Start-up-City Essen

Essen is increasingly becoming a hotspot for the start-up scene. Many innovative and technology-oriented start-ups appreciate the very good environment with a large number of potential partners and customers and start up here with fresh ideas. The city is thus becoming the perfect scale-up location in the Metropole Ruhr.

In the last five years, the number of start-ups has risen from 50 to around 140, almost tripling since 2018. The number of employees in start-ups also increased from around 500 to around 1,700 between 2018 and 2023.

As a result of this positive development, more and more capital providers and other supporters of the ecosystem are discovering the location for themselves.
On the one hand, business angel networks such as Business Angels Ruhr e. V. and Business Angels Netzwerk Deutschland e.V. are based in Essen.
On the other hand, the venture capital scene has also grown strongly in the recent years. VC funds such as “Cusp Capital”, “Chepstow Capital” and the Gründerfonds Ruhr are based here, as are various corporate VCs. Evonik Ventures and Schenker Ventures, among others, thus steer their investments from the scale-up city of Essen and thus push innovative business models all over the world.

In addition to these investors, founders can also build on a growing ecosystem. For example, the company creator Crealize, with its more than 20 start-ups, is based in the heart of Essen. The innovation hub BRYCK, which focuses on internationality, has also recently moved into the heart of Essen.

This is how start-ups find the best conditions for launching in the Metropole Ruhr.