For the first time in around five years, the number of business start-ups in Germany rose again in 2019, as the current KfW start-up monitor shows. The decisive factor for the increase was the high number of business founders who became self-employed on a part-time basis. Further exciting points of the study we have compiled for you.
The start-up trend 2019: part-time self-employed and digital
The KfW Start-up Monitor 2015 already read that the number of start-ups is falling. In 2014 there were 915,000 start-ups and in 2018 only 547,000. For comparison: in 2010 there were still 941,000 founders. Pleasing is now a new one increase of start-ups in the past year. Around 605,000 company start-ups were recorded in 2019. This corresponds to an increase of 58,000 compared to the previous year.
Most interesting is the opposite development for full-time and part-time start-ups: While the number for the former fell to a low of 228,000 (-27,000) compared to the previous year, for the latter it rose rapidly from 85,000 to 377,000. This is not surprising, because becoming self-employed on a part-time basis offers many advantages compared to starting a full-time business, e.g. B. more time for private things or testing the project with less financial risk. (Reading tip: Part-time self-employment in 10 steps)
Another result of the monitor is that business start-ups are increasing more digital, more growth-oriented and more innovative will. Internet-based and full-time digital start-ups in particular increased significantly in 2019. While such start-ups have so far been started by part-time founders due to lower entry barriers, their share of full-time start-ups has increased significantly (from 19% and 21% to 28% each).
In addition, the topic of “making yourself self-employed” was men attractive again. After four years with a falling number of business start-ups by men, this increased again in 2019 by 59,000. The joy of starting a business was rather clouded among the female entrepreneurs. Because the number of start-ups started by women fell to 215,000 (minus 1,000).
On the other hand, the plans for future start-ups in 2019. But whether these plans will actually be reflected in start-ups in 2020 remains open due to the current Corona crisis.
Start-ups have fewer financing problems
Another positive result is that the proportion of business start-ups that had to contend with financing difficulties rose again in 2019 record low has dropped from 12%.
Financing your own business start-up is one of the biggest hurdles that founders have to overcome. Fortunately, the project does not necessarily have to be paid out of your own pocket. State development loans or development programs can help with the financing. In order to apply for this, founders have to work to convince banks and other institutions. A professionally drawn up business plan can help here and significantly increase the chance of loans and subsidies. The business plan can be drawn up by a consultant as part of state-funded business start-up advice (service tip: Finding a consultant/coach made easy).
You can find more interesting facts about start-up events from 2019 in the full report on the KfW website (external link to a PDF document).