Green Startup Monitor 2023 (Startup-Verband)

Summary

• The share of green startups rose clearly to 35%, a new high.p.6
• 46% of green startups see capital raising as a central hurdle, significantly more than the previous year (37%) and non-green startups (34%).p.6
• Technology development and production is the most important business model of green startups; its share rose from 22% to 30% between 2019 and 2022.p.6
• The share of female founders is 23% in green startups versus 18% in non-green startups.p.6
• Only 15% of startups can clearly back up their sustainability impact with data and facts.p.6
• 55% of all startups state that they manage their impact via corresponding KPIs.p.8
• Green startups' business activity in 2022 was marked mainly by financing bottlenecks (45%) and disrupted supply chains (42%), the latter far more than for non-green startups (21%).p.9

Key insights

1. For 79% of all startups, societal or ecological impact plays a fairly to very important role.p.18
2. The share of green startups' founders who are themselves active as business angels is 11%, below non-green startups (17%).p.13
3. Green startups raise capital from business angels less often and use government funding more often.p.13
4. Among green startups, 10 million euros or more of external capital has been received by 4%, versus 6% for non-green startups.p.14
5. Green startups' founders' average share of female founders grew from 18% in 2018 to 23%.p.10
6. Green startups see speeding up and simplifying administrative processes as a particularly important lever for strengthening the ecosystem.p.16
7. Green startups are less forthcoming with exit values; more than half of them state one.p.15