Stefan Rouenhoff
Parliamentary State Secretary
Sessions (2)
Sessions featuring Stefan Rouenhoff at Bits & Pretzels 2026 | Founders Festival in Munich
German Startup Monitor 2026
The core message of the available session transcript is that Germany’s startup ecosystem is showing renewed momentum in 2026: startup formations may reach a record 6,000, investments are rising again after several weaker years, and capital is increasingly flowing into sectors such as deep tech, energy, and defense rather than only AI. Alexander Hirschfeld framed the German Startup Monitor as Germany’s most important startup and scale-up study, then brought together Verena Pausder, Stefan Rouenhoff, and Balaj Nagy to interpret the numbers and connect them to policy, founder sentiment, and industrial collaboration. Stefan Rouenhoff presented the Federal Government’s view: the numbers are “quite impressive” and show the country’s innovative capacity, but startups need capital at multiple stages, from founding and seed financing to scale-up funding. He referenced the startup and scale-up strategy, more than eight areas and 150 identified measures, and the objective of having €25 billion ready by 2030. He also named instruments such as EXIST, High-Tech Gründerfonds, and Wachstumsfonds, while stressing that public money must help bring private capital and investors on board. Verena Pausder focused on the ecosystem’s mood. In a broader environment where conversations often begin negatively, she argued that thousands of tech entrepreneurs still choosing to found in Germany is remarkable. She contrasted the 2021-era capital influx, when funding was abundant, with the current period, where founders act from stronger conviction. She pointed to 10 unicorns this year, defense tech growth, and larger scaling outcomes, while emphasizing that founders are not complacent: they are working toward the next financing round, profitability, and valuation milestones. Balaj Nagy added an outsider-founder perspective, saying he was positively surprised by Germany’s talent, capital, universities, and industrial base, especially in Munich. He argued that the missing piece is turning capital more consistently into companies that create real capability for Europe. The discussion then moved to collaboration between startups and corporates or the Mittelstand: founders see value and ROI, but collaboration numbers are declining because startups seek speed while established companies manage procurement cycles and risk. The available transcript ends as Balaj begins explaining how Tytan Technologies makes partnerships work in defense through cultural fit, daily collaboration, and integration into existing platforms.
Keynote Speech Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy
The core message of the keynote was that Germany has a strong startup foundation, but must close the gap between founding companies and scaling them into globally competitive businesses. The moderator framed the problem with startup ecosystem growth figures, noting that Germany is producing many promising companies but not enough later-stage scale-ups. Stefan Rouenhoff, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, then positioned the federal government’s new startup and scale-up strategy as the response: more than 150 measures intended to address barriers including financing, internationalization, and bureaucracy reduction. Rouenhoff opened by emphasizing confidence in Germany as both a place to start and grow companies. He cited record startup formation, saying more than 3,500 startups were founded last year and more than 3,000 were built in the first six months of 2026, with more than a thousand focused on artificial intelligence. He argued that Germany is not lacking ideas, founders, or ambition. To make that point concrete, he referenced companies working in battery recycling, fusion energy, manufacturing drones, and alternatives to conventional plastics, including Cylib, Proxima Fusion, Focused Energy, Titan, and traceless. Across those examples, he highlighted founder passion, optimism, and belief in what technology can achieve. The keynote then moved from momentum to the central challenge: starting is not enough. Rouenhoff said Germany needs more startups to become scale-ups, more scale-ups to become global champions, and more of that growth to happen inside Germany. He identified three recurring priorities from founder conversations: capital, room to grow, and customers. On capital, he said Germany has made progress, citing around 7.2 billion euros of venture capital last year and about 8 billion euros already by September this year. But he stressed that the real test comes at later stages, when companies need 100 million, 500 million, or more. International capital is welcome, he said, but Europe also needs to finance more of its own growth as a matter of choice and technological sovereignty. Rouenhoff’s second focus was “room to grow,” which he defined as less bureaucracy and more freedom to build. He listed documentation, permits, tax procedures, multiple authorities, labor law, and data protection as cumulative burdens that cost founders time and energy better spent on product development, customer acquisition, and business growth. He applied that especially to AI and small and medium-sized companies, arguing that compliance can consume scarce resources through paperwork, legal advice, and administrative effort. The provided transcript ends while he is explaining the importance of making data protection rules clearer.
“Starting Starting is is not not enough. Enough.”