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| Berlin Startup Night | |
|---|---|
| Name | Berlin Startup Night |
| Status | Active |
| Genre | Startup showcase |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Location | Berlin, Germany |
| First | 2012 |
| Organizer | Tech Open Air |
| Participants | Startups, investors, corporates |
Berlin Startup Night is an annual showcase and competition held in Berlin that brings together startups, investors, accelerators, corporates, incubators, universities, and media for networking and visibility. The event serves as a platform for early-stage companies to pitch to angel investors, venture capital firms, corporate innovation teams, and technology journalists in a single evening. Participants typically include founders from fintech, healthtech, cleantech, artificial intelligence, and mobility sectors alongside representatives from accelerator programs, research institutes, and government-backed development agencies.
The event convenes a broad cross-section of the European startup ecosystem, attracting delegations from Silicon Valley, London, Paris, Tel Aviv, Stockholm, Amsterdam, and Zurich. Attendees often include representatives from Y Combinator, 500 Startups, Techstars, Wayra, Seedcamp, Startupbootcamp, Plug and Play Tech Center, MassChallenge, and Founders Factory. Venture capital firms commonly present include Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners, Index Ventures, Balderton Capital, Atomico, Northzone, Khosla Ventures, Benchmark (venture capital firm), and General Catalyst. Corporate partners and scouts have included teams from Siemens, Deutsche Telekom, BMW, Mercedes-Benz Group, Allianz, Bayer, BASF, SAP, Siemens Healthineers, and Bosch.
The concept emerged amid Berlin's post-2010 startup boom around accelerators and coworking spaces such as Factory Berlin, Betahaus, WeWork, Mindspace, and Silicon Allee. Early editions overlapped with festivals and conferences like Tech Open Air, re:publica, NOAH Conference, DLD (Digital Life Design), and Bits & Pretzels. Founders and organizers drew inspiration from pitch competitions such as Seedcamp Demo Day, Web Summit, Slush, South by Southwest, Startup Grind, and Collision (conference). Berlin municipal agencies and development banks including Investitionsbank Berlin, Berlin Partner for Business and Technology, and European Investment Fund engaged with the event in its formative years. Notable early-stage supporters included incubators and labs such as Hasso Plattner Institute, Fraunhofer Society, Helmholtz Association, TU Berlin, and Humboldt University of Berlin entrepreneurship programs.
The evening typically features live pitch rounds, mentor clinics, exhibition booths, VIP demo areas, and themed stages populated by representatives from TechCrunch, Wired (magazine), The Next Web, Forbes, Bloomberg, Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, Sifted (publication), and Handelsblatt. Pitch formats mirror those used by Demo Days hosted by Y Combinator and Techstars, often judged by panels including partners from Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, Greylock Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Union Square Ventures. Side events frequently partner with accelerators and corporate innovation programs from Google for Startups, Microsoft for Startups, Amazon Web Services, IBM Watson, Intel Capital, SAP.iO, and Deutsche Börse Labs. Workshops and masterclasses have featured speakers from Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, INSEAD, London Business School, and Said Business School.
Companies that have participated include later-stage and unicorn alumni from the Berlin scene and beyond such as Zalando, Delivery Hero, N26, GetYourGuide, HelloFresh, SoundCloud, BlaBlaCar, FlixBus, Auto1 Group, Thought Machine, SumUp, and Adjust (company). Winners and standout presenters have attracted investment from firms like SoftBank Vision Fund, Tiger Global Management, Temasek Holdings, Goldman Sachs, and BlackRock. Accelerators and incubators whose portfolio companies have succeeded at the event include Rocket Internet, German Tech Entrepreneurship Center, ProSiebenSat.1 Accelerator, Hubraum, Axel Springer Plug and Play Accelerator, EIT Digital Accelerator, and Climate-KIC Accelerator.
The event has functioned as a discovery venue for angel networks such as European Business Angel Network, Band of Angels, and Angel Investment Network. It has helped channel deal flow to funds focused on European startups including EQT Ventures, Creandum, Cherry Ventures, HV Capital, Earlybird Venture Capital, Lakestar, Project A Ventures, Point Nine Capital, Eight Roads Ventures, and Target Global. Universities and research centers have used the platform to spin out projects from Max Planck Society, Charité, Free University of Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health. Public innovation partners such as European Commission research programs and European Innovation Council initiatives have also engaged through pitching and matchmaking.
Organizers have collaborated with media and event partners including TED, Mozilla, CERN, ESA, Berlin Music Week, and Arminius Market Hall venues alongside corporate partners such as Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, VentureCapital.de, BDI (Federation of German Industries), and German Startups Association. Legal and advisory firms present at the event have included Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters, Clifford Chance, PwC, KPMG, and Deloitte. Technology providers and sponsors have included Siemens Healthineers, SAP, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Stripe, Adyen, and Twilio.
Coverage from outlets such as TechCrunch, Wired (magazine), Forbes, Bloomberg, Financial Times, Der Spiegel, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Handelsblatt, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and Die Zeit has highlighted breakout startups and investment trends revealed at the event. Commentary by commentators from Marc Andreessen, Peter Thiel, Bill Gurley, Mary Meeker, Fred Wilson, and Ben Horowitz has contextualized the significance of the night for European venture capital flows. Academic and policy analyses from OECD, European Central Bank, Bundesbank, and World Economic Forum publications have periodically cited the event when discussing Berlin's role in the continental innovation landscape.
Category:Startup events