First, first! Everybody wants to be. It’s no different for cities ranked as top locations and darlings vying for international VCs. Especially when it comes to fintechs, Berlin is always shouting out loud – of the well over 900 fintechs that currently exist in Germany, a large number of the companies are actually still based in the German capital – Berlin also has the edge when it comes to start-ups and venture capital. These are the findings of the comdirect Fintech Study, which was conducted jointly with Barkow Consulting. But are these results set in stone, or are there surprises or even newcomers?
Berlin’s supremacy consolidated, but share of fintechs declining
Comdirekt’s current fintech study has once again put the development under the microscope. Since the beginning of 2019, €1.8 billion has flowed into Berlin FinTechs, the study found. This corresponds to 66% of the total FinTech investment in Germany during this period. Compared with the previous year’s survey (72%), the proportion is down slightly. Looking only at the year 2020, Berlin’s share is even below 50 % for the first time.
What was the reason for that? One event in particular benefited other locations more than Berlin: the (then still imminent) Brexit. Many companies and fintechs formerly based in the UK have relocated their headquarters from there to Germany and moved to other locations. Berlin was often left behind.
Munich in 2nd place, Hamburg overtakes Frankfurt, Düsseldorf rejoices
And so, in the race for second place, Munich continues to lead the way, especially when it comes to startups in the B2B sector. In addition, the Bavarian capital is simultaneously making good gains in venture capital with investments of 433 million euros since the beginning of 2019, followed by Hamburg. Compared to the previous year, the Hanseatic city thus even overtook Frankfurt, which now occupies 4th place in the fintech hub ranking. The Main metropolis has 42 million euros from 22 financing rounds to its credit, putting it on a par with Cologne in terms of investment volume.
But beware! Düsseldorf is also rejoicing, because with 161 million euros, it was surprisingly here that the third most venture capital flowed into FinTechs. However, this is mainly due to a single deal with a volume of over 100 million euros. Thanks to the truly noteworthy financing round in Auxmoney, Düsseldorf 2020 is taking a big leap forward.
Tech investments mainly in UK and Germany
Despite rising Corona numbers in European countries and a challenging environment as a result, the UK and Germany in particular are driving tech growth on the continent.
“The UK and Germany in particular are driving tech growth.”
More than half of all tech investments are made in these two countries. As a study by Dealroom.co and London and Partners shows, tech hubs in Europe include Berlin and Paris as well as London. Berlin’s $3.1 billion doesn’t match its 2019 result of $4.4 billion at the time, but it does clear the 2018 hurdle of $2.4 billion. Munich also records successful tech investments with venture capital and lands in 5th place in the ranking, ahead of Amsterdam.
Fourth place goes to the Swedish capital Stockholm. Globally, the industry also demonstrated stability with $272.3 billion in venture capital invested in technology companies. In the previous year 2019, the total was $262.7 billion.
