Overview

• Berlin recorded 481 new digital‐economy startups last year, more than double Munich’s total and twenty-times Heidelberg’s.
• The city led all German states with 132 investment rounds, while Bavarian firms attracted €2.1 billion in H1 venture capital compared to Berlin’s €1.5 billion.
• Bavaria’s funding edge is driven by a surge in defense-technology startups that merge AI development with traditional arms production.
• Berlin startups secured 57 percent of Germany’s fintech venture capital, raising about €257 million in the first half of 2025.
• The upcoming Bayer-Charité Campus in Berlin-Wedding will host a Translational Center for gene and cell therapies to boost the city’s bio-health ecosystem.