Berlin and London voted among Europe’s 5 best Fintech Hubs
Deep Ecosystems, a Germany-based accelerator for ecosystem projects, has released its 7thth edition of the Startup Heatmap Report, ranks Europe’s top 50 most popular startup hubs on the continent.
The ranking is based on a survey that asked more than 24,000 pre-selected founders equally distributed across Europe to understand their feelings about the local startup landscape. The results were compiled in a report, which provided a detailed overview of all European technology hubs in the region and with insights into investments, internationalization patterns and founder sentiments.
Also this year, Berlin and London topped the list, chosen by European founders as the best cities on the continent to launch a startup. These two locations were recognized for their business-friendly regulations, easy access to funding and dynamic startup ecosystems. They were also named Europe’s five best fintech hubs.
Top 10 most popular startup hubs in Europe, Source: Startup Heatmap Report, Deep Ecosystems
Berlin: Europe’s best technology hub
Berlin received a solid 37% of founders’ votes, indicating that more than one in three entrepreneurs in Europe would consider starting their company in the German capital. Respondents highlighted the city’s thriving start-up community, strong support networks of academic institutions, large businesses and innovative communities, as well as increasing availability of capital.
Not only is Berlin the preferred location in Europe for entrepreneurs to launch a startup, it is also a major fintech hub in the region, ranked by Deep Ecosystems as one of Europe’s top five fintech ecosystems. Similarly, the Global Fintech Index 2021 listed the German capital in first place in the EU last year, ahead of Amsterdam, Stockholm and Frankfurt.
The Berlin startup map shows over 900 fintech companies in the city, including unicorn startups N26, a digital bank valued at $9.25 billion, Trade Republic, a new broker valued at $5.36 billion, and Wefox, an insurtech startup valued at $4 .5 billion, data from CB Insights shows. N26, Trade Republic and Wefox are also Berlin’s most valuable private companies, showcasing the city’s vibrant fintech scene.
This year, fintech funding in the city has so far remained strong, with large rounds reported in H1 2022. These include Wefox’s US$400 million Series D, Trade Republic’s EUR 250 million Series C expansion, Payhawk’s US$100 million Series B, and Vivid Pengene’s 100 million euro series C.
London: a fintech powerhouse
After Berlin, London took the second position in the ranking, chosen by 33% of entrepreneurs polled by Deep Ecosystems as one of the top two places they would like to start a technology company. Respondents pointed to London’s business-friendly regulations, industry networks. and easy access to financing as the city’s greatest strength.
Like Berlin, London was also recognized as one of Europe’s top five fintech ecosystems, recognized by the community for its culture of creativity, supportive regulators and a pipeline of diverse digital and financial talent.
Data from the City of London Corporation, Findexable and Mambu show that London hosts a huge number of fintech companies, with 1,230 firms headquartered in the city. The figure means that almost half of the UK’s fintech companies (over 2,500) are based in the capital.
Further demonstrating London’s fintech leadership, data from CB Insights shows that of the 36 tech unicorn startups headquartered in the city, 24 are fintech companies, including Checkout.com (worth $40 billion), Revolut ($33 billion) , Blockchain.com (US$14 billion), Rapyd (US$8.75 billion) and SumUp (US$8.5 billion).
In 2022, investors continued to be bullish on the local fintech industry, with fast-growing startups closing massive funding rounds. Checkout.com, an international payments platform, raised $1 billion in a Series D funding round, GoCardless, an account-to-account payment specialist, closed a $312 million Series G, and PayFit, a payroll and human resources (HR ) the software provider, raised €254 million in a Series E. Both GoCardless and PayFit reached unicorn status after closing their fundraising rounds.
Featured Image Credit: Edited from Pexels
