German Startup Monitor 2022 (Startup-Verband)

Summary

• The 10th German Startup Monitor represents 1,976 startups, 4,815 founders and 34,539 employees.p.6
• The share of female founders rises to 20.3% (2021: 17.7%).p.7
• 67.9% of DSM startups have external capital needs in the next twelve months, averaging 3.1 million euros.p.8
• 56.7% of the surveyed startups have raised external capital; 48.6% of the externally financed startups received less than €500,000 so far, and only 8.5% received €10 million or more.p.35
• Only 18.6% of startups have used venture capital, while 44.4% prefer it.p.36
• 61.2% of respondents aim for an exit, and 20.7% target a valuation above 1 billion euros (DSM 2021: 14.7%).p.38
• 30.1% of VC-financed DSM startups also use corporate venture capital.p.8

Key insights

1. Startups employ on average 18.4 people, with 9.2 additional hires planned for the coming year.p.18
2. Staff recruitment is named as a central challenge by 34.5% of startups (2021: 26.6%, 2020: 17.0%).p.7
3. 46.0% of startups assign themselves to the Green Economy.p.7
4. 14.2% of founders are active as business angels so far.p.8
5. 89.9% of startups see speeding up and simplifying administrative processes as the most important factor to strengthen the ecosystem.p.8
6. 76.1% of startups see opening and simplifying public procurement as a central measure, and 14.6% have received public contracts so far.p.9
7. AI plays an important role in the business model of 45.1% of DSM startups.p.9
8. Information and communication technology dominates industries with 29.7%, followed by medicine and healthcare (10.6%).p.16
9. Software-as-a-Service accounts for 28.7% of business models.p.17
10. Business angels receive 82% positive ratings, versus 77% for venture capital investors.p.37