Translate an investor pitch deck into German

What German does to a slide

A pitch deck depends on short headings and narrow columns, which is exactly where German gets awkward. German text is often 20 to 35 % longer than English, and it fuses words together: where English uses three or four words, German writes one, which cannot be broken just anywhere.

• Customer acquisition cost becomes Kundenakquisitionskosten: a single 24-letter word in a table cell sized for three short ones.
• Business model becomes Geschäftsmodell, Competitive landscape becomes Wettbewerbsumfeld: slide titles that grow noticeably wider.
• Addressable market becomes adressierbarer Gesamtmarkt: the label inside a TAM/SAM/SOM circle can double in width.

German also capitalises every noun (das Wachstum, unsere Kunden, die Bewertung). A German-speaking investor spots a missing capital on a slide instantly.

Then there is register. For a deck sent to funds or angels you have not met, the formal Sie is expected. The informal du is common in parts of the start-up scene, but it is a gamble in a first approach.

Figures, currencies and fundraising vocabulary

The financial slides hold most of the traps, because German conventions differ from English ones:

• Thousands separator is a full stop, decimal separator a comma: €1,250,000 becomes 1.250.000 €, with the currency sign after the number.
• Abbreviations: €2.5m becomes 2,5 Mio. €; a billion is Mrd. (Milliarde).
• The classic error: German Billion means a million million. Writing 3 Billionen for a three-billion market multiplies it by a thousand.
• Percentages take a space (35 %); dates read 31.12.2025.
• German quotation marks: „Plattform“, not “platform”.

On vocabulary, the German-speaking ecosystem keeps many English terms, adapted to German spelling: Seed-Runde, Pre-Money-Bewertung, Burn Rate, Break-even, Exit. Acronyms such as TAM, SAM, SOM and CAGR usually stay as they are. Your company's legal form is not translated: a Ltd, Inc. or SAS does not become a GmbH.

If you are pitching Swiss funds, note that Swiss German does not use ß (Strasse rather than Straße) and often uses an apostrophe as thousands separator (1'250'000).

What Manuce delivers, and what it does not

Your deck goes to Métis, Manuce's finance specialist engine, so valuation, funding rounds, dilution and recurring revenue are handled with the vocabulary investors use. The file comes back in its original format, layout included: a PowerPoint returns as a PowerPoint, with its slides, colours and text boxes. A typical deck is delivered within minutes and stays available in your client area. For a deck going to investors, the Professional or Premium level fits best; Essential is for understanding a deck internally.

What Manuce does not do:

• It cannot read a scanned PDF (an image with no selectable text). Likewise, text that is part of an image, such as a dashboard screenshot, is not text: you will need to recreate it in German.
• It does not resize your design: the layout is kept, but a longer German label may spill out of its box. Adjusting it is up to you.
• It does not take glossaries or terminology instructions. For a product name or term to keep unchanged, check the free extract and then the translation.
• It does not produce sworn or certified translations. If a fund asks for a certified translation of your articles of association for the data room, you need a sworn translator.

Preparing the deck before upload

1. Upload the editable version: the PowerPoint file rather than a PDF, so you can fix overflow in the German version. If a PDF is all you have, it must be exported from software, with selectable text.
2. Leave room in your text boxes: a column filled to the edge in English will overflow in German. Dropping the font size of key-metrics tables by one point is often enough.
3. Check that your charts contain real text and not a pasted image: a bar chart imported as a picture keeps its original labels.
4. Remove hidden slides and abandoned versions: the quote is based on the exact word count, so only send what you will actually present.

Checking the German version before sending

Before the deck goes to a fund in Munich, Berlin or Vienna, run through this list:

• No compound word broken in the wrong place or pushed out of its frame, especially in titles and table cells.
• Every amount in German format (Mio., Mrd., full stop for thousands, decimal comma), and no confusion between Milliarde and Billion.
• Sie used consistently, including on the contact slide.
• Brand names, product names and acronyms kept the way you want them.
• The funding ask slide (Finanzierungsbedarf, amount sought, use of funds) checked first: it is the slide investors read most closely.

If you can, have a German speaker you know read that slide and the key-metrics slide.

In practice

1. Export your deck as an editable PowerPoint or a PDF with selectable text.
2. Upload it to Manuce and choose German: the quote appears immediately.
3. Read the free extract to check register and the terms you want kept.
4. Once Métis has translated it, fix any overflow and check every figure.