After a record year, German start-ups have to cope with a slump in cash injections from investors. The growth companies collected a good six billion euros in risk capital in the first half of the year – 20 percent less than in the same period last year (7.6 billion). However, according to a study by the auditing and consulting firm EY, local start-ups still had the second-best first half of the year. The number of financing rounds fell by seven percent to 549, but remained above the level of the years before 2021. “There is still a lot of liquidity in the market, but investors are taking a closer look at where they are investing,” said EY partner Thomas Prüver. Geopolitical conflicts, the turnaround in interest rates and unclear economic prospects led to a great deal of uncertainty, which may not yet be fully reflected in the figures for the first half of the year. Start-ups depend on investors such as venture capital funds or corporations because they do not initially make any profits. During the pandemic, such growth companies have benefited from the fact that digitization was given a boost – for example in online shopping, financial transactions or food deliveries. According to EY, local start-ups collected a record sum of 17.4 billion euros in 2021.
Entrepreneurship – Less money for start-ups – Economy
