Berlin
Overall Score: 47.5 out of 100 | Overall Rank: 15 out of 55

Momentum Rank

12

Berlin55 City medianOverall Cityscore
8060
TechnologyMarkets
40
200Culture

TalentCapital

Basic Facts:
Population: 3.6 million in the metro area
• Gross Metro Production (GMP): $250.6 billion(2021)• Top Sectors by Employment (2021):
1) Public Services, education, and health2) Trade, transport, accommodation
3) Consulting services

Overall Rank

15

Operating Environment

28

Markets

21

Size

31

Cost

49

Access16

Policy21

Talent39

Women's Skill & Experience

46

Access to Qualified Personnel

31

Capital13In the last three decades, Berlin has established itself as
highly desirable city to live and work. Ranking 1st among
all 55 cities in the culture pillar, Berlin offers an
exceptional environment for women entrepreneurs. Berlin
specifically ranks in the top five in the policy sub pillar for
culture and the attitudes and expectations sub pillar in
culture both of which can help reinforce one another. The
city also boasts the strongest entrepreneurial network of
all 55 cities. Berlin ranks 10th in the frequency of events
for women in business like the Berlin Women
Entrepreneur’s Day, providing ample opportunities for thevast entrepreneurial network to grow.

Number/Value

24

Gender Proportion

35

Women's Capital Base

8Enabling Environment

4Culture

1Access to Mentors & Role Models

6Attitudes & Expectations

5Policy3

While the operating environment in Berlin is relatively
weaker than the enabling environment, Berlin scores inthe top 10 cities for women’s capital base and 13th overall
in the capital pillar. Berlin ranks 2nd in the number ofweeks of paid parental leave, promoting opportunities forparents to balance commitments without sacrificing theirTechnology

25

Connected24Cost

20Policy

8Equality

42

Notable Strengths:
Berlin is a city of reinvention and progress. Thirty-twoyears after reunification, the capital of Germany is home
to free thinkers and known for its artistic spirit. As one of
15 European cities featured in the WE Cities Index, Berlinranked 15th in this year’s ranking of 55 global cities. Berlinranks ahead of fellow German cities of Munich, ranked
36th overall, and Hamburg, ranked 44th.

savings thus enