Start-ups: The number of start

Enlarge image

Employees at Rocket Internet in Berlin (archive image)

Photo: Jens Kalaene/ dpa

Last year, only 2,618 new start-ups were founded in Germany – 18 percent fewer than the year before.

This is the result of a study by the startup association and the industry service Start-up Detector.

In the second half of the year, the minus even amounted to 33 percent, it said.

That was the sharpest slump in a six-month period since the beginning of the 2019 data series.

"Even the start-up ecosystem is not immune to the difficult economic situation," said Magdalena Oehl, deputy chairwoman of the start-up association.

"The decline in start-ups can become a problem for Germany's already sluggish innovative power." Therefore, among other things, the influx of skilled workers must be made easier.

The German digital association Bitkom argued similarly.

Its president recently referred to 137,000 vacancies in the IT sector and warned of a »digital turning point«.

Start-ups prefer to settle in metropolitan areas and in the vicinity of large universities, according to the study by the start-up association.

With 14.5 start-ups per 100,000 inhabitants, Munich pushed Berlin off the throne for the first time.

However, according to a survey by the consulting firm EY, the capital remained the leader in investments by venture capitalists in Germany.

Around half of the total of 9.9 billion euros went there in 2022.

According to the start-up association, particularly eager company founders are experts in the areas of blockchain and climate protection.

Here the increase is 65 percent and 14 percent respectively.

In contrast, the number of start-ups in online trade and in software and financial technology (FinTech) was up to 39 percent lower.

The authors of the EY study wrote that the inflow of capital there collapsed by 83 and 65 percent respectively.

The fight against climate change also offers start-up experts great opportunities in 2023.

Regardless of the economic uncertainties, companies can look forward to plenty of fresh money from venture capitalists and other investors.

According to EY, 1.5 billion euros flowed into this area last year.

ssu/Reuters