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Story | Jun 2, 2025

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“Hamburg is simply worth living in, the whole country knows that. For this reason, and thanks to the diversity of industries and universities, there are many motivated young professionals here, which is very important for us. Hamburg has supported us well with expertise and funding [...]. For us, Hamburg is on a par with Berlin or Munich in many aspects!”

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Matthias Schmittmann

CEO & co-founder of atmio

“Hamburg is not only the adopted home of us founders, but also offers atmio a strong startup network. During the startup phase, we also benefited greatly from IFB Hamburg's InnoRampUp funding programme.”

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© Finn Steen Photography: Matthias Schmittmann, co-founder of bentekk and atmio

Sowmya Thyagarajan

Founder of Foviatech

“Despite numerous opportunities from other countries, Hamburg has always been attractive due to its international and industrial environment. From an aviation perspective, Hamburg has a very international and industrial character. That's why it's a perfect fit for us. I love the Alster and the Landungsbrücken with a fantastic sunset and beautiful scenery.”

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© Johannes Arlt/laif: Sowmya Thyagarajan, founder of Foviatech

Christian Sigmund

CEO & Co-Founder Wildplastic

“For us, Hamburg is the gateway to the world of wild plastics. Here we find the right partners to clean up even more in the future.”

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©Wildplastic

Lena Weirauch

Founder & CEO of ai-omatic

“The Hamburg startup scene is very familiar, people support each other where they can. That applies to the startups among themselves and equally to the city initiatives. This cohesion has helped us a lot in the development of ai-omatic!”

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Lucy Larbi

Initiator of AiDiA

“Hamburg has a special significance for us, especially as Hamburg is the hometown of many AiDiA members and has great potential to become Germany's innovation city. We look forward to making our contribution along the way.”

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Julian Wiedenhaus

Co-Founder & CEO of plancraft

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Matthias Schmittmann

CEO & co-founder of atmio

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Startup City Hamburg Scene: Sophia Rödiger

Founded in 2021 - unicorn in 2023. The Hamburg-based energy startup 1Komma5° (2024 turnover: €520 million) is active from Helsinki to Australia. CMO Sophia Rödiger seems to open a new showroom every two weeks. She is not only the face and voice of the Hamburg unicorn's vision. She also has her own startup experience and is committed to promoting women in the technology and energy industries. Sophia explains to us, among other things, what is important in rapid growth and what can quickly become dangerous for high-performing teams.

Startup City Hamburg Scene: Jan Henri Kalinowski

When he set up the ChefTreff event with some other students in 2017, about 100 people showed up. Jan Henri Kalinowski is now organising the ChefTreff-Gipfel, a big annual event. Here's the idea: Talents and startups meet managers, investors, academic institutions and role models who support, inspire and perhaps even promote them. Networking is the big topic. The founder explains why this is so important and also reveals a few networking strategies.

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