Are startups relocating to Berlin from London ahead of Brexit?
158 views · Published 3 December 2018 · 7:11 · Indexed 14 October 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(28 Nov 2018) LEADIN Following the Brexit referendum in June 2016, the city of Berlin launched a campaign to lure startups and tech companies from London to the German capital. Now, more than two years later the flood that the city was hoping for can best be described as a trickle, with many companies apparently staying put until the effects of Brexit become clear. STORYLINE This is how Berlin's startup scene likes to party. Drinks are free, people try speed dating and artists are at hand to create digital portraits of the guests. The event has been organised by WeWork, a New York-based co-working space company that now has six offices in Berlin, mostly filled with startups and smaller technology companies. The city of Berlin, traditionally the poorer city compared to Munich, Hamburg and Frankfurt, sees startups as key to its financial future. So when the U.K. narrowly voted to leave the European Union, the city saw an opportunity and launched a campaign to lure startups and tech companies from the "Silicon roundabout" - the Old Street roundabout in London where many startups are based - to "Silicon Alley" as the Berlin startup ecosystem is sometimes called. Two years on it appears that the flood of new companies that the city was hoping for can be better described as a trickle. Konstanty Sliwowski is one of the startup founders that did make the move. His technology recruitment company Caissa Global used to have its main office in London. But after the Brexit vote, the Polish native decided to move a large part of the operation to Berlin. "It was really a personal decision actually," he says. "As a company, we employ quite a few people from various backgrounds: Romanian, Hungarian, Polish, Portuguese. And the referendum was a little bit of a 'you are really not very welcome here.' It felt a little bit like that. And with so much of our business based in Berlin, it just felt like the natural thing to do." Sliwowski says he has felt a Brexit effect already. Not necessarily that companies are picking up their full operations and moving from London, but rather that people entering the technology sector and the startup scene try to avoid London as their base. "What we found is that, about three years ago when we would reach out to people in regards to opportunities in Berlin, tech opportunities specifically in Berlin. The answer that we got very often was that they are more interested in London," he says. "Whereas since the Brexit vote, what we have seen a lot more of is people not being so interested in London. That has completely dropped off a cliff edge. They are more interested in Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, Barcelona." Berlin is experiencing a start-up boom. In 2017 more than 2.16 billion euros was invested in startups in the German capital, an increase by over 1.2 billion euros, according to a report by EY, a London-based accounting and service firm. But, there is no data available about how many companies have moved from London to Berlin or how many programmers or other technology-focused freelancers have decided to move. The evidence that exists is anecdotal, such as EO IPSO, a technology communications company that moved in part because of the changing atmosphere in the United Kingdom, according to managing director Oliver Aust, a German native who lived in London for several years. "It was truly a combination of factors," he says. Another company that has recently moved its main operation from London to Berlin is Fatmap, a mapping service that creates 3D maps of mountains. "Look, you know, I think that startups are speedboats, not oil tankers," he says. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/46583836f35c0a8da30640d15dab45ce
