Germany startup ecosystem
Germany is Europe's largest economy and home to a maturing startup ecosystem anchored by Berlin, Munich, and Hamburg. Berlin's international talent pool and creative culture attract early-stage founders, while Munich draws deep-tech and enterprise ventures thanks to proximity to major corporates and research institutions. Government-backed programs and a dense VC landscape provide capital across all stages. The directory currently lists 344 organisations across 39 cities.
Showing 101–120 of 344 Germany
Cities in Germany
Types in Germany
Germany results
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E.ON:agile
E.ON:agile is the corporate accelerator and innovation unit of E.ON, one of Europe's largest energy utilities, based in Essen. It runs a structured programme for early-stage energy and cleantech startups, offering funding, mentoring and access to E.ON's business units and customer base to pilot and scale new energy solutions.
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Earlybird
Earlybird Venture Capital is one of Europe's longest-standing and most active venture firms, founded in Berlin in 1997 by Hendrik Brandis and Christian Nagel. It manages roughly €2.5bn across two active platforms — the flagship Earlybird technology fund (Fund VIII closed at €360M in 2026, its largest to date) and Earlybird Health (€173M second fund, 2024) — from offices in Berlin, Munich and London. Earlybird writes initial tickets up to €12M, concentrated at pre-seed and seed with follow-on into Series A and beyond. The firm targets Western Europe — Germany, the UK, France, Italy, the Nordics, Austria and Switzerland — with CEE coverage via a dedicated venture partner. Its focus has shifted toward AI and foundation models, software infrastructure and deep tech (space, fusion, photonics, quantum), alongside its independent health platform. LPs include the European Investment Fund, sovereign wealth funds, global pension funds and British Patient Capital. Across 29 years Earlybird has produced landmark outcomes including Peak Games (sold to Zynga for ~$1.85bn, 2020), UiPath (NYSE IPO 2021, from the Digital East franchise that later spun out as Bek Ventures), Trendyol (Alibaba, 2018) and ImCheck Therapeutics (up to €1bn, 2025), and counts N26, Aleph Alpha, Isar Aerospace, Aiven, Payhawk and Wefox among its portfolio. In 2026 it introduced a perpetual active-ownership governance model keeping ownership with active partners.
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EBAN Congress Leipzig 2027
Europe's largest business angel event moves from Vilnius to Leipzig, Saxony for 2027, running 2-4 June. EBAN Congress brings hundreds of European business angels, VCs, and ecosystem leaders together for keynotes, an awards gala, and ecosystem study visits.
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Ecosummit
Organizer of Ecosummit Berlin, a climate-tech investor and founder matchmaking event focused on decarbonization and deep tech. Active since 2010, Ecosummit brings together 500+ climate-tech founders, VCs, and corporate sustainability officers for curated deal-flow sessions, making it one of Europe's longest-running green innovation conferences.
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Ecosummit Berlin 2026
Climate-tech and green economy matchmaking event at Flussbad Campus (Reethaus), focused on AI-accelerated decarbonization across energy, sustainable buildings, green mobility, and deep tech. Startup Pitch tickets are typically around EUR 600 + VAT and include a guaranteed short on-stage founder pitch in front of active climate investors.
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Ecosummit Berlin 2027
ECOSUMMIT.AI Berlin's next edition is confirmed for 12 May 2027, with tickets already on sale. The climate-tech and green-economy matchmaking event focuses on AI-accelerated decarbonization across energy, sustainable buildings, green mobility, and deep tech, with founder pitch slots in front of active climate investors.
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EIT Climate-KIC Accelerator (Berlin)
EIT Climate-KIC — now operating as Climate KIC — is Europe's leading climate innovation agency and accelerator, founded in 2010 as one of the European Institute of Innovation & Technology's first Knowledge and Innovation Communities. Headquartered in Amsterdam and active across 50 countries, it has supported more than 2,300 startups generating €1.1bn in investment, 15,000 jobs and 790 new products over 15 years, transitioning to an independent public-benefit foundation in 2025. Its flagship ClimAccelerator is a multi-stage, equity-free programme offering up to €95,000 in grant-style support plus coaching and investor matchmaking, spanning cleantech, clean energy, circular economy, sustainable cities and agri-food. In Germany the DACH hub runs from the EUREF-Campus in Berlin-Schöneberg — home to the Green Garage climate incubator — alongside a Munich node. Alumni include Climeworks (Switzerland), tado° and Thermondo (Germany) and Ÿnsect (France).
