Startup City Highlights

Yakadi’s platform enables people without residence status to submit legally sound applications easily and in many languages. Their idea won over the Next.Generation funding scheme run by Körber Start-Hub and scooped the jury prize of €50,000, while the audience prize of €5,000 went to Waymaker Stories. None of the startups in the incubator had been founded at the start of the scheme. The members of the team are all under 30 years, and their business model is based on social entrepreneurship. 

IFB Innovationsstarter GmbH also backs the following startups in Hamburg:

• Little Ashé, founded by Afro-German entrepreneur David Amoateng, is the latest addition to the InnoImpact scheme. The company produces dark-skinned dolls made from organic fabrics.

• Eqcited, on the other hand, is backed by InnoRampUp. The Hamburg-based startup now aims to offer cloud-based quantum computing services from 2028.

• Care Flow is also backed by the InnoFounder scheme. The startup has developed software that optimises work procedures in hospitals, including the localisation of staff and equipment leaving more time for patient care.

Tarek Müller, joint founder and co-CEO of About You, is investing a mid-six-figure sum in Logicc. The startup bundles leading AI models such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude and makes them available to SMEs from a single interface. Founded in 2024, Logicc will put the fresh capital towards growth. Meanwhile, the Hamburg-based startup, Flex Power, which offers risk management solutions for the energy sector and helps customers handle volatility on the electricity market, is about to be taken over by US investor Citadel. The binding agreement with the American hedge fund, Citadel, will enable Flex Power to offer its electricity services to a larger customer base consisting of both producers and consumers in future.

Jacqueline De Lora, a Mexican national and inventor, and Martin Schröter have launched the SURFtoBioTech deep tech startup to make biotechnological experiments faster, more precise and cheaper. Launched in Heidelberg, the fledgling company is now based at the TecHHub in the Altona Innovation Park. De Lora explains in this video why Hamburg is ideal for her startup and what fascinates her about research and entrepreneurship.

Arik Willner, former CTO of DESY, has been appointed CEO of Impossible Founders GmbH - Hamburg's latest Startup Factory for academic startups. Backed by the Hamburg business community and the nationwide EXIST Startup Factories competition, Impossible Founders aims to transform research into successful deep tech and scientific startups. In this interview, Willner describes the transition from research to business, Hamburg's potential as a science innovation hub and why now is the perfect time for founders.

Founders need far more than simply a good idea to become successful and remain viable in the long run. A  good entrepreneurial mindset is an asset ? Learn all about the social skills and professional expertise needed for getting started as an entrepreneur.

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