Hey, dear reader!
Every now and then I come across new startup reports. Mostly they're complimentary and try to soothe major issues by cherry-picking "good" stats with marginal changes. And they almost never spotlight who is really moving the needle in the ecosystem.
Still, they're a useful snapshot of where we stand and where we're headed.
Dealroom has published their new Tech Ecosystem Index 2026. The top 3 hubs are all in the States: Bay Area, New York, and Boston. Europe's best showing is London at #4 and Paris at #8.
Hamburg lands at #89, the kind of mid-pack number we've seen all year. But there're two sectors where Hamburg stands out: energy (#32) and climate (#38). It tracks with what we saw a while back: GreenTech already makes up 22% of Hamburg's startups.
When I read these numbers I ask myself: where are these companies? We have barely any public events or press coverage except for big names like 1KOMMA5°, Traceless Materials, and one.five. If every fifth startup in Hamburg is building in greentech, shouldn't they be on everyone's lips? I think that's one of the major problems we have in Hamburg. We add roughly 200 new startups every year, but you mostly see the same familiar faces of the few.
Funny thing: AI is all over our events and feeds, yet it sits at #86. Climate and energy rank twice as high, and I can barely see the communities or events where these people meet (kudos to Climate Coffee for trying to feel the gap).
Maybe the rankings run ahead of reality, or maybe we're just bad at putting our best builders in front of people. Either way, the scene should be as loud as the numbers say it is.
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Save the Date 🗓
The events I'm most excited about in the weeks ahead.
Monday, June 22
found Co-working Day (English) — Spend the day working alongside Hamburg's founders, operators, and techies at betahaus — no membership, no application, just drop in.
Friday-Sunday, June 26-28
Leuphana AI Hackathon (English) — Build a working AI prototype over one weekend and pitch it to a jury, with mentors on hand to unblock you (sign-up deadline June 19).
Wednesday, July 1
Deep Tech Club: Fireside Chat with Jan Leisse (eleQtron) (German) — Hear eleQtron CEO Jan Leisse on taking quantum computing from lab to market and competing in the global quantum race.
Friday-Sunday, July 3-5
Impossible Founders Sprint (English) — Experience startup creation in a 48-hour sprint, forming teams, building ideas, and pitching with mentorship from Impossible Founders.
Wednesday, July 8
iF Pioneers Demo Day (English) — Watch nine startup teams from seven universities pitch after three months in the Impossible Founders program, then network with investors and builders.
Weekly Picks📍
All the events on my radar for this week.
This Issue’s Gem 💎
Thursday-Friday, June 18-19
Waterkant Festival (English/German) — Experience two days of innovation, autonomous-car test rides, and a reverse pitch with 90+ startups at northern Germany's liveliest startup festival in Kiel.
🎟️ We've got a batch of free Waterkant tickets to give away. Reply to this email to grab one.
AI Everywhere 🤖
Tuesday, June 16
AI.WOMEN Circle (English/German) — Reconnect with women in AI to swap practical tips, ask questions, and lift each other up over a relaxed summer evening.
DVC Data & AI Lunch Meetup (English) — Talk through the latest in data and AI over a casual shared pizza lunch with fellow data enthusiasts.
Thursday, June 18
LLMday Hamburg (English) — Dive into a full day of LLM tech sessions, hands-on workshops, and networking with fellow AI builders at the House of AI.
Tech Bite 🧑💻
Monday, June 15
Campus-AI x Netlight Mini-Hackathon (German) — Build through an AI and data science challenge where only working code counts, with pizza, prizes, and no prep required.
Thursday, June 18
Defence Tech Meetup (English) — Connect with engineers, founders, and investors building at the intersection of technology and defence over 5-minute lightning updates.
Startup 101 🔨
Thursday, June 18
Co-Founder Meet&Match @ HHIS (English/German) — Find your co-founder at the Wall of Ideas, pitching your concept or browsing others to match complementary skills.
Friday, June 19
build fridays (English) — Ship your product alongside other builders, demo your progress, and get unstuck with feedback from fellow founders.
Get Inspired ✨
Thursday, June 18
Hamburg Innovation Summit (English/German) — Explore Hamburg's largest innovation event across multiple stages, connecting with the people shaping the region's future.
Innovator Breakfast by HHIS x Hobenköök (German) — Discover how genuine referrals are built and why trust drives new collaborations, over breakfast with founders across industries.
Saturday, June 20
Founders Running Club (English) — Energize your Saturday with founders and tech folks for an easy run, coffee and conversations after.
Open Calls 📣
Grants, programs, and opportunities waiting for your application.
Y Combinator — For early-stage founders, idea-stage friendly, building toward massive scale. YC's Fall 2026 batch runs October–December in San Francisco, with the standard deal: $125K for 7% on a post-money SAFE plus $375K on an uncapped MFN SAFE. International teams are funded every batch, and there's no application fee. Deadline: July 27.
Women TechEU — For women-led deep-tech startups (woman as CEO/CTO holding 25%+ shares) registered in the EU for 6–50 months, at TRL4–6, with under €1M raised. The EIC program gives a €75,000 non-dilutive, equity-free grant plus mentoring, training, and investor matchmaking. Deadline: June 30.
Körber Next.Gen Inkubator — For aspiring Hamburg founders, team mostly under 30, with a socially-oriented idea tied to a UN Sustainable Development Goal. A free 12-month incubation: business training, founding skills, a free workspace with Elbphilharmonie views, and access to Körber's network. Applications open July 1–31.
Job Picks 💼
3 open roles worth a look this week.
Founding Engineer at itemary, a reverse-logistics startup getting used items back into circulation (early-stage).
Product Manager at Fashion Cloud, a B2B data platform connecting fashion brands and retailers.
Senior Data Analyst at adjoe, a mobile ad-tech engineering company.
Want to feature your job and put it in front of 1.300+ readers? Submit it here.
That’s a wrap!
Check out the tune of the week from the found playlist
🏄♂
Dom Wittig, a guy who travels the world playing drum & bass on his bike made some noise in Hamburg. Did you spot him?
Share found Hamburg with your friends
See you next week,
Kyrylo from found Hamburg