Overall, there are in Germany, according to the “Business Angel Report 2023”, 10,925 active business angels. In the last three and a half years (observation period from July 1, 2019, to December 31, 2022), they made 19,678 investments in a total of 3,569 startups. However, most of them focused on just one young company: 8,740 of the business angels (80 percent) invested in just one startup during the study period. 1,218 of the angels have two startups in their portfolio, and 446 even rely on three founding teams. The record holders are Flixbus founders Daniel Krauss, André Schwämmlein, and Jochen Engert with SEK Ventures. They invested their money in a total of 42 startups, according to the study.
Arna's groom, co-founder of AddedVal.io, explains:
"Almost 9,000 of the 11,000 angel investors in Germany have only invested in one startup so far. Encouraging these people to dare to make a second or third investment is probably the greatest leverage for the startup ecosystem. AddedVal.io has made this its mission from now on."
Munich and the region leading
Compared to other German states, Bavaria leads the way in terms of business angels: With a total of 2,640, around a quarter of all angels live in Bavaria. Berlin follows in second place with 1,833 angels, and North Rhine-Westphalia takes third place with 1,814. Last in the rankings is Saxony-Anhalt with just 30 business angels. In a city comparison, Munich ranks second behind Berlin. In terms of angel density, the Munich area stands out. Based on the number of angels per 100,000 inhabitants, Gräfelfing has 390, and Grünwald even has 849. At the district level, the districts of Munich and Starnberg lead the nation.
In terms of investments per capita (by district and independent city), the state capital of Munich ranks first with 196 investments per 100,000 inhabitants during the observation period. Berlin ranks second with 165 financings, and the Munich district secures third place with 112.
Female business angels underrepresented
Women are among business angels – similar to that among founders – significantly underrepresented, with only 13.8 percent of German angel investors being female. Their investment behavior also differs from that of their male counterparts: while approximately 16 percent of all investments by male angel investors benefit startups led by women or mixed teams, approximately 26 percent of investments by female angel investors go to such teams. Supporting female angel investors would therefore improve the funding search for female founders, according to the study authors.
Mayra Frank, Head of Google for Startups DACH, explains:
"Only 13.8 percent of all business angels investing in German startups are female. Yet we especially need female angels to promote innovation by female founders and ensure greater representation of women in the entire startup ecosystem."
The study also identifies two distinct investment priorities for angel investors: healthtech and e-commerce. Together, these two sectors account for over 26 percent of all angel investments during the observation period. At the same time, the proportion of female angel investors in these sectors is also one of the highest at 16 percent. Other sectors popular with women include agriculture (17 percent), education (16 percent), services (15 percent), and environmental technology (14 percent).
Despite the large investments in the e-commerce sector, business-to-business (B2B, 59 percent) products are generally more popular than those aimed at direct customers. And among business models, software-as-a-service, platforms, and manufacturing also play a larger role than retail and services.
