German Startup Monitor 2026 (Startup-Verband)

Summary

• By the end of September 2026, €8.0 billion of venture capital had flowed into German startups, more than in prior years, with €12 billion possible when extrapolated.p.7
• Germany counts a record 39 unicorn startups as of mid-September 2026.p.7
• 53.3% of startups now have artificial intelligence at the centre of their product, up from 45.1% the year before.p.32
• The B2B share of startup revenue rises to a record 76.5%, while the B2C share falls to 16.7%.p.29
• In the US, €307.6 billion flowed into AI by early September 2026, versus €27.2 billion in Europe.p.33
• Defense-tech investment in Germany reaches €3.0 billion, the largest part of the European volume.p.31
• The business climate stands at 33.2 points, only slightly above the prior-year level of 31.7.p.6

Key insights

1. The survey covers 1,803 participants, and roughly 25,000 startups are identified in Germany.p.11
2. The average number of employees per startup has fallen to 15.3.p.15
3. 83.3% of surveyed startups plan to hire within the next 12 months, with teams expected to grow by 5.5 people on average.p.16
4. Only 14.9% of startups and 18.3% of scaleups still see finding skilled staff as a major hurdle.p.17
5. The share of female founders is 19.6%, practically unchanged from the previous year.p.19
6. 50.5% of founders received support from universities or research institutions.p.37
7. 65.9% of all startups have already received government funding.p.39
8. DeepTech and life-science startups in Germany received €6.4 billion in the current year, after €2.9 billion in 2025.p.35
9. In the US, defense-tech investment rose from €7.3 billion in 2025 to €12.6 billion in 2026, and in Europe from 1.6 to 4.6 billion euros.p.31