How Munich grew to become Europe’s startup capital – DW – 06/04/2025 | EUROtoday

It’s like navigating a labyrinth — a journey tons of of younger entrepreneurs throughout Europe embark on annually searching for alternative, innovation, funding, and success. They’re additionally searching for the nation and metropolis that gives the perfect circumstances to launch a enterprise.

For an rising quantity, that journey results in Isar Valley, named after the river that runs via Munich, and which offered the casual nickname for the Bavarian capital’s know-how and synthetic intelligence (AI) scene, impressed by the Silicon Valley know-how hub in California.

Munich ranks seventeenth globally within the newest Global Tech Ecosystem Index compiled by Netherlands-based information supplier Dealroom.

When measured by high-performance, innovation-driven ecosystems with sturdy per-capita output, Munich rises to fifth place — simply behind US tech hubs San Francisco Bay Area, Boston, New York, and Cambridge.

From hackathon fanatic to startup founder

Greek entrepreneurs Nikos Tsiamitros and Georgios Pipelidis additionally selected to launch their startup in Munich, though Tsiamitros says there wasn’t a “personal reason” to maneuver to the capital of the German southern state of Bavaria.

“I didn’t know anyone here and had never even visited the city,” he instructed DW, however added that he was effectively conscious of the “excellent reputation” of the Technical University of Munich (TUM).

Tsiamitros arrived from Athens to pursue his grasp’s diploma in Munich, whereas Pipelidis got here to TUM through Austria to finish his PhD.

“That’s where we started working together on navigation software for public transportation,” Pipelidis instructed DW.

They joined a hackathon — an occasion the place programmers staff up for a number of days or perhaps weeks to develop software program, typically across the clock — and so they gained the competitors.

“From that moment on, we started to believe that our navigation and localization algorithm could become a real startup,” stated Tsiamitros.

Then, in March 2019, they launched their first startup enterprise referred to as Ariadne — derived from the Cretan princess in Greek mythology who gave Theseus a thread to seek out his approach out of the Minotaur’s labyrinth.

A becoming metaphor for his or her software program, Pipelidis famous with a smile.

Entrepreneurship Provides Support with substance

But having a powerful algorithm is one factor. Launching a startup, writing a marketing strategy, and securing capital is one other. That’s the place Munich’s startup ecosystem gives a vital useful resource — the UnternehmerTUM entrepreneurship middle primarily based at TUM.

At UnternehmerTUM, the 2 enterprise founders realized methods to begin and run an organization, Pipelidis stated, including that because of that assist, Ariadne was producing income only a few months after launch.

Ariadne’s essential product has since advanced from a navigation software program into an AI-based people-counting and motion analytics device. Today, it serves airports in Munich, Glasgow, and Los Angeles, in addition to the German cities of Leverkusen, Bielefeld, and Regensburg, plus a number of malls and retailers, together with IKEA.

Startups like Ariadne additionally profit from hands-on mentorship. Barbara Mehner, managing accomplice of the Xpreneurs incubator at UnternehmerTUM is considered one of them.

“We help early-stage startups enter the market by connecting them with investors, mentors, and potential customers,” she instructed DW.

KEWAZO ‘liftbot’ and the robotic revolution in scaffolding

Among the greater than 100 tech startups based yearly in Munich is KEWAZO, an organization led by Greek founder Eirini Psallida.

KEWAZO’s core product is a battery-powered, remote-controlled robotic lifting system referred to as LIFTBOT. This robotic facilitates the transport and meeting of scaffolding and different development supplies.

“All industries seemed fully automated — except construction,” Eirini instructed DW, explaining the thought behind the corporate. Psallida named the startup after the Greek phrase kataskevazowhich means “to produce.” And like Ariadne, this startup was born out of a hackathon at UnternehmerTUM.

Today, the corporate’s robotic raise system is in each day use at main industrial and development websites — from the chemical park of BASF in Ludwigshafen, Germany, to grease refineries within the US.

“I can’t imagine how we would have done it without UnternehmerTUM,” Psallida instructed DW, because the incubator gave them entry to {hardware}, software program, authorized and enterprise recommendation. “And we got help securing public funding without giving up any equity,” she added.

One in 4 German unicorns based by foreigners

The KEWAZO staff contains six founders from 4 totally different nations, reflecting the varied nature of Germany’s startup panorama.

According to the most recent Migrant Founders Monitor compiled by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation and Germany’s Startup Association, a big variety of founders within the nation have a migration background.

“Fourteen percent of startup founders were born abroad,” says Vanush Walk, senior researcher on the Startup Association and lead creator of the report. Among the founders of so-called unicorns — startups valued at over a billion {dollars} — the share is even larger at 23%, he instructed DW.

The survey exhibits that migrant founders stand out for his or her “strong entrepreneurial mindset, willingness to take risks, and resilience” — traits which can be essential for startup success.

Migrant founders face larger obstacles nonetheless

Despite their strengths, migrant founders additionally face notable challenges in Germany.

“Top of the list is access to networks,” stated Walk, including that dealing with Germany’s notorious forms can also be tough, in addition to getting access to funding, irrespective of whether or not public or personal.

Georgios Pipelidis from Ariadne skilled this firsthand. One German enterprise capital agency made its funding conditional on changing him as CEO with a German nationwide. “They wanted a native speaker as the public face of the company,” he recalled.

“I understand that customers prefer dealing with someone who speaks fluent German — that’s why all our salespeople are native speakers. But replacing me as CEO? That was too much,” he stated.

In the tip, Georgios Pipelidis and Nikos Tsiamitros secured assist from a Greek VC agency. And regardless of the setbacks, their enthusiasm for Munich hasn’t wavered. At the tip of their very own Ariadne thread nonetheless lies the Bavarian capital.

This article was initially written in German.