Hey, dear reader!
You know my stance on startup reports. We’ve covered a bunch in this newsletter, all telling the same story year after year: Hamburg has huge potential but no structural shift.
The recent numbers from Startup Verband say it’s starting to change.
The first half of 2026 brought 3K+ new startups in Germany, up 52% compared to H1 2025. And this time, everyone is talking about Hamburg. We led the pack with 212 new startups, 83% more than the second half of 2025. Cherry on top: we added more startups than Munich for the first time since 2019 (212 vs. 208).
So what’s going on here? What’s driving this unexpected growth?
That’s what we tried to figure out in the discussion under my LinkedIn post. In my opinion, it comes down to there things:
We may be seeing the long tail of 2025, companies that only got incorporated now.
People have spent months figuring out AI, and they’re turning that into real companies (about a third of new startups are AI-pilled, according to the report).
It got easier for aspiring founders to connect with the community through regular events and support. New gravity centres are forming around AI, deeptech, and impact.
This is great news. I hope these new startups bring more capital and create more jobs, and help restore Hamburg’s glory as a major startup and innovation hub.
And yet. Company bankruptcies just hit a 21-year high, VW and Bosch are talking about more layoffs, and unemployment keeps climbing. Two trends, pulling in opposite directions. Interesting times.
If you started something recently, what actually pushed you over the edge? The AI wave, an easier path to the community, or just the right moment?
Save the Date 🗓
The events I'm most excited about in the weeks ahead.
Monday, July 20
found Co-working Day (English) — Spend the day working alongside Hamburg's founders, operators, and techies, no membership, no application, just drop in.
Thursday, August 6
Defence Tech Meetup Hamburg (English) — Meet the engineers, founders, and investors building and backing defence technology across Germany, Ukraine, and beyond.
Wednesday, August 12
Female Founder's Breakfast (English/German) — Start the day with Hamburg's women founders over breakfast, fresh ideas, and honest conversation.
Thursday, August 13
The Garage (English) — Experience Hamburg's physical-AI night with live demos, robotic arms, and pizza alongside the city's AI builder community.
Monday, August 17
n8n Hamburg Meetup (English) — Master workflow automation and AI agents through talks and hands-on sessions with the international n8n community.
Weekly Picks📍
All the events on my radar for this week.
This Issue’s Gem 💎
Friday, July 17
PwC x mAIkers AI Breakfast (English) — Trade honest takes on where AI is actually heading over morning talks with founders and pioneers, including voices from Vercel and ElevenLabs.
AI Everywhere 🤖
Thursday, July 16
Converting at Scale: Analytics & AI to Drive Growth (English) — Learn how leaders actually use analytics and AI to drive growth, then network with the HafenCity founder crowd.
Tech Bite 🧑💻
Monday, July 13
Agentic Engineering and Domain Driven Transformation (German) — Explore how agentic engineering and domain-driven design reshape software transformation, in a free evening talk with fellow builders.
Startup 101 🔨
Friday, July 17
build fridays (English) — Ship your product alongside other builders, demo what you shipped, and get unstuck with feedback from fellow founders.
Get Inspired ✨
Wednesday, July 16
Hamburg Music & Tech Meetup (English) — Connect Hamburg's MusicTech scene: founders, labels, artists, producers, and developers building at the intersection of music and technology.
Friday, July 17
Hamburg Tech Mixer and Social (English) — Connect with Hamburg's tech, AI, data, and IT crowd over drinks in a relaxed, expat-friendly mixer.
Saturday, July 18
Founders Running Club (English) — Kick off Saturday with founders and tech folks for an easy-paced run, fresh air, and coffee conversations after.
Open Calls 📣
Grants, programs, and opportunities waiting for your application.
BRYCK Accelerator — For pre-seed to seed deep-tech founders with a working MVP in energy, water, PropTech, chemistry & materials, personalised medicine, or secure & intelligent systems. A 12-week program in Essen with mentorship, corporate and investor access, and a demo day, no fees and no equity taken. Deadline: July 27.
AI-Nation — For early-stage AI founders and researchers anywhere in Germany, pre- or post-incorporation. Up to €54,000 in non-dilutive funding for the grant track, plus a 6-month accelerator with mentorship, investor access, cloud credits, and lab space. Applications for batch F26 open July 13. Applications open July 13.
Founderland Forward Grant — For women entrepreneurs across Europe and the UK who have faced barriers tied to race, ethnicity, or cultural background, at idea, prototype, or early-revenue stage. A €10,000 equity-free grant plus community membership, resources, and networking. Deadline: July 24.
Job Picks 💼
3 open roles worth a look this week.
Working Student AI & Innovation at REHAU New Ventures, the corporate venturing arm running venture-clienting and AI enablement.
Forward Deployed Engineer at Rabot Charge, a green-energy startup offering AI-powered dynamic electricity tariffs.
Founder's Associate at Impossible Cloud, a B2B cloud infrastructure company building GDPR-compliant S3 storage and GPU/AI cloud services.
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That’s a wrap!
Check out the tune of the week from the found playlist
🏄♂
Share found Hamburg with your friends
See you next week,
Kyrylo from found Hamburg