Financing, infrastructure, risks: A recent study sheds light on the current status of some of the most important startup topics.
Five out of six startups finance themselves through private savings or money from friends and acquaintances. This was the result of a study from the consulting firm PwC. Bank loans (61 percent) and public funding (25 percent) follow in second place. At the same time, only about one in five startups (19 percent) rely solely on their own resources. A year ago, this figure was 27 percent. Philipp Medrow, head of the PwC startup initiative NextLevel, comments:
"The fact that only a quarter of respondents use the funding landscape is certainly due to its complexity. Navigating the German and European regulations and taking advantage of funding opportunities is quite difficult."
Good framework conditions
There's a lot of talk about collaboration between the "old" and "new economy." According to the study results, this is already a reality: One in two German startups already collaborates with an established company. 16 percent maintain working relationships with academic institutions, and 13 percent with other startups.
The much-criticized digital infrastructure in Germany comes out very well among the 450 startups surveyed: 91 percent are satisfied with the local digital infrastructure.
“The founders we surveyed are satisfied with Germany as a startup location, including aspects such as networking opportunities and access to financial resources,”
says Philipp Medrow.
"However, startups tend to locate in larger cities, where they have access to good infrastructure and existing ecosystems. In rural areas in particular, there's still a lot of catching up to do—especially when it comes to broadband expansion."
Skilled labor shortages and cyber security are causing concern
Startups consider the greatest external risks to be the shortage of skilled workers (29 percent), the debt crisis in Europe (26 percent), and "stricter data protection regulations" (22 percent). Philipp Medrow of PwC calls on politicians to "find a balanced approach to regulatory requirements" that "doesn't unduly hinder companies in their business activities, but also helps them contribute to their own security."
IT security remains another pressing problem for startups: Approximately one in seven companies surveyed has been the victim of a cyberattack at least once in the last three years. Furthermore, almost half of respondents rate the risk of becoming a victim of a cyberattack themselves in the future as high. The good news: While 8 percent of respondents had not taken any measures to improve IT security last year, this figure has fallen to just 1 percent in the current study.
