When thinking of starting a business in Germany, most people head to Berlin. Over the years, Germany’s bustling capital city has built up a reputation as one of the best locations for start-ups in the world. But according to a new study, its European competitors are starting to pull ahead in terms of investment. 

Start-Up Barometer: Investment in Europe growing

In their latest “Start-Up Barometer”, the consulting firm EY compiled a list of the “Top 10 Start-Up Locations” in Europe. For the ranking, they compared the volume of investment being funnelled into new business ventures in different European cities. 

Overall, EY’s analysis showed that the financing volume for start-ups in Europe is growing significantly. In the first half of this year alone, 16,9 billion euros was invested - 62 percent more than in the same period of the previous year. 

London top start-up city in Europe; Berlin third

When they broke the financing down according to city, one pulled far ahead. Despite all the uncertainty caused by Brexit, the UK’s capital city London is still the clear leader in terms of business investment, with its start-ups attracting a whopping 5,7 billion euros’ worth of investment in the first half of 2019. 

This is nearly double what was being spent in London in the same period in 2018 and nearly three times as much as was invested in Berlin, where a total of 1,9 billion euros was given to start-up ventures in the form of capital, start-up grants and financial incentives.

In Paris, meanwhile, business investment is booming, as President Emmanuel Macron ploughs full steam ahead with his ambitious plans to make his country one of the top start-up nations in the world. Investment in the French capital in the first half of this year went from 1,4 billion euros to 2,2 billion euros. 

It fact, it increased so much that Paris pulled ahead of Berlin in the ranking for the first time. For the past few years, Berlin has been occupying the number two spot, but this year it was taken over by Paris as the second-most important city for entrepreneurs. 

Top 10 Start-Up Locations

The full ranking of cities in Europe according to investment volume was as follows: 

• 1. London
• 2. Paris
• 3. Berlin
• 4. Stockholm
• 5. Reykjavik
• 6. Barcelona
• 7. Cambridge
• 8. Basel
• 9. Helsinki
• 10. Copenhagen

For more details on the Start-Up Barometer, visit the EY website.