Berlin startup jobs jump to 78,000 – an increase of 19,000 in two years

A new report published by Dealroom.co in collaboration with the City of Berlin (Senate Department fur Wirtschaft, Energie und Betriebe) dives into jobs data at Berlin startups. The report also received support from venture capital firms Target Global, HV Ventures, Lakestar, and Point Nine Capital. Gruenderszene, Tagesspiegel and TheLocal already covered the report.

Some of the key stats

• Startups are the fastest-growing job creating sector, growing at twice the rate of any individual sector in Berlin
• More than 78,000 people are now employed in Berlin startups, with nearly a quarter (19,000 or 32% increase) created in the last two years
• Berlin’s 10 biggest startups employ 17% of startup workers. But after the big names, there is a huge pool of lesser-known companies that collectively employ the majority of the Berlin startup workforce. For instance, 50% of Berlin startup jobs exist in companies under nine years old and with a headcount of less than 70
• Younger startups produce overwhelmingly the most new jobs: cohorts from the last 10 years and, especially, last 5 years
• Looking ahead, investment into Berlin startups is at record levels. Most of the proceeds will be used to build teams, creating new jobs: VC is a catalyst for startup job growth

Scope of this report

The Berlin startup scene arguably started in the late 1990s. One of the first landmark events was the founding of Alando by the Samwer brothers in 1999, and its sale just 100 days later to eBay. Other famous startups from these early days include StudiVZ and Jamba. The early days were followed by a formative period starting roughly in 2006. This is when iconic Berlin startups like Zalando and Delivery Hero were founded, as well as startup factory Rocket Internet. The scope of this report is 2006 until 2019.

Startups in this report are sourced from the Berlin Startup Map, and manually verified to be startups. A startup is a company designed to scale fast. Excluded are service providers and companies founded before 2006. The number of Berlin employees per company is based on company reports, social media and direct enquiries.

Berlin’s 10 biggest startups employ 17% of startup workers

Some of these iconic startups would later become big employers. Berlin’s 10 biggest startups employ 17% of startup workers, led by Zalando. While that is significant, job concentration is a lot lower than the concentration of startup valuations. By contrast, the top 10 most valuable startups contribute 65% of value.

Alongside the big names, there is a huge pool of lesser-known companies that collectively employ the majority of the Berlin startup workforce. 50% of Berlin startup jobs exist in companies under nine years old and with a headcount of less than 70.

More than 78,000 people are now employed in Berlin startups

Nearly a quarter (19,000 or 32% increase) were created in the last two years. On top of the 78,000 there are other 6K people who are employed with startups founded between 1999 and 2005 (companies like Gameduell, Ableton and SearchMetrics).

Younger startups produce overwhelmingly the most new jobs: cohorts from the last 10 years, and especially last 5 years.

Startups are the fastest-growing job creating sector

In 2018 alone, Berlin startups added 12K new jobs. For perspective, this is as many new jobs as were added in health and social services (5K), education (4K), trade (4K), construction (3K), hospitality (2K), real estate (1K). Sector jobs data was sourced from the Bundesamt für Statistik Berlin Brandenburg:

Looking ahead, investment into Berlin startups is at record levels. Most of the proceeds will be used to build teams, creating new jobs: VC is a catalyst for startup job growth

This startup employment report follows earlier reports made by Dealroom for the city of Amsterdam and for the Netherlands.