OWL Startup Monitor 2025 (Startup-Verband)

Summary

• The number of active startups in OWL rises by 6% to 340, with software the leading sector at 21%.p.5
• 55% of OWL founders bring work experience from the Mittelstand, against 39% nationwide, and 84% of revenue is B2B (Germany: 75%).p.5
• The share of OWL startups in cooperation projects with established companies grew from 55% to 68% since 2023, while the national figure fell from 62% to 56%.p.5
• Only 49% of OWL startups use external capital sources (Germany: 63%); 29% have received business angel funding and 17% venture capital.p.6
• 34% of OWL startups want strategic investors, but only 7% have them on board.p.6
• 70% of OWL startups name sales as their biggest challenge.p.5
• Only 24% of employees are foreign and 17% of startups work in English, below the national average.p.6

Key insights

1. Active startups rose from 320 to 340, with 91 in Bielefeld and 62 in Paderborn.p.10
2. OWL has 16.4 startups per 100,000 inhabitants, compared with 24.8 in the Aachen region.p.11
3. 41% of OWL startups rate the current business situation positively, up 7 percentage points, but only 52% expect an improvement over the next six months.p.17
4. Only 5% of OWL startups can be classified as DeepTech, against 11% nationwide.p.24
5. The share of female founders in OWL is 17%, against 20% in Germany and 15% in 2024.p.25
6. About four in ten OWL startups plan to build their business through bootstrapping.p.29
7. 80% of OWL startups plan to hire (Germany: 85%).p.32
8. 36% of OWL startups report a large skilled labour shortage, against 22% nationwide.p.33
9. 59.1% of surveyed investors of the Teuto Seed Club see the strong Mittelstand as a key differentiator for the region.p.34
10. 74% of OWL founders want fewer bureaucratic requirements, against 66% nationwide.p.42