When most people think of Germany, they think of luxury cars and beer—which is not surprising given Germany is the world’s third largest car producer, and has more than 5000 different beer brands. But there is one more thing to add to that list: a rising and successful tech scene. In fact, Germany is on track to be at the top of Europe’s technology world, and soon.
The State of European Tech 2017 reported, “The UK and Germany are viewed as the two countries best positioned within Europe to build world-leading positions in key deep tech fields.” But which technology fields does Germany excel in? Currently Germany dominates in areas such as cybersecurity, autonomous vehicles, robotics, virtual reality and augmented reality. Having been a manufacturing powerhouse for decades, this is one economy that appears to deliver what the world needs, when they need it.
Three of Europe’s top 10 computer science-focused universities are located in German cities—Munich, Karlsruhe and Aachen. According to technology investor, Atomico, Germany is the #2 destination behind the UK for migrants into the tech industry. As the German technology ecosystem expands, it will even further Germany as a breeding ground for talent that will be recruited by companies all over the world.
The heart of that talent lies in Berlin. In the first half of 2017, €2.163 billion of investors' money went into startups, an increase of roughly €1.2 billion in comparison with the first half of 2016. In 2015, companies in Berlin raised €2.4 billion in venture capital funding, which is more than London or Stockholm, two leaders in Europe’s tech sector.
With Germany quickly rising through the ranks of Europe’s technology scene, it is interesting to see exactly which German technology products are making waves. According to G2 Crowd (the software review website), these are five popular software companies with headquarters in Germany, and their top products.
1. SAP’s Concor
SAP is by far Germany’s largest software vendor and one of the biggest tech companies in the world. Concur is a travel, expense and invoice product, acquired by SAP in 2014. SAP is based in Walldorf and has 107,784 employees.
Cinema 4D is a 3D modelling platform that can be used for feature films, commercials, music videos and other media. Companies such as The Walt Disney Company, BMW, Sony Pictures and NBC rely on Cinema 4D for their workflows. Maxon is based in Friedrichsdorf and has 99 employees.
3. TeamViewer’s Remote Desktop
If you have ever had a member of your IT support team take control of your computer to solve an issue, they have done so through remote desktop software. TeamViewer allows you to do that quickly and securely. The company is based in Goppingen and has 354 employees.
4. Travis CI
Travis CI is a continuous integration platform that allows you to pull requests and deploy anywhere. It is based in Berlin and has 37 employees.
5. ArangoDB
ArangoDB is a distributed, free and open-source native multi-model NoSQL database that allows you to deploy and scale your projects. It offers flexible data model for documents, graphs and key values. ArangoDB is based in Cologne and has 27 employees.
These are only 5 of hundreds of very successful tech companies putting Germany on the map. And things are only just getting started. As an article in Wired suggests, Brexit will have a positive impact on Berlin’s tech scene because talent will leave the UK and eventually settle in Berlin. So whether you are a company looking for a European Silicon valley to call home, or a talented programmer looking for your next opportunity - Germany may hold your answer.
About Oliver Parks
Oliver Parks Consulting offers search-based recruitment solutions to the technology sector, specialising in the ERP, CRM, CMS, ECM, BI and Open Source Technology spaces. The firm’s multilingual consultants operate in narrowly-defined niche market segments, enabling them to gain extensive knowledge of the people and companies operating in each technology. Oliver Parks has a proven track-record with more than 100,000 candidates worldwide and more than 300 clients globally.