day of my life. It's not about hypnosis, it's medically sound, explaining how creating an oxytocin-rich environment helps labour flow while adrenaline can cause labour to stall and therefore lead to additional interventions. While it doesn’t rule out the need for epidurals or C-sections when medically necessary, it gave me the techniques to have a better birth experience than I thought possible.
🗞 Snippets
Berlin & Germany, career & timeless
👋 I am looking for people involved in employer branding. If you are up for a short 30-minute chat, drop me a note or send me a message on LinkedIn. Reward: gratitude with a good mix of "you never know what happens next."
💎 If you are looking for a great Italian with a very short menu, check Bardele. Some reviewers complain that portions are small, but we know by now that Google reviews are mostly pointless. Everything I tried was excellent and al dente.
Startup Verband, the main lobby group for startups in Germany, is inviting startup founders to participate in their annual German Startup Monitor. Here is the direct link to the English version.
Good news: getting an appointment at a Bürgeramt has improved significantly in the last couple of months. Today, already 81.2% of citizens with an urgent request get an appointment. A year ago, it was 59%. Bad news: it’s not the next day, but within two weeks. A small step for a man…
The Senate and the BB Statistical Office published updated maps on “environmental justice”. A pity it’s not interactive, but it includes the mix of noise and air pollution, thermal stress, and social disadvantage. You can find the detailed report with more granular data on this link.
It’s already AUGUST! Uh. Since tech events are more or less paused, you can consider some of the cultural ones as proposed by Mit Vergügen.
It is impossible to summarise this absolutely essential read on the state of AI bubble (The hater's guide to the AI bubble). Excellently researched and brought to the point. It'll take some time, but do read it. AI is here to stay, but the question is in what form? What really hits home are the massive costs (currently subsidised by the Magnificent 7's CapEx) and the underlying terrible economics. Related, on the day I wrote these words, state-of-the-art Claude straight out lied to me and only admitted it was wrong after I pressed it again. The bubble will pop, but, as always, nobody knows when. Related, OpenAI just raised $8.3B at a $300B valuation. For comparison, all German startups combined raised €4.6B in H1 2025.
Career: Great guidance (“So you’re a manager now”) for everyone soon to become a manager. It has a bit of an IT twist, but it doesn’t matter; extremely valuable, inspiring and mostly valid for mature companies.
Career: A very creative CV that did the rounds this week on LinkedIn (mostly because of the podcast and the AI chat clone). I like the novel ideas, but would drop the two-column approach. If you are in the process of improving your CV, check my CV guide with lots of good prompts to improve it.
Timeless: I didn’t read the bestseller “The Body Keeps the Score”, but probably some of you did, and… and it's riddled with “blatant errors”. Reading this reminded me of how “Why We Sleep” actually ruined my sleep and how I realised way too late that it’s just full of crap. Bestsellers can sometimes be dangerous.
Briefly
Bad news: SchwuZ (queer club) and Idalgo (Berlin, classical music streaming) filed for bankruptcy.
Stats: The Senate expects the number of homeless people requiring accommodation to rise from the current 54,000 to 85,657 by the end of 2029. 2022 numbers: 26.000
Cognigy (Düsseldorf, conversational and gen AI agents) was acquired by NiCE for almost a billion USD ($955M). The company was founded in 2016.
Berlin-based n8n (automation software) is reportedly raising at a unicorn valuation (€1.5-2B). Bravo!
Auto1 Group (Berlin, used cars platform) sold 200k cars (+20.6% YoY) with a Gross profit of €231.2M (+33.4%).
Bling (Berlin, family-focused fintech) acquired Finstep (Hamburg, learning platform).
Enpal (solar solutions) carved out Metrify, a company that will take care of around 50k smart meter installations.
BMW H1: revenue -8% YoY (€67B), profit before tax -28.6% (€5.7B).
Mercedes H1: revenue -9% YoY (€66B), EBIT -55% (€3.5B).
Deutsche Bahn H1: loss of €760M with €13.3B in revenue (+3.4% YoY).SAP acquired SmartRecruiters, a recruiting platform.
JD.com (China) wants to acquire MediaMarkt.Figma popped on the IPO. +250%!
Weekly social
Reddit: Did you know there is no night in Berlin between May 18 and July 25?
YouTube: Don’t believe what you see and hear, fakes are everywhere, even when singing in a kitchen. Like the first comment says, it’s the fabricated authenticity that sucks.
Instagram: Some things are simpler than they appear. In defence of running and weight lifting.
💸 Funded in Berlin & Germany
AssistMe | Berlin | IoT care assistance platform | €5.2M | Careers.
Mitte | Berlin | Padel sports facilities platform | €3.5M | Careers.
Tilla | Berlin | Maritime crew automation software | €2M | Careers.
Saint Sass | Berlin | Statement fashion label | $5M | Careers.
Roadsurfer | Munich | Campervan rental platform | €85M | Careers.
Certivity | Munich | Regulatory compliance AI platform | €13.3M Series A | Careers.
ARX Robotics | Munich | Unmanned ground vehicles | €11M Series A extension | Careers.
Alpine Eagle | Munich | Anti-drone defense systems | €10.25M seed | Careers.
Project Q | Munich | Defense sensor platforms | €7.5M | No careers.
1Komma5° | Hamburg | Climate tech energy platform | €150M+ | Careers.
Packwise | Dresden | Supply chain transparency platform | undisclosed seven-figures | Careers.
😅 Meanwhile
do we really need so many interview rounds?
Igor Ranc
Founder & Curator of Handpicked Berlin
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