LinkedIn: Berlin no longer the most popular city for employees in start-ups

LinkedIn is now evaluating its data for the fourth time to select the ten most attractive start-ups for employees. Three fintechs are new and Berlin loses the title of the most popular city.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the most exciting employer in the country? The answer is surprising, given that the start-up that made headlines recently was Gorillas, mainly because of poor working conditions. The 10-minute delivery service lands in first place, at least in LinkedIn's 2021 ranking of the most attractive startups for employees in Germany. Close behind is Lilium, which forfeits its first place from last year.

It is followed by Personio, which makes it to third place for the second time. But there are also some newcomers, three of them from the financial sector: Fintech Tomorrow, corporate credit card specialist Moss and neobroker Scalable Capital are among the top ten start-ups. Not to be found, however, is N26, which still ranked second in 2020.

For the evaluation, LinkedIn includes the interaction of its members and analyzes various aspects such as the growth of the employment number, interactions on the LinkedIn company page or employee profiles, as well as the interest in job offers of the startup. Only startups with more than 50 employees that have been in existence for seven years or less and are based in Germany are included.

"The list of top startups reflects trends from the Corona pandemic"

Jakob Schulz, LinkedIn.

It turns out that Berlin is not the most attractive city for everyone: Last year, six of the top ten startups were still based in Berlin, but now there are four - Gorillas, Moss, Forto and Tier Mobility. This puts the capital on par with Munich, which is home to Personio, Finn, Recup and Scalable Capital. Although just recently a study showed that Munich is the most expensive city to start a business. But it has the advantage that companies there pay particularly high wages, which should attract top talent in particular.

"The list of top startups reflects trends from the Corona pandemic," says Jakob Schulz of LinkedIn. "Food delivery, as well as finance, mobility and sustainability have become more important to many people during the crisis," explains the editorial director for news in the DACH region.

Start-ups on growth path scored

Last year, YFood Labs, Contentful, Sennder, Grover, Coachhub and Moonfare were still among the top ten start-ups. This year, they did not make it to the ranking. The study while also noting that it is startups on a current growth trajectory that appear in the ranking, which explains the dynamic nature of the list. Gorillas was only founded in 2020, but needs many drivers for its delivery service and raises several million euros in venture capital in a short time.

It also rose to unicorn status this year, as did Scalable Capital and Personio. In related news, the Munich-based company said it plans to double its workforce to 1,000. The same goes for Moss, which announced plans to expand into more countries and double its workforce with its funding round closed in August. No wonder, then, that both companies are looking and being looked for. Lilium went public via Spac in December and is growing. Recup just announced it is partnering with Lieferando to test its sustainable food and beverage packaging.