3 ms·

What do you see it lacking? Berlin already has a lot. Just many of the "startup scene" aren't really aware of stuff like: Mozilla and HPI (Oracle JVM research

What do you see it lacking? Berlin already has a lot. Just many of the "startup scene" aren't really aware of stuff like: Mozilla and HPI (Oracle JVM research) doing cutting edge work. Ableton and Native Instruments as world leaders in niche but influential software. Car2Go and Coup with major financial backing from Mercedes and Bosch. Tons of small seed-stage companies funded by the great smaller VCs here. ECB central bank policy pushes a lot of money into startup investment.

jashmatthews 7y ago
Google is now hiring for engineering in Berlin adding to Amazon and Microsoft!
mstipetic 7y ago
Well I am a part of the Berlin startup scene, so I have personal experience there, completing a fundraising attempt myself. I'm not saying there is no tech happening in Berlin, I just don't think that Car2Go and Coup are good examples of startups. They are actually perfect example of the German mentality in investing in startups - fairly secure plays which they can understand. As far as early stage investments companies go, it's not as nice as you make it sound. Have a look at any list of startups and apart from infarm (which is great and I've worked there) and maybe n26, most are ecommerce platform plays and some fintech (of which most are too late to the game). A lot of the people in my network wanting to do something different had to go elsewhere
- bakuninsbart 7y ago
  Urbansportspass is a great example of a german startup: They have steady growth, good revenue flows, a great app and content customers. I feel like in recent years the startup scene in Berlin has gone rather off rails, with obviously flawed projects getting funding. The truth of the startup scene is that >99% of projects are pretty bad, and never deserved to leave the brainstorming phase in the first place.
  - ahartmetz 7y ago
    I also see a lot of hare-brained stuff in Berlin, fairly transparent money grabbing schemes with little hope to make a positive difference for anything and little innovation / originality. Germany's most successful former startup is Zalando - they sell clothes online. Notably its success isn't selling the company to a stronger US rival who could have as well crushed it, but saved time and maybe money by buying instead.

jashmatthews 7y ago

Google is now hiring for engineering in Berlin adding to Amazon and Microsoft!

mstipetic 7y ago

Well I am a part of the Berlin startup scene, so I have personal experience there, completing a fundraising attempt myself. I'm not saying there is no tech happening in Berlin, I just don't think that Car2Go and Coup are good examples of startups. They are actually perfect example of the German mentality in investing in startups - fairly secure plays which they can understand. As far as early stage investments companies go, it's not as nice as you make it sound. Have a look at any list of startups and apart from infarm (which is great and I've worked there) and maybe n26, most are ecommerce platform plays and some fintech (of which most are too late to the game). A lot of the people in my network wanting to do something different had to go elsewhere

bakuninsbart 7y ago
Urbansportspass is a great example of a german startup: They have steady growth, good revenue flows, a great app and content customers. I feel like in recent years the startup scene in Berlin has gone rather off rails, with obviously flawed projects getting funding. The truth of the startup scene is that >99% of projects are pretty bad, and never deserved to leave the brainstorming phase in the first place.
- ahartmetz 7y ago
  I also see a lot of hare-brained stuff in Berlin, fairly transparent money grabbing schemes with little hope to make a positive difference for anything and little innovation / originality. Germany's most successful former startup is Zalando - they sell clothes online. Notably its success isn't selling the company to a stronger US rival who could have as well crushed it, but saved time and maybe money by buying instead.