Germany: Flagship Founders, the first European venture studio focused on maritime technologies, logistics and shipping, has closed its €3.5 million funding round. The round is led by Hamburg-based shipping company F. Laeisz. and complemented by Starthub Ventures and Flagship Founders' founding partner Auerbach Schifffahrt. In addition, several business angels are investing, including Jürgen Ringbeck and Philipp Ahrenkiel. Flagship Founders was founded in May 2020 in Berlin with the mission of building digital businesses within the maritime industry together with ambitious founders. Since then, the venture studio has been able to spin off three companies: Kaiko Systems, Tilla Technologies and zero44, all of which operate successfully in the market and count well-known shipping companies among their partners.