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Germany named best European country for startups for second year running

Germany has held on to its top position as the best country in Europe for running a startup company in an annual ranking.

Published: 20 August 2020 08:56 CEST

Germany named best European country for startups for second year running

Photo: DPA

The country beat 30 other European nations to the top position. The ranking was taken from a study by NimbleFins, who analysed data from the World Bank, World Economic Forum, UNESCO, OECD and tax consultancies.

Environments good for startups are considered to have highly educated populations, strong economies, healthy business environments and relatively low costs for conducting business.

READ ALSO: Working in Germany: Berlin startups create 19,000 new jobs

Germany fits the bill across categories

NimbleFins showed that Germany ranked highly across most of their categories. It snagged the third spot in ‘Economic Health’, having a GDP of $3,846 billion.

It ranked second, behind Switzerland, for having a great business climate – a spot gained as it has relatively low corporate tax rates and provides good access to venture capital.

With 83 percent of adults having an upper secondary degree, it also ranked highly for ‘Labour Force Quality’.

Germany also is ranked second in the group according to World Economic Forum metrics for market dominance, meaning that the marketplace is not restrained by few key players – something startups value highly.

Berlin centre of Germany’s startup life

Berlin economics senator Ramona Pop, of the Greens, stated that of the start-ups registered throughout Germany in 2019, a quarter were founded in Berlin. The capital is far ahead of the rest of Germany with 105 start-ups per 10,000 inhabitants.

Fourty-one percent of the companies had received subsidies, and nearly a quarter of those surveyed said they used venture capital to enter the market.

READ ALSO: German startups receive record €6.2 billion in investment

Andrew Haw, Head of Network at Silicon Allee, Berlin’s technology and events community, told The Local that “the German economy has been relatively stable for the last ten to fifteen years, and startups can feed off that in terms of partnerships with corporations and investment”.

“Its geographical position in Europe as well means its able to attract workers from neighbouring countries which have a high level of IT and technical expertise,” he added.

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Which Bavaria-based companies regularly hire English speakers?

Munich ranks third in German cities with the highest total GDP, behind Berlin and Hamburg, but in terms of GDP per capita, it’s higher than both of them.

It also consistently ranks high, often highest, in terms of average household income.

As of 2023, nine of the 40 companies listed on DAX, Germany’s stock index, were based in Bavaria. Seven of those are based specifically in Munich.

While Frankfurt is commonly known to be Germany’s business capital, Munich can claim the title of Germany’s insurance capital, which is saying something, as Germany is home to some of the largest insurance firms in the world, like Allianz.

Beyond the state’s capital city, a number of international companies are based elsewhere in Bavaria, particularly in the Franken region, near Nuremberg.

Which companies actively hire English speakers?

Bavaria, and Munich in particular, is home to a number of companies at the forefront of international business. But the state is known for its traditional, sometimes conservative, culture, which affects its business culture as well.

Whereas companies embracing English as their primary business language are easy to find in Berlin, the practice is less common in the south. That said, there are some notable exceptions.

Sportswear giants, Adidas and Puma, both have their headquarters near Nuremberg in Herzogenaurach, and regularly recruit English speaking international talent.

“As an international company, our teams reflect the rich diversity of our consumers and communities,” Jon Greenhalgh, Senior Manager Media Relations for Adidas told The Local. “Fostering a culture of inclusion where we value and leverage differences, ensures that we can authentically engage with our employees and truly connect with our consumers.”

He added that around 40 per cent of Adidas’ Germany-based employees are foreign nationals, from over 100 different countries.

Siemens and BMW rank among Bavaria’s top employers, and are also known to hire their fair share of foreigners.

“In Germany, we recently had around 2,000 open positions,” Konstanze Somborn told The Local on behalf of Siemens AG.

He added that Siemens operates in 190 countries. “That is why we value international teams very much…English as a common language is very usual.”

READ ALSO: ‘Which German companies want to hire foreigners?’

Similarly, BMW hires workers from a variety of backgrounds.

“Every year, we hire lots of internationals and welcome them to the BMW Group,” Dr. Hans-Peter Ketterl, a press spokesman for BMW Group told The Local.

But not all of these positions are available to non-German speakers.

Ketterl added that BMW’s working language is German in the country, even though, “English is an indispensable entry requirement as the second corporate language in many areas of the company.”

Check job boards and follow best practices

If it’s your first time applying for jobs in Germany, make sure to change your resume to the German format, even for English positions.

While Germany is home to its own job boards, like Xing, LinkedIn is probably the best place to start. In addition to searching for positions based in your preferred location, you can check relevant groups, like Munich Startups, to broaden your horizons.

The English Jobs in Germany website is also a good resource to start with.

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