Berlin - German internet start-ups have become a new driving force behind job creation and economic growth with those companies wanting to add on average 10 new employees in the next 12 months, a study released Thursday said.
Such new hires corresponds with a 50-per-cent jump in employment in the industry, said the study's authors, the accounting and consulting firm KPMG and the German Startups Association.
“Start-ups play an increasingly important role in the economy as well in the jobs market and society,” association head Florian Noell said.
The study, based on a survey of 900 start-up founders, found that Berlin has emerged as the country's start-ups capital with 39 per cent of the companies.
The release of the study came one day after the leading German technology group Rocket announced plans for an initial public offering (IPO) that it hopes will raise 750 million euros (R10.6 billion dollars).
The Berlin-based start-ups factory's founders, the Samwer brothers have been trailblazers in Germany's internet industry.
They plan to launch the Rocket IPO on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange by the end of the year with the listing expected to value the company at about 5 billion euros.
Last week, the German-based online fashion retailer Zalando said it too was planning to make a stock market debut, which analysts predicted could raise as much as 5 billion euros.
About 9 per cent of those surveyed by KPMG and the Startups Association said they also hoped to list their companies on the stock market.
The companies surveyed posted an average turnover last year of more than 250,000 euros.
The turnover for some companies was more than 10 million euros, the study said.
“The start-ups examined are all innovative and grow faster than other companies,” KPMG's Frank Wiethoff said although he warned, “Financial constraints and a lack of confidence among courageous young entrepreneurs not only hinders the dissemination of innovative business models and technologies but also the creation of wealth and jobs.”
Women are also badly represented among the drivers of the German start-ups business.
Only 10.7 per cent of the founders surveyed were women. - Sapa-dpa