If there’s been a theme for the year it’s that Berlin has emerged as a full-blown startup hub to rival London in terms of sheers number of companies. I know for a fact that all the major VCs, from Accel to Index to Balderton and others are in and out of the city on a regular basis. There’s also a rumour Wellington will open an office there.
It makes sense therefore that Earlybird Venture Capital, which currently manages €430 million in assets and already had a base in Berlin, is to close its Hamburg office and move the staff to the capital.
“We already have six companies in Berlin and expect this number to increase sharply over the next years,” says Christian Nagel, managing partner and co-founder.
Earlybird’s investments in Berlin include Azeti, CrowdPark, EBS Technologies, Madvertise, Smava and Ubitrictiy.
The 12-strong team in Berlin will include Ciarán O’Leary, now promoted to Partner, Matias Collan, Managing Director and Heiko, now head of finance.
Earlybird will continue to operate its office in Munich as there is a strong B2B and cleantech ecosystem there.