Hamburg Startup Monitor 2025 (Startup-Verband)

Summary

• Hamburg has 1594 active startups and a strong ecosystem, but founding dynamics remain well below the 2019-2021 peak.p.3
• Only 13% of Hamburg startups have received venture capital, against 19% nationwide and 31% in Berlin.p.3
• Hamburg founders rate their ecosystem positively at only 46%, versus 61% nationwide and 78% in Munich.p.3
• Only 47% of Hamburg startups have received university support (55% nationwide).p.3
• Of 22,858 active startups in Germany, 1594 are based in Hamburg.p.6
• Hamburg ranks 4th among cities with 84 active startups per 100,000 inhabitants, behind Munich (117) and Berlin (116).p.8
• 81% of German unicorns have their headquarters in Berlin or Munich.p.9

Key insights

1. 87% of Hamburg startup founders hold an academic degree, and 62% of them obtained it outside Hamburg.p.12
2. 30% of Hamburg founders with a degree hold a STEM degree.p.12
3. The share of female founders in Hamburg is 23%, versus 19% nationwide.p.13
4. Logistics accounts for 4% of Hamburg startups (Germany: 2%).p.15
5. Berlin (54%) and Munich (48%) have a higher share of startups with external capital than Hamburg.p.19
6. 79% of Hamburg startups need external capital in the next 12 months (Germany: 74%).p.20
7. 23% of Hamburg startups employ 10 or more people, below the national 26% and well behind Berlin (34%).p.23
8. 82% of Hamburg startups are already international or plan to be, against 79% nationwide and 84% in Berlin.p.24
9. 81% of Hamburg startups expect a positive development until the end of 2025 (Germany: 80%).p.26
10. About 9% of Hamburg startups can be classified as DeepTech, against 11% nationwide.p.27