Financing boom for start-ups

Start-ups in Germany received record sums in 2021 - according to EY. A particularly large amount of money flowed to Berlin and Bavaria.

Start-ups received almost 17.4 billion euros in venture capital from investors in 2021. This is the conclusion reached by management consultancy EY, which analyzes venture capital investments in Germany every year. The news agency DPA was one of the first to report on this.

This means that founders raised more money than ever before. The number of financing rounds rose by 56 percent. Most of the money flowed into the finance, online retail and software sectors.

The coronavirus pandemic has boosted trends such as working from home, online shopping and streaming, which has driven digitalization. According to EY, start-ups in particular have benefited from this, as they are often based on technology-based concepts. The investment pressure from investors during the pandemic has quadrupled the number of large deals for start-ups.

This boom benefited founders in Berlin in particular, where €10.5 billion in venture capital was invested. Bavaria took second place, with 4.4 billion invested. The largest transactions of the year also went to Berlin and Bavaria. 861 million euros went to the Berlin food delivery service Gorillas and 830 million euros to the Munich-based software provider Celonis.