Hey, dear reader!
Following the news about €40M investment in Hammerbrooklyn pavilion, the city has now announced its plan to consolidate the startup ecosystem around Startup City Hamburg.
Before you read any further, I'd suggest reading the press release first.
In German we have a word, "Selbstbeweihräucherung", that describes the act of excessive self-praise and putting oneself on display. That's how I would describe the press release after reading it. Big numbers, even bigger plans, and dazzling success. Klingt doch alles super, oder?
Let's do some fact checking.
"With 1,540 active startups, Hamburg boasts a diverse startup ecosystem in Germany's leading industrial and logistics hub."
If you go to Startup City's own startup directory (where the count is 1,460, btw), it won't take you longer than 30 seconds to start spotting companies that by all definitions have nothing to do with startups.
I've learned, for example, that Founders Running Club, a community I’m co-running, is a B2C education startup in the early growth stage.
Not to mention countless linear service businesses like consultancies and agencies.
So how many startups does Hamburg have in actuality? And why lead with a number nobody has pressure-tested?
"The record numbers in startup funding show that Hamburg is a magnet for innovative minds and investors."
Between 2021 and 2025 the city funded 330 startups with €79.5m, and almost half of that came from federal and EU pots.
Private capital tells a different story. Hamburg's VC volume has fallen three years running, from €547m in 2022 to €176m in 2025, while Germany's total rose 19%. Deal count has drifted down too, from 72 to 50.
The Startup Monitor, linked in the press release itself, says the same: Hamburg sits clearly above the national average on public funding, and only at the national average on VC, with 23% against 37% in Munich and 43% in Berlin.
So we're generous with subsidies and weak at attracting investors.
Not so magnetic.
"Key players in Hamburg's startup ecosystem are joining forces and will work together going forward."
In one LinkedIn post, someone asked how many startups are involved in developing this strategy. The answer was 2 (!). Communities? Zero as far as I'm concerned.
Let it sink.
Why am I writing all of this anyway?
Looking at numbers without putting them in perspective, and cherry picking only the statements that suit your narrative, is at best misleading, at worst self-harming.
Hamburg has real positive changes, a lot of them actually. And I'm always happy to write about them, cheer for startups that are crushing it or the communities nurturing those founders.
But Hamburg still has fundamental problems that have gone unresolved for years. Going around them and pretending they don't exist is self-delusional.
I wish we had more public discussion on how to face and solve them, not how to ignore them.
Community Voting 🗳
Pick the next guest post.
A few weeks back I opened found to guest posts, and eight of you sent in an idea. Now it's your turn: read what each pitch is about and vote for the one (or ones) you'd most like to see as a full piece.
The winning topic gets written up by its author and runs in a coming issue.
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Save the Date 🗓️
The events I'm most excited about in the weeks ahead.
Monday, September 28
Co-working Day (English) — Work a Monday alongside other founders and operators at found's own monthly co-working day.
Thursday, October 1
Deep Tech Afterwork (English) — Meet the iF team and the wider deep tech community at the second edition of the afterwork series.
Tuesday, October 6
AI.WOMEN Circle – Autumn Edition (English) — Connect with women working with AI, exploring use cases or just starting out, at the autumn circle.
Wednesday, October 7
AI Builders (English) — Dig into AI dev tools, agent frameworks, RAG and vibe coding with the biggest AI nerds in town.
Thursday, October 8
Data&AI Meet-Up (German) — Spend an evening on practical data and AI work, with impulses and conversations from the people doing it day to day.
Weekly Picks 📍
All the events on my radar for this week.
This Issue’s Gem 💎
Wednesday, September 23
robotics & physical ai CLUB (English) — Meet the people building drones, maritime tech and accelerator instrumentation, and bring whatever hardware you are working on.
AI Everywhere 🤖
Monday, September 21
Frontier Research Club | Hamburg Launch (English) — Dig into frontier AI papers over dinner with researchers from the big labs, at the club's Hamburg launch.
Wednesday, September 23
robotics & physical ai CLUB (English) — Meet the people building drones, maritime tech and accelerator instrumentation, and bring whatever hardware you are working on.
Tech Bite 🧑💻
Saturday, September 26
agentic coding studio (English) — Spend a Saturday deep in agentic coding with the people who build with AI on weekends too.
Sunday, September 27
Claude Code Sunday for Beginners (English) — Pick up Claude Code and AI agent workflows over Sunday coffee, in a session built for people just starting out.
Startup 101 🔨
Wednesday, September 23
Tax Basics for Entrepreneurs (German) — Get a practical overview of tax registration, the relevant tax types and picking the right legal structure.
Wednesday, September 23
Impact Academy: Before You Invest (German) — Work out when spending on brand, website or growth actually pays off for an impact startup.
Thursday, September 24
Positioning Workshop: Your Offering in a Nutshell (German) — Sharpen your positioning and value proposition in a hands-on day, with direct feedback on your messaging.
Friday, September 25
build fridays (English/German) — Work on your own startup alongside other founders doing the same, and end the week with something shipped.
Get Inspired ✨
Monday, September 21
Women Who Build the Future: Knowledge, Courage & Opportunity (English) — Talks and connections for everyone from tech newcomers to experienced builders, in the Women Techmakers edition.
Tuesday, September 22
Female Business Meetup (German) — Network with self-employed women from across the region over an informal evening.
Thursday, September 24
Climate Coffee (English) — Meet the people building, funding and supporting climate tech, in the Hamburg edition of the global series.
Thursday, September 24
Inno Stammtisch September (German) — Trade notes with the local innovation crowd over drinks at the September edition.
Saturday, September 26
Founders Running Club (English) — Run an easy weekend loop with founders, investors and startup people, then stay for the networking half.
Open Calls 📣
Grants, programs, and opportunities waiting for your application.
Restack — For developers and open-source builders working on core internet infrastructure, security, privacy or interoperability. Between €5,000 and €50,000 per proposal at a 100% funding rate, non-dilutive, out of a €7M fund. You can apply as an individual, no legal entity needed at application stage. Deadline: November 3.
Kickstart Defense & Dual-Use — For German startups building defence or dual-use technology. Free of charge, three days in Munich from November 3 to 5, working through procurement, compliance and scaling with expert mentors and vetted introductions. Deadline: October 11.
German Startup Awards 2027 — For anyone who wants a founder, investor or team they rate put in front of a national jury. Nominating takes a few minutes, and your name stays out of the selection process. This one is recognition rather than money. Deadline: October 11.
Job Picks 💼
3 open roles worth a look this week.
LLM Engineer at JUST ADD AI, an applied AI consultancy that has shipped more than 250 projects since 2017.
Senior Product Manager at RABOT CHARGE, a climate startup selling dynamic energy tariffs built for the energy transition.
Founding AI/ML Engineer at MuRayTech, a DESY spinout building laser-plasma accelerators for muon imaging that scans industrial parts in seconds.
Want to feature your job and put it in front of 1.400+ readers? Submit it here.
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