Berlin is a bustling international and creative metropolis with one of the fastest growing ecosystems for startups, according to “The Global Startup Ecosystem Ranking 2015”. In this study, by the research agency Compass, Berlin is now on rank 9 with a growth index of 10, followed by Bangalore with a growth index of 4.9. For this survey diverse data has been collected, from startup hubs worldwide and from surveys and public accessible sources, such as AgelList or Crunchbase and all together 11.000 participants from 40 countries were researched.
According to an article on Startup Blink over 2.000 startups are settled in Berlin and more than 2 billion USD got invested in this city during the last two years, which is more than in all the years prior combined. Software and App-Startups present the biggest sectors, with about 60 000 people working in the digital industry in Berlin. Many startups also focus on sustainability and new technology therefore topics such as cleantech, biotech, mobility, logistics etc. are well represented as well.
McKinsey published in 2013 a study that states which states that by 2020 there could be 100 000 new jobs – around 40 000 within those startups and 60 000 due to the so called multiplier effect. Another study in 2014 by the University Münster focused on VC activity in Berlin, showing, that in the time of 2012 - 2013 Berlin became No. 2 in the market for venture capital investments with an investment volume of 873 million Euro, 51% of that from foreign investors. Two third of this capital was invested into information and communication sector with internet services, ecommerce, mobile services and software
Some of the best known success stories of Berlin’s startup scene are the ecommerce website and fashion distributor Zalando, the incubator Rocket Internet - also very active in the (Southeast) Asian market - and the online music exchange platform Soundcloud.
A diverse range of incubators, accelerators and (government) initiatives are backing up the ecosystem. For example a “High-Tech Strategy” by the German government was published in 2014 “for the aim of moving Germany forward on its way to becoming a worldwide innovation leader.”
Innovation labs, accelerators and coworking spaces in Berlin are for example:
Climate-KIC, Euref-Campus, CHIC - Charlottenburger Innovationszentrum, Adlershof Accelerator A2, Centre for Entrepreneurship TU, Betahaus , Ahoy! Berlin, Rainmaking Loft, Startup Bootcamp Berlin, Berlin Startup Academy and GTEC.
There are also several initiatives to connect Asia with Berlin, such as: Exa-Summit (Berlin-Taiwan), Sendinaden (Berlin-Shanghai) or Accelerate Korea (Berlin-Korea).