Top location for startups in Europe

From research project to market-ready product

68 universities and universities of applied sciences as well as many internationally leading research centers in NRW form the basis for a lively startup scene. Students, scientists and academics bring their ideas to market maturity in startup projects or provide innovative ideas and approaches. Universities support them in a variety of ways. One example: RWTH Aachen University intends to become the largest startup incubator in Europe and is planning to create a startup center and bundle all the necessary infrastructure and support services for this purpose.

Network assistants for startups

A total of five DigiHubs of the digital economy offer support for startups. As important drivers of the startup ecosystem, the DigiHubs in Aachen, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Münster and Essen are constantly expanding their services. As a result, the DigiHubs have more than 2,000 startups in their network. They bring startups together with companies, science and politics from the region and thus help them access the market. For example, startups are supported in financing issues, during customer acquisition, or with access to a wide variety of mentors.

Growth accelerators and incubators

Accelerators and incubators enable startups to further develop their business idea. There are a large number of such formats in NRW – more than 30 accelerator programs accompany startups on their path to success. The STARTPLATZ accelerator in Cologne and Düsseldorf, for example, is an important point of contact for innovative tech startups in NRW that want to grow quickly and sustainably. Other programs have a narrower focus: While DOaccelerate in Dortmund promotes collaborations between international startups with regional NRW companies, Xdeck in Cologne supports young companies in the concrete production of physical and digital products such as Big Data-based algorithms.

Other accelerators focus on startups in a specific industry. These include the accelerator program of the first hydrogen hub H2UB in Europe, which supports startups in the energy and hydrogen sectors. The Cologne-based accelerator InsurLab uses startups to advance innovation and digitization in the insurance industry, while Startport from Duisburg supports B2B innovations that find application in the logistics and supply chain. Corporate accelerators such as Deutsche Telekom's tecboost in Cologne, Vodafone Uplift in Düsseldorf, or the Hilden-based Qiagen Digital Accelerator incorporate the business ideas of startups directly into their day-to-day business, managing customer projects together with them, and providing the necessary resources for this purpose.

Benefiting from state funding

The state of NRW has designed a variety of funding programs for startups. For example, the Start-up Center.NRW or Start-up-Transfer.NRW provide large amounts of funding to help young entrepreneurs develop marketable business concepts from their research results. Gründerstipendium NRW offers a monthly stipend and individual coaching. Startups with an international orientation are given a special focus by NRW: With Scale-up NRW, the Ministry of Economic Affairs specifically supports startups in an already advanced stage of development or in a phase of rapid growth and change. This funding is designed to enable them to establish an international location.

Connected to the world in NRW

Another important factor for the startup ecosystem is the opportunity for intensive networking at trade fairs, conferences or events. For example, participating companies on the Startup Germany Tour get the opportunity to see numerous innovative startups from all over the world in one go and to initiate possible collaborations with them; at the same time, the international startups gain an insight into the advantages of NRW as a location. Other important conferences are the StartupCon in Cologne, the Digital Demo Day in Düsseldorf or the ruhrSUMMIT in Bochum. In addition, the Startupnight Ruhr in Dortmund is one of Europe's largest startup trade fairs. 

Financing in every development phase

More than half of the startups in NRW that participated in the German Startup Monitor survey have external capital. Especially in the early phase, there are many opportunities for financing in NRW due to the particularly strong state funding landscape. At a later stage, startup funds can help. For example, NRW.Bank invests up to 300 million euros in North Rhine-Westphalian startups. The state-owned development bank plans to further increase its involvement in third-party venture capital funds. High-Tech-Gründerfonds has also supported many innovative technologies and business ideas with revolutionary potential in the industrial sector: More than 650 startups from the industrial tech, digital tech and life sciences and chemicals sectors have already been financed, and more than 140 exits have been realized.

