Investment in German start-ups drops off

Abstract

Germany has fallen behind the rest of Europe in investing in chemistry-related start-ups, according to a soon-to-be-published study by the Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research and the Center for Economic Policy Studies of Leibniz University. VCI, Germany’s main chemical industry association, commissioned the study. Although venture capital firms invested $62 million in chemistry start-ups across Europe in 2018, German ones accounted for less than $3 million of that. This is despite Germany having Europe’s biggest chemical industry and largest economy. In 2011, German chemistry start-ups attracted almost $40 million in venture capital funding. From 2015 to 2018, though, only 0.3% of venture capital invested in Germany flowed into the chemical sector. This compares with 46% going into the digital economy and 19% into biotech and health care. The study’s authors identified 281 chemistry start-ups in Germany. The findings are a concern, VCI says, because chemistry start-ups supply the German