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EIT Digital Accelerator
EIT Digital Accelerator is a pan-European programme backed by the EU's European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), supporting deep tech scaleups with tailored business development, investor introductions, and international customer acquisition since 2012. It operates across 18 European cities and a San Francisco hub, and has supported nearly 300 startups that collectively raised €1.5 billion, with over €100 million directly facilitated by the Accelerator. Focus areas include AI, cybersecurity, digital industry, digital health, and fintech.
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Elephant Company
Berlin-based EdTech startup building an AI-powered training and knowledge platform for frontline teams in the energy and climate-tech sector. The platform helps employers close skills gaps, combat the shortage of qualified workers, and deliver bite-sized training that field employees can complete on mobile.
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encosa
Munich-based startup deploying turnkey battery energy storage systems for German commercial and industrial SMEs. Its full-service model covers planning, financing, installation, and operations, enabling clients to cut electricity costs and earn additional revenue through energy arbitrage. Raised €25M seed in June 2026.
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Enpal
Enpal is a Berlin-based cleantech company founded in 2017 that sells and rents residential solar panels, batteries, EV chargers and heat pumps on a subscription model, bundling hardware, installation and financing into a fixed monthly fee. It became Germany's first cleantech unicorn in 2021 and operates a virtual power plant that aggregates its installed base. Revenue surpassed one billion euros in 2025.
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Eray Basar
Eray Basar is the CEO of IMG.LY, a Hamburg-based software company specializing in AI-powered creative editing tools and developer SDKs for photo and video manipulation. Under his leadership, IMG.LY has grown into a leading provider of embedded creative technology used by companies globally to integrate design capabilities into their products. He speaks at the intersection of artificial intelligence and creative tooling, and is confirmed as a speaker at Forward Festival Berlin 2026.
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ESCMID Global 2026 (ECCMID)
Global congress for clinical microbiology and infectious diseases at Messe Munich, drawing 15,000+ clinicians, researchers, and industry buyers from 130+ countries. Registration about EUR 600-900. Ideal for diagnostics, AMR, and medtech startups with clinical data seeking KOL validation, hospital pilots, and pharma partnerships.
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EuroCIS 2026
Retail tech hotspot integrated into EuroShop 2026. Price: about EUR 70 day ticket or EUR 120 full event. Focus on checkout-free stores, AI analytics, and omnichannel payment systems.
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EuroCIS 2027
EuroCIS 2027 runs 16-18 February in Dusseldorf, billed as Europe's leading trade fair for retail technology. The show gives retail-tech vendors a platform to reach an international trade audience and connects them with exhibitors and buyers shaping in-store technology, payments and AI-driven retail innovation.
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EuroShop 2026
The world's largest retail trade fair, held triennially in Dusseldorf and attracting 90,000+ visitors from across the global retail ecosystem. Showcases immersive store tech, analytics, digital signage, and next-generation checkout solutions. Day tickets cost about EUR 70-120. Essential for retail tech startups seeking enterprise pilot opportunities.
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EuroShop 2029
EuroShop returns to Dusseldorf for its next triennial edition, running 18-22 February 2029. The show is the world's largest retail trade fair, historically drawing 90,000+ visitors from across the global retail ecosystem to see immersive store tech, digital signage, analytics, and next-generation checkout solutions.
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Exciva
Clinical-stage biotech developing therapeutics for neuropsychiatric disorders. Lead program Deraphan targets agitation and aggression in Alzheimer's disease dementia and is in Phase 2/3. Raised EUR 51M Series B in 2026.
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EXIST Programme
EXIST is the German federal government's flagship programme for promoting university-based entrepreneurship, operated by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. Running since 1998, EXIST provides two main grant instruments: the EXIST Business Start-up Grant (up to EUR 3,000/month per team member for one year) for student and researcher teams developing a business plan, and the EXIST Research Transfer grant (up to EUR 250,000 plus materials) for deep-tech spin-offs from universities and research institutions. Over 4,000 startups have received EXIST funding, and the programme has become a cornerstone of Germany's academic entrepreneurship infrastructure. EXIST also supports universities in building entrepreneurial cultures through its EXIST Potentials programme, which funds entire university startup ecosystems.
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ExoMatter
AI-driven materials-discovery platform spun out of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) that accelerates identification of novel materials by up to 90%. Clients including Audi, Airbus and Infineon use it to focus R&D on the most promising candidates.
