In the current “Europe’s Leading Startup Hubs” ranking 2025, published by Financial Times and Statista, the startup location Munich presents itself strongly, with the Bavarian state capital represented by five founder centers – provided one counts Baystartup as a Munich center (it is listed under the Nuremberg location in the listing). At the very top is UnternehmerTUM once again (rank 1), followed by Start2 Group in 3rd place. Baystartup makes it to 11th place, closely followed by SCE (rank 12). Additionally, Werk1 can be found at rank 106.
Particularly noteworthy: except for UnternehmerTUM, the other listed Munich founder centers make the jump into the ranking for the first time. In 2024, the founder center of TU München already secured first place, so it can repeat its success in the 2025 ranking.
The ranking “Europe’s Leading Startup Hubs” is a list of the best founder centers with at least one physical location in Europe that offer incubator and/or accelerator programs for founders. A total of 150 such centers were considered in this ranking. For the ranking, Financial Times in collaboration with data company Statista surveyed graduates of the founder centers as well as VCs, entrepreneurs, and researchers. Additionally, the successes of startups were analyzed.
“Success for the entire ecosystem”
Regarding the renewed top placement of his founder center, Helmut Schönenberger, co-founder and CEO of UnternehmerTUM and TUM vice president for entrepreneurship, says:
“The renewed recognition as Europe’s leading founder hub is a success for our entire ecosystem. It shows: research-based tech startups can grow quickly in Germany and Europe – also thanks to our strong international networking.”
Carsten Rudolph, managing director of Baystartup, is also pleased about the success of his organization:
“The recognition at the European level reflects the strength and commitment of our team as well as the innovation power of the startups we support. We are proud that our continuous work to strengthen the startup community is recognized both nationally and internationally.”
The European startup hub ranking demonstrates how important the right support and network are for startup success and highlights the outstanding founder centers in Europe – firmly established among them: Munich.
