Thriving Munich Startups Delivering Plentiful Employment Opportunities, Yet Gender Equality Remains Elusive for Women
In Munich, the startup landscape is flourishing, with the health, finance, artificial intelligence (AI), and deeptech sectors leading the job market. These sectors, showing the strongest growth, reflect Munich's status as a vibrant hub for innovation.
According to recent reports, these fields have attracted significant venture capital inflows, fueling expansion and employment growth. In 2024 and the first half of 2025, Munich startups raised €3.27 billion, primarily in these areas [1].
This alignment with national tech and innovation trends is evident, with technology & software development, healthcare & life sciences, and finance & fintech also expanding rapidly in Germany [2]. Deeptech startups, specialising in fields such as computing, energy, and space tech, are also key targets for venture capital investments in Munich, contributing to employment growth in these advanced technology sectors [4].
However, a concerning gender imbalance persists in this thriving ecosystem. According to a study by the European Women in VC network, only 5-15% of investment decisions are made by women [3]. Last year, 1,633 men received fresh venture capital compared to just 194 women in Germany [6].
Despite this disparity, startups with at least one woman on the founding team create more jobs per invested euro than all-male teams in Munich. Examples of these successful ventures include Yoummday and Mynaric, two female-founded startups based in Munich [7].
The total value of Munich's startups stands at 164 billion euros, with 43,200 jobs located in the Munich region. The number of jobs in Munich's startups has increased by 15% from 2023, employing over 118,000 people worldwide [5].
Startups without external funding typically employ an average of just 14 people after ten years, while companies with over 100 million euros in capital have an average of 180 employees [8]. Since 2010, startups founded in Munich have a combined market value of 77 billion euros [9].
In 2024, Munich-based startups raised 2.3 billion euros, and an additional 970 million euros was secured in the first half of 2025. However, the share of investments in purely female-founded startups has decreased to 1%, down from 2% the previous year [6].
As Munich continues to grow as a global startup hub, efforts to address the gender imbalance in investment and entrepreneurship will be crucial for a diverse and dynamic ecosystem.
- The health-and-wellness sector, particularly women's health, is a rapidly growing field in Munich's startups, attracting significant investments and contributing to employment growth.
- Many successful startups in Munich, such as Yoummday and Mynaric, have demonstrated that those with at least one woman on the founding team create more jobs per invested euro compared to all-male teams.
- Despite the promising growth in sectors like science, finance, and technology, there remains a concerning gender imbalance in investment decisions, with women only making 5-15% of investment decisions in Munich's startup ecosystem.
