It's beeping and flashing this morning in the warehouse of the Spitzhüttl furniture store in Lower Franconia near Würzburg. Warehouse worker Peter Kiesel tries out the newly developed exoskeleton from the start-up Ease. The high-tech backpack on his back reduces the lifting weight by up to 20 kilograms.
Peter Kiesel was immediately impressed by the new device. Because in the past he had torn a bicep tendon while lifting a table. “With the new help, this wouldn’t have happened to me,” says the warehouse clerk.
With support from the idea to implementation
The pilot phase for the young company led by founder Christina Harbauer couldn't have started better. If the response remains so positive, the furniture store could become one of the first paying customers after the four-week practical test.
“We offer the first exoskeletons that not only relieve the strain on the back, but also on the arms,” says Harbauer, describing the key advantage over competing products.
After being founded in 2025 near the Technical University of Munich, the young company currently has five employees. Harbauer is very grateful for the support with know-how and funding. “We had an idea, but at the beginning we had no idea what a business plan should look like,” she remembers the first steps.
“Better conditions than before”
In recent years, support for start-ups has become much better, observes Oliver Falck from the Munich Ifo Institute. “Real ecosystems have emerged that make starting a business easier.”
This is also confirmed by Miriam Wohlfarth, who has now founded her third start-up in the financial sector. In 2009 she got off to a successful start with the fintech Ratepay. It became a unicorn, i.e. valued at more than one billion euros. “If you want to start now, you have better conditions than before,” says the experienced founder.
Their latest baby is called Banxware and uses AI to broker loans to small and medium-sized companies. Since it was founded in 2020, the number of employees has increased to 60. “For us, AI is like additional employees who have a say in the team,” is how she describes the new possibilities.
Record number of start-ups in 2025
AI has become a game changer and has now become the most important driver in the start-up scene. Overall, the scene is currently experiencing an unprecedented boom. According to the start-up association, 3,053 new companies were founded in the first half of 2026, an increase of 52 percent compared to the same period last year and more than in the entire year of 2024.
One reason for this is also the difficult economic situation in the German economy, says ifo expert Falck. "When employment opportunities decline in established companies, even for highly qualified people, many see self-employment as an opportunity."
A major obstacle to starting a business is a lack of capital. But here too, the conditions have now improved significantly, says Mathias Ockenfels, who provides venture capital as a partner at b2venture.
When Ockenfels entered the financing scene almost two decades ago, there were no other funds within walking distance of the Berlin office. “Today there are several dozen who are investing hundreds of millions of euros and more in new business ideas,” he says.
Dream destination USA?
Nevertheless, Germany is only in the middle field here and, with invested 86 euros per capita, is in 13th place among the 30 largest economies, according to the results of a study by the start-up association. The USA plays in a league of its own with 724 euros per resident.
The USA as a shining example - what still applies to financing is no longer so clear when it comes to other issues, says Annika von Mutius. She worked in Silicon Valley for a start-up there before founding her own business in Germany in 2022. The AI-supported personnel service provider Empion currently has 50 employees. The founder dispels a common cliché:
Nevertheless, it is also struggling with highly complex regulations - be it in the use of AI or the lack of flexibility in the labor market.
Positive look into the future
AI is now the central factor for one in three start-ups, according to a study conducted by the start-up association this year. According to Oliver Falck, the profound technological change is particularly difficult for established companies because they often fear that their existing business model will be cannibalized. “I see very, very big opportunities here, especially for start-ups.”
The AI boom has just begun. There is much to suggest that the start-up boom will continue for a long time. Great prospects for the start-up scene in Germany and a real ray of hope in a difficult economic situation.
