Billions in promises to German startups | Cash register.

Today, September 17th, the “Startup Germany Summit” with Olaf Scholz, Robert Habeck and Christian Lindner will take place. Together with representatives from the financial sector, they will launch the WIN initiative. With this initiative, the state and industry want to jointly provide up to ten billion euros in capital for startup financing. At the same time, other framework conditions for startups and the venture capital ecosystem are to be improved, for example with regard to IPOs.

“The WIN initiative is an important signal to startups and their investors in Germany. It will facilitate and improve the financing of many German startups. It will ensure that young tech companies in Germany grow faster, it directly strengthens the technology and innovation location and indirectly the entire German economy. In order to remain internationally competitive, we need more digital innovations. Startups play an outstanding role in this,” emphasizes Bitkom President Dr. Ralf Wintergerst.

Although Germany has built up an excellent and internationally recognized startup ecosystem over the years, there is a lack of capital. “Currently, less than a fifth of startups say that there is sufficient venture capital in this country, and eight out of ten have also noticed increasing reluctance among investors due to the economic downturn,” Wintergerst continued.

The Bitkom President hopes that the WIN initiative could be the urgently needed signal of departure. In order to close the capital gap in international comparison, however, further steps must follow so that Germany as a whole becomes more attractive for venture capital and German startups can grow into European and global champions.