According to the KfW Startup Monitor 2025, business founders in Germany were on average younger than ever last year since the survey began. The median age was 34.4 years. In the early 2000s, it was typically 37 to 38 years. The increase is particularly pronounced in the 18 to 29-year-old age group: their share climbed to 39 percent – the highest value measured to date.
The long-term rejuvenation is mainly associated with a decline in older founders. In 2024, 40 to 49-year-olds accounted for only 16 percent, while 50 to 65-year-olds made up just 12 percent – the lowest share of so-called “silver entrepreneurs” to date. In the previous year, these figures were 19 and 15 percent respectively.
These are results from the annually published startup monitor. In 2024, the KfW Startup Monitor conducted 50,000 representative telephone interviews and, for the first time, an additional 10,000 online interviews. The term founders is broadly defined: it includes people who have become self-employed full-time or part-time, as freelancers or in business, through new ventures, partnerships, or acquisitions.
Slight increase in startup activity
In 2024, a total of 585,000 new business ventures were recorded – 17,000 more than in the previous year. This corresponds to an increase of 3 percent. The increase is solely due to part-time ventures, which grew by 5 percent to 382,000. Full-time ventures, on the other hand, declined slightly and stood at 203,000.
The cooling labor market likely contributed to this increase. Despite this development, the propensity for entrepreneurship in Germany overall remains low.
“The propensity for entrepreneurship in Germany is low. This was certainly also due to the strong economy in recent years – people opted for the security of an employment relationship. This is a question of mentality. But it’s also about education,”
explains Dirk Schumacher, chief economist at KfW. He points to the importance of financial education:
“Greater confidence in financial matters increases the likelihood of starting a business. Therefore, it is positive that the new government has included entrepreneurship education as a goal for school quality and teacher training in its coalition agreement.”
Structural changes in capital and startup form
Startups are becoming more capital-intensive: in 2024, only 56 percent of startups required up to 5,000 euros in startup capital – previously it was often more than two-thirds. Additionally, 75 percent of founders relied exclusively on their own funds, a historic high.
The share of new ventures was 83 percent, while acquisitions and partnerships remained less common at 10 and 7 percent respectively. Schumacher cautions:
“The succession gap in companies is enormous. It would therefore be desirable for more people to decide to take over existing businesses.”
The degree of digitalization also reached a new high: 36 percent of startups were digitally oriented. Additionally, new ventures created 485,000 full-time equivalent jobs.
Another bright spot: the preference for entrepreneurship among young people remains high. 36 percent of 18 to 29-year-olds said they would prefer to be self-employed rather than employed. The planning rate recovered after a low in 2023 to 4.9 percent.
“We expect slightly rising startup numbers for 2025,”
says Schumacher.
The share of female founders was 36 percent in 2024. On a long-term average, women account for 39 percent of startup activity. It is notable that they more frequently aspire to time-limited self-employment (28 percent) than their male colleagues (17 percent).
