One in three startups has received Corona aid

According to a survey, half of the tech start-ups are dissatisfied with the aid provided by the German government. A wave of bankruptcies, as was feared, has failed to materialize.

About one-third of tech startups have applied for and received Corona aid from the federal government. One in five startups did not require aid, and four percent of startups were denied assistance. This is the result of a survey of 201 tech start-ups commissioned by the digital association Bitkom.

Only five percent of the start-ups surveyed were satisfied with the aid, such as emergency aid, simplified short-time working allowances or a rescue package. More than half are dissatisfied. "The wave of bankruptcies among start-ups feared at the beginning of the pandemic has so far failed to materialize," says Bitkom President Achim Berg. "This speaks for the level of maturity that our startup ecosystem has reached in the meantime. Many tech startups have shown themselves to be economically sound and stable, even during the crisis. As far as the effects of the Corona pandemic and the relief measures of politics are concerned, the startup scene is divided." The main criticism is that the aid measures were geared too much to the needs of corporations and medium-sized companies and too little to those of start-ups. That is the opinion of 90 percent of those surveyed. Half of them feel abandoned by politics.