Trivago, Dusseldorf

Metasearch engine for millions of hotels worldwide 
The company was founded in Düsseldorf in 2005 as Germany's first hotel metasearch engine. The website compares prices of more than five million hotels as well as other accommodation options worldwide, and makes its revenue using the pay-per-click model. In 2012, the majority of the company was bought by Expedia. Although the company is now listed in the U.S., it manages its business from NRW. In 2018, the company moved to its own state-of-the-art campus in Düsseldorf's Medienhafen district. The talent pool in NRW is one of the main reasons why the online travel portal has kept its corporate headquarters in Düsseldorf.

Auxmoney, Dusseldorf

Digital marketplace for loans 
The online marketplace for peer-to-peer loans was founded in 2007. On the largest credit marketplace in the euro zone, private and institutional investors can invest directly in selected credit projects. The company advertises a more precise assessment of creditworthiness and a more cost-efficient system than conventional banks. This means that even people who are rejected across the board by banks are given the chance to obtain a loan. 

DeepL, Cologne

Online translator with artificial intelligence 
DeepL was founded in 2009 in Cologne as Linguee and introduced the first online search engine for translations. In 2017, the company launched DeepL translator, a free machine translation system. Thanks to its novel neural architecture, DeepL has consistently set new records for machine translation quality. The DeepL translator has been used by over 100 million people. The Cologne-based startup, which rivals the offerings of the U.S. technology group Google, for example, is one of the few German Unicorns with a valuation of more than one billion euros. 

Escrypt, Bochum

Cybersecurity for the car
The company was founded in 2004 at the Ruhr University Bochum as part of the research for IT security. The Escrypt portfolio includes security concepts of all kinds: solutions for secure data exchange, attack detection and defense, secure firmware updates, preventive vulnerability management and risk & threat analysis. In the automotive sector, the company develops cybersecurity solutions and is a global leader in this field. Millions of vehicle systems around the world are protected in this way.

Next Kraftwerke, Cologne

Virtual power plants for the energy transition
Next Kraftwerke GmbH was founded in 2009 and now operates one of the largest virtual power plants in Europe. Via its central platform, the cleantech company networks thousands of electricity producers such as biogas, wind and solar plants, commercial and industrial electricity consumers as well as electricity storage facilities. This multitude of decentralized energy resources is  intelligently coordinated to ensure a reliable energy supply – and in this way, the company supports the energy transition. Since the beginning of 2021, it has been a wholly owned subsidiary of the oil and gas company Shell plc.

Schüttflix, Gummersbach

Digital platform for sand, gravel and dry bulk materials
Schüttflix is a platform company for commercial customers that organizes the trade and logistics of gravel, sand and other bulk materials: The platform connects construction contractors, bulk material providers, freight forwarders and waste disposal companies. Founded in 2018, the company digitizes the construction industry by running all processes via an app. With the help of digital processes, prices can be compared and fast, precise deliveries planned.

Dabbel, Dusseldorf

Reducing energy consumption in buildings using AI 
In 2018, the company was founded with the goal of developing software to reduce CO2 emissions in commercial buildings worldwide. Dabbel Automation Intelligence is a software add-on that replaces manual control of existing building control systems with artificial intelligence, autonomously controlling energy systems in real time. With no hardware or upfront costs, AI can save up to 40 percent of HVAC energy consumption in commercial buildings.

Accure, Aachen

Using the cloud platform, batteries last longer
The Aachen-based battery software startup ACCURE Battery Intelligence was founded in 2020 and emerged from the largest European research group for battery systems at RWTH Aachen University. The startup has developed a cloud platform through which batteries can be used more efficiently and sustainably. The platform precisely determines and forecasts the condition of batteries based on field and laboratory data. Customers can thus optimize their battery operation, extend the lifetime of their batteries by 15 to 25 percent and prevent unplanned failures.

Cureosity, Dusseldorf

Making therapy fun with VR technology
To keep neurologically impaired patients, such as those with spinal paralysis, motivated during rehabilitation, the founders of Cureosity (from the English "cure" and "curiosity") have made therapy fun – with the help of virtual reality technologies. Using VR goggles and controllers, patients can steer a kite in virtual rooms, for example, and thus train important movements. The idea for Cureosity came from the personal experiences the founders had within their families. The software is now in use in leading, international clinics, and the Düsseldorf-based med-tech company won the German Innovation Award 2022 in the Startups category.