Walking the talk — inclusivity and impact.
Berlin is known for being an inclusive and open place. It is the queer-friendliest city in Europe—known for the Love Parade, Nollendorfplatz, Christopher Street Day, Berghain, and SO36.
There are many places and organizations in Berlin that position the city as an open and inclusive society for women, LGBTQIA+, and migrants alike.
But how does this translate to the innovation and impact ecosystem?
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Girls just wanna have fun(ds)
Berlin has a higher percentage of female founded startups than the European average.
Women are underrepresented in the European startup ecosystem—only 12% of startups have a female co-founder. This has been changing in Berlin though with 1 in 5 VC backed startups being founded by teams with at least one female co-founder. And this is trending higher with 22% of startups founded after 2017 having at least one female founder.
This number is still far from where it should be.
Experts from both the German Startup Association and the business sector suggest that "women tend to approach entrepreneurship more cautiously." This tendency stems from various factors. Firstly, there's a notable absence of female role models within the predominantly male-dominated startup ecosystem. Secondly, structural obstacles persist, with women finding it challenging to balance the demands of self-employment with family responsibilities.
The same can be said for the other side of the table, women in European VC firms only make up 20% of investment teams.
🚀 19%
of Berlin startups are female founded
Women continue to be significantly underrepresented overall.
It's clear that strong initiatives are necessary to counter this trend, as achieving gender parity remains a distant goal.
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With the Berlin Startup Agenda, Berlin wants to strengthen female entrepreneurs. Funding programs like EXIST Women, female Startup Incubators from universities and female VC networks strengthen Berlin’s entrepreneurship scene.
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Project Future by the city of Berlin compiles an extensive overview of public funding support and programs available for females.
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Awesome networks like Founderland look at topics like the intersectional Exploration of the Experiences of Women of Colour Founders. Constantly raising awareness about the gender gap, the glass ceiling but also all the benefits that come with diversifying the startup world.
Hear Senator Franziska Giffey talk about female entrepreneurship in Berlin in this podcast
(recommended for 🇩🇪 speakers & learners)
Bears, Rainbows, and Unicorns.
Although Berlin is the place to be for queer communities, there are still inequalities, especially in the working environment, as noted in the recently published Diversity and Impact Report.
Nearly 30 percent of those who identify as LGBTQIA+ report facing discrimination in the workplace. LGBTQIA+ individuals often experience feelings of loneliness and are almost three times more likely to suffer from depression and burnout in Germany compared to the general population.
On the other hand LGBTQIA+ individuals contribute to workplace diversity and tend to have higher levels of education compared to the heterosexual population.
There are many players working at the forefront to change the narrative! Whilst in the U.S., LGBTQIA+ venture investing is already a proven success, Berlin-based IDENTITY Ventures is Europe's first LGBTQIA+ Venture Capital Impact Fund.
Research shows that diverse leadership teams perform better financially and are more innovative.
Berlin’s biggest queer tech community is Unicorns in Tech, provides a job portal and organizes inclusive meet-ups and festivals, as well as annual civic hackathons to develop solutions for challenges the LGBTQIA+ community faces.
Pretty cool, right? There are more communities revolving around the topic of queerness and tech, check out this blog post by our friends from betahaus.
And surprisingly, UHLALA Group’s annual Pride Index, Berlin’s city administration was ranked highly amongst other public institutions for providing a safe, enabling and inclusive working environment. It seems the city is taking its reputation seriously, at least in-house.
🍸 Looking for LGBTQIA+ friendly spaces outside of the office? Check Visit Berlin’s LGBTQ+ Guide
“Ich bin ein*e Berliner*in”
According to the Migrant Founders Monitor 2023, Founders with a migration background make up a significant portion, 21%, of the startup ecosystem in Germany, with 58% of them born outside of Germany.
These teams are often more diverse in gender and ethnicity, making their internationality their USP. However, the biggest challenges to date for migrant founders are dealing with authorities and offices (42%) as well as banks (31%).
A report by the German Federal Anti Discrimination agency found that people with non-German or more foreign sounding names were 24% less likely than those with German names to be called in for an interview. During the interview process 15% what their religious affiliation and 15% were were asked if German was their native language.
With the Berlin Startup Agenda 2022-2026, the capital wants to focus on improving the access to business support for foreign workforce. By further developing the current Business Immigration Service as “Berlin Tech Visa” based on the current legal regulations, the city wants to create more equal access to jobs and business support. For Migrant Founders, the city wants to strengthen existing platforms like the Business Location Center.
A notable success story is the Berlin-based travel startup unicorn Omio. Its founder, Naren Shaam, moved to Germany from India over a decade ago.
Berlin’s Diversity and Impact Report also highlights inclusive workspaces and communities like BIWOC Rising or Black in Tech, promoting intersectional work to support PoC, female founders and tech talents.
⏱️ TL;DR 🤗
Berlin's impact startup scene is on a journey towards inclusivity, with targeted efforts to empower women, the LGBTQIA+ community, and migrants.
Despite facing challenges like underrepresentation and discrimination, these initiatives signify Berlin's commitment to fostering an equitable impact startup ecosystem. This progress, though ongoing, highlights the city's dedication to creating a diverse and supportive environment for all entrepreneurs.
🗓️ Published: March, 2024