Find A Flat in Berlin With ChatGPT, A Raccoon Wanted to Test BVG Controllers, & Lower Inflation (Finally)


Guten morgen Reader -

Greetings from sunny Berlin! ☀️ While most Berliners were out and about enjoying the beautiful weather, I decided to stay at home, order takeout, binge on Netflix, and hang out with my cats. I needed a break, as I just hosted a visitor from Canada and experienced a big (and very positive) life change over the past week. I'll be sharing more in next week. 🤫

Anyhoo, what's up this week? A handful of German startups got some serious funding, some dude used ChatGPT to find a flat in Berlin, a raccoon boarded a bus in Berlin, and inflation took a bit of a dip (finally). We cover all of this and more in our June 5, 2023 edition of The Berlin Life newsletter:

Community News & Announcements

News from The Berlin Life

Berlin Life Guides

Berlin Life Guides help with moving to Berlin, as well as living and working in Berlin.

We don't have any new guides this week, but stay tuned for new & updated guides coming out soon! In the meantime, browse the best of our archives:

CLASSIC: How Much Does It Cost To Move To Germany? Use Our Calculator! - Moving to Germany isn't cheap.

TIMELESS: Our Favourite Bars For Craft Beer In Berlin - What's your favourite?

German Companies Hiring

German companies that are hiring right now

Pure App (Berlin)
Vinted (Berlin)
Pleo (Berlin)
Knime (Berlin & Konstanz)
Novanta (Germany)
Cargill (Berlin)
NETCONOMY (Berlin & Dortmund)

German Startup News

German startups that received funding recently could be good places to look for jobs, as well as other news.

German Startup Raises 35 Million To Transform The Way We Read - Go Blinkist! One of Berlin's better employer just got more funding. 🙌
German online travel startup GetYourGuide zips $194M to enhance travel experiences with AI - GetYourGuide is going AI and I'm so eager to see what they have in store for travel.
Berlin-Based Wonnda raises €1 million to connect brands with European manufacturers via its B2B marketplace - Any German company that streamlines cumbersome processes is a good bet for future success (and are also my personal heroes);
Navigating the Berlin startup scene: strengths, weaknesses, and future outlook The author calls Berlin livable (which I agree with) but also affordable. Apparently, this person has never had to search for a flat in Berlin.
Berlin-based Intimate Care Startup Dr. Vivien Karl Raises €1.5M in Pre-seed Funding - Two female founders received funding to continue their work to reduce the stigma associated with female intimate health. As a woman who's suffered healthwise for related reasons over the years, this is one company that has 1000% of my support.

News in Germany

Immigration and other general news

General news:

⦾ In wholesome news we all need - a raccoon recently boarded a bus in Berlin. 🦝

How patriotic can Germans be? - In Germany, this is a pretty complicated debate.

Centrists alarmed as poll shows growing support for German far-right party - Concerning stats show this country isn't heading in the right direction.

How a coder used ChatGPT to find an apartment in Berlin in 2 weeks after struggling for months - It's pretty ingenious what this guy did, but no AI can change the harsh truth that his ethnicity and wealth didn't play a considerable role in scoring a flat so quickly.

Man is electrocuted after passengers climb onto U-Bahn tracks - Berlin ought to be doling out Darwin Awards to people who are this careless with their own lives. Let's hope this man experiences a speedy recovery. ⚡

Hot tip! Did you know you can buy a postage stamp with your phone in Germany?

Foreigner news:

June 2023: 8 changes affecting expats in Germany - The Corona app is no more and say bye to iconic Galeria Kaufhof and Karstadt 😭

German citizenship: Record number of naturalizations - "A record 168,545 applicants with 171 different nationalities received German citizenship in 2022."

Citizenship reforms: Will benefit recipients be able to apply for a German passport? - As always, it's complicated and people who should be able to get citizenship may be denied the opportunity.

New Berlin-made AI app will simplify German bureaucracy for expats - Big love for this if it suceeds! "A Ukrainian, Berlin-based start-up, Ridocu, has announced plans to launch an app which will help foreigners in Germany navigate the country’s complicated bureaucratic systems." 💛 💙

German economy:

German inflation drops to lowest level in more than a year - Inflation is finally starting to go down, but let's see if it's going to hold.

Art & culture:

A new era of HKW: Resistance and reshaping a Berlin institution & ‘The Act of Opening a House Is So Beautiful’: Berlin’s Historic House of World Cultures Relaunches With an Ambitious Multisensory Weekend - A place we should all visit soon.

The Last Days of Berlin’s Gas Streetlamps - A lot of people don't know the history of Berlin's gas street lamps. A worth, not to mention, interesting read!

⦾ Dropping on Netflix later this month - ELDORADO, a documentary about queers in Berlin in the 1920s. 🏳️‍🌈

Pride month: A guide to Christopher Street Day (CSD) celebrations across Germany - The Berlin-based party is legendary. See all the fun-filled photos I took from a previous CSD in Berlin.

Travel:

I Ambled Around Berlin for 8 Days - Michelin-starred feasts, Mies van der Rohe buildings, and river strolls. - This reads pretentious AF but there are some pretty good spots on this itinerary.

It will take years to get Deutsche Bahn back on track - Germany once again proving their efficiency is a myth. 🫠

Useful Resources

Good stuff offered by The Berlin Life

⦾ Join our newly formed Slack community to connect with other job seekers and get support on moving to Germany and finding work.
Add yourself to our Linkedin list to network with local professionals.
Create a German CV (and cover letter) quickly & easily with resume.io.

See you next week,

Founder - The Berlin Life

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