According to a survey, entrepreneurs increasingly decide against the previous German start-up strongholds when founding a company. In Munich, in particular, start-up activity fell significantly last year, according to a study based on commercial register data from the start-up association and the Startupdetector information portal. A total of 187 start-ups were registered in the Bavarian capital during this period. A year earlier, that figure amounted up to 215. At the same time, the number of start-ups in Berlin fell from 502 to 468.

Overall, the three largest German start-up locations – including Hamburg in addition to Berlin and Munich – recently accounted for a third of all start-ups. In 2019, their share was 41%. However, 10% more start-ups were founded in Hamburg in 2023 than in the previous year.

According to Magdalena Oehl, Deputy Chairwoman of the start-up association, the financing environment is challenging, "especially in the capital-intensive hotspots". More capital needs to be made available, and company spin-offs from research need to be promoted. Then "our economy would benefit even more from the innovative power of its start-ups", says the founder of the career platform Talent Rocket.

All the while, start-up activities at research-related locations have already increased significantly in the past year, as the study shows. For example, the number of start-ups per 100,000 inhabitants in Karlsruhe (home to the renowned Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) rose from 8.2 to 10.0. The third largest city in Baden-Württemberg has thus worked its way up from seventh to fourth place among the cities with the highest number of start-ups.

Darmstadt has also made a particularly big leap forward. Last year, 12.3 start-ups per 100,000 inhabitants were founded in the southern Hessian city. This catapulted the city from 13th place in the previous year to 3rd place.

Darmstadt has had a new AI supercomputer since March last year. According to those responsible, the computer on the campus of the GSI Helmholtz Centre is one of the 300 most powerful AI computers in the world and is to be made available to companies and start-ups to develop corresponding applications. The state of Hesse, which is funding the project to the tune of 10 million euros, wants to use the centre to raise its profile as a home for the German AI sector.

The hype surrounding artificial and generative artificial intelligence is likely to have fuelled start-up activity in the past year. The number of start-ups in the software sector in Germany rose by more than a fifth year-on-year to 462. It was the only sector with growth.