Investment climate for startups improved in the first half of 2024
There are few topics that drive startups as much as the search for investors for financing rounds. Despite the general slump in the economy, there was good news in the first half of 2024: Compared to the same period last year, the deal volume increased by 363 million euros or twelve per cent. This article summarises what led to the turnaround and how Hamburg fared.
The consulting firm EY has been publishing its Startup Barometer since 2015. The study records investments in German startups that are no more than ten years old. The current results send a positive signal, as the financing volumes in the first two half-years of 2022 and 2023 had both fallen significantly. The current total even represents the third-highest figure for a first half-year since the surveys began. Less pleasing: The number of financing rounds across Germany fell significantly in the first six months of 2024 - by 87 deals to 367 deals (minus 19 per cent) compared to the same period of the previous year.
Hamburg with plus and minus, NRW is hot on Berlin's heels
The opposite trend can be observed for financing rounds in Hamburg. Although the number of deals here rose from 27 to 35, the total volume fell from 285 million euros to 201 million euros. However, the previous year's figures were dominated by 1KOMMA5°, with the energy transition startup raising 215 million euros in the first half of 2023 alone.
North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) has seen the largest financing rounds so far this year: DeepL with 277 million euros and Black Semiconductor with 254 million euros. This makes the most populous federal state the main winner with a total volume of 822 million euros - 653 million more than in the first half of the previous year! Berlin remains the frontrunner with just under 1.1 billion euros, but in the first six months of 2023 it was over 1.4 billion euros.
In terms of sectors, the clear winner is "Software & Analytics". Up 45 per cent to 1.1 billion euros. 233 million for "e-commerce", on the other hand, represents a drop of 41 per cent. On the winning side is "Hardware" with 435 million euros and an impressive increase of 257 per cent. In terms of industries, Hamburg is following the trend and achieved 109 million euros in 19 financing rounds in the software sector. In the first half of 2023, the figures were only 31 million euros and eleven deals.
