New survey reveals strengths and potential of Hamburg as a startup location
The twelfth edition of the German Startup Monitor was published at the beginning of October 2024. Now the German Startups Association and the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce are following up with a special evaluation for Hamburg. It highlights what is already working well in the Hanseatic city and where there is still some catching up to do.
According to the monitor, there are a total of 1,594 startups in Hamburg. 125 of them took part in the survey. For many questions, the response distributions hardly differ from those in Germany as a whole. Encouraging is the proportion of female founders at 23%, compared to only 19% overall. 87% of founders have an academic degree, 62% of which were obtained outside of Hamburg. In terms of subjects studied, business administration is clearly ahead of STEM subjects with 49% and 30% respectively. Nationwide, it is almost the other way around. In order to keep up with the deep-tech sector, Hamburg would benefit from more STEM. There are hardly any significant deviations in the startup industries, with only the food sector clearly above the average of 7% at 10%.
Quality of financing depends on the company phase
Financing is an ongoing issue for startups. This is where Hamburg's strengths and weaknesses become particularly clear. Hamburg is strongly positioned when it comes to incubators and accelerators for early-stage startups. 17% use them, compared to only 9% across Germany. Hamburg also has a head start when it comes to business angels, which primarily help with seed capital as well. Finally, Hamburg is ahead in terms of state funding, with 56% to 49%. The situation is different for venture capital, which is relevant for higher-end financing rounds. Here, only 13% of the startups surveyed in Hamburg (nationwide: 19%) benefitted from this form of financing, while 28% wanted it. The gap between Hamburg and the two leading startup cities in Germany is particularly striking. In Berlin, 31% of respondents secured venture capital, in Munich 29%. Overall, the desire for easier access to capital and the strengthening of late-stage financing runs like a common thread through the Hamburg results.
The entire startup ecosystem tends to be viewed rather critically in Hamburg. Only 46% give an overall positive assessment, compared to 78% in Munich and 70% in Berlin. Deficits include proximity to universities, networking, office availability and cooperation with established companies. The approval ratings here are each more than ten percentage points below average. Above all, there is still room for improvement in cooperation with universities, with 47% of respondents having received support from this side, compared to 55% nationwide. When it comes to assessing Hamburg's attractiveness for international talent, the results are mixed. The high quality of life is particularly convincing here, while English is still too rarely the language of events and business compared to Berlin. Conclusion: The study emphasises Hamburg's potential, but also reveals the need to catch up, particularly in terms of capital procurement and the ecosystem.
