For years, Berlin was considered the undisputed number one among Germany's startup cities. The capital attracted international talents, collected VC money and produced most of the Unicorn founders.
But in 2025 the sheet turned: Munich attacks, especially in the areas of artificial intelligence and deep tech.
In the “Global Tech Ecosystem Index” by Dealroom, Munich now takes 17th place among the world's leading tech ecosystems. Berlin does not appear in the top 20. Viewed per capita, Munich is even one of the five most productive start-up cities worldwide. Two of the three youngest German Unicorns – Egym and Quantum Systems – come from the Bavarian metropolis.
In a European comparison, Munich takes fourth place in Paris, London and Stockholm of the largest and most established startup ecosystems. Berlin lands in eighth place.
Founder universities and deep tech forge
One of the most important location factors are Munich universities. The Technical University of Munich (TUM), the LMU and the Innovation Center Entrepreneurship form one of the strongest founding hubs in Europe. Over 100 startups were founded from TUM last year alone – a new record. A total of 21 unicorns come from the smithy of the TUM-Alumni.
Source: https://www.businessinsider.de/gruenderszene/perspektive/bye-bye-berlin-warum-muenchen-die-neue-hauptstadt-fuer-techies-ist/
