Record year for start-ups in Germany and Europe

Never before has so much money been poured into Europe's tech companies as in 2021. German start-ups received significantly more investment than in the previous year.

Europe's tech companies will probably still reach the investment milestone of 100 billion US dollars within one year in 2021. This is shown by the "State of European Tech" report, which is published annually by venture capital provider Atomico. This represents a roughly tenfold increase since 2015. There were also 98 new unicorn companies in Europe, bringing the total to 321, with the report calling the European "startup pipeline" the "strongest ever" and now on par with the US.

And Germany's startup environment is also in better shape than ever. German companies have received a whopping $12.4 billion in investment. That's up more than 100 percent from 2020, and the dizzying amount is also thanks to investment rounds from giant startups Celonis, Gorillas, N26 and Trade Republic.

If Marija Gabriel, the European Commissioner for Research, Innovation, Education, Culture and Youth, is to be believed, Europe's tech and startup world will continue to see positive development in the coming years: "I am very optimistic about the future of the EU as a global powerhouse for startups and innovation. My optimism is based on the 2021 data as well as the outlook for the future." Gabriel explicitly points to the DACH region: "2021 signaled the boom of German-speaking countries in terms of exits (outpacing all other European countries), the number of unicorns, as well as the emergence of CEE countries as a location for startups." European startups would no longer have to envy US startups. She is sure: "The future looks even brighter when institutional investors start investing in deep tech startups."