More start-ups being founded in NRW

North Rhine-Westphalia's Start-up Monitor records 16.5 percent more start-ups than in the previous year. The federal state aims to be one of Europe's leading regions for start-ups.

Despite the pandemic, more start-ups were founded in North Rhine-Westphalia. In the first half of the year, 226 start-ups were created, 16.5 percent more than in the same period last year. The figures were determined by the Federal Association of German Start-ups on behalf of the state government. The survey is not representative, but gives an insight into the industry. Economics Minister Andreas Pinkwart (FDP) is pleased with the positive development. "We want North Rhine-Westphalia to be one of the top 10 start-up regions in Europe by 2025," he said when presenting the figures.

NRW's boom regions are primarily the cities. Cologne/Bonn is where the most start-ups are founded - a quarter of all start-ups are based in the region. This is followed by the Ruhr region with one in five new start-ups and Düsseldorf with just under 14 percent.

Three quarters of the start-ups surveyed have felt negative consequences due to the Corona pandemic, every tenth company did not feel the pandemic at all. Thirteen percent actually benefited from it.

The share of female founders has increased compared to the previous year, but in NRW it is still below the national average. Just under 13 percent of start-ups in the state come from women, compared to 16 percent nationwide.