What remained of the Neuer Markt: From high-flyers to quiet stars

20 years after the end of the Neuer Markt, some companies have survived to this day. Why did these prevail in contrast to many others? What is your secret of success?

The beeping, creaking and hissing of a modem was the background noise in the 1990s, when everyone wanted to be on the Internet – and on the stock exchange. “It’s an important intermediate stage in the development of our company,” remembers Stephan Schambach, then head of the Internet company Intershop when it went public at the end of the 1990s, with a broad grin. “We are very proud that it worked so well.” The story is well known: Internet stocks plummeted at the turn of the millennium.

But what is hardly known: Some companies have survived 25 years after the start of the “New Market”. So does Intershop, which set up web shops for companies today. Companies sell to companies, says Alexander Langhorst from GSC Research, explaining the business model. In the past, a mechanical engineer who needed components received catalogs or lists 20 centimeters thick from the supplier. “Today everything has been switched to digital variants. And that is certainly the area where there is still potential for growth.”

Also because it is much more difficult to sell screws or machine parts than books or CDs to private customers – a good business that requires a lot of advice. And special solutions such as video chats with specialists in the companies.

The concept is all that matters

Nemetschek, meanwhile the second largest German software company, also survived. He offers programs for construction companies, says stock expert Christian Röhl. “You can visualize complete buildings – the way they look afterwards. 3D becomes accessible on the computer.” This is a virtual reality that also works for construction and statics with modern software.

The company “Man and Machine” is very similar. Engineers can construct parts on the screen, says stock expert Langhorst: “It is then planned in the software, and when parts are designed in the simulation, the simulation checks whether it works in the virtual form or whether it still needs to be improved .” And so the software can, for example, build molds with which PET bottles can be produced so cleanly that they no longer have to be reground afterwards to achieve the perfect shine.

Nemetschek and Mensch und Maschine do not sell their software on CDs, but in the cloud. “One no longer sells licenses, but a subscription, like with magazines,” explains stock expert Röhl. “And you have to afford the subscription as long as you want to use it. And the companies know that the customers pay every month.” Especially Nemetschek and Man and Machine have risen enormously in the past ten years, have grown enormously. But the big hype is over, there are now quiet stock market stars.