Editor’s Foreword 2017

The start-up mood in Germany is good. Unfortunately, this has not yet had an impact on the number of start-ups. Although there are numerous support programs not only from the government in this country, there is a lack of "early adopters", of risk-taking on the part of investors. Many founders would rather go to the USA. Access to capital is less complicated there, money flows faster, the sums are much higher, and startups also receive more tactical support. Especially in the growth phase, there is more money in the USA. The powerful investors are scrambling for young talent there, which is an excellent ecosystem for an entrepreneur. While a good 3.1 billion euros in venture capital flowed into Germany in 2015, the figure in Silicon Valley alone was 24.6 billion euros (source Handelsblatt Research Institute). It remains to be hoped that German venture capital and private equity donors will adopt a bit more of the lightness of being, investing and risk affinity of their American counterparts.

There is enough money. Everywhere. - Huge technology funds are sprouting up: the Japanese IT group Softbank is now using Saudi money to set up a fabulous $100 billion technology fund that will operate worldwide. Siemens is currently putting a billion into its new technology fund Next47, which has offices in Munich, Berkeley and Shanghai. More and more large family offices want to invest in venture capital and private equity. So money is available, it just needs to (be able to) be allocated more easily and quickly to startups and growth companies in Germany.

A fascinating phenomenon are the so-called unicorns: tech companies that started as innovative startups and are now valued at at least one billion US dollars. A total of 40 European companies and 229 companies in total have cracked the billion mark (as of January 2016). Among them Uber, Xiaomi, Airbnb, Palantir, Snapchat, Dropbox, Pinterest, Spotify, Deliveryhero or Hellofresh. - When asked where the trend is going, which technologies will determine tomorrow's life, whether it is artificial intelligence or machine learning, there is a profane answer: there will not be just one "next big thing", but countless! Many German companies, including the automotive industry, would be well advised to seek a partnership with a Silicon Valley player and seek contacts with the best software specialists, who, however, often come from Silicon Valley, in order to secure their future. Technical know-how is in high demand, and good software engineers are sought after everywhere. - Fin-techs are in high demand in the financial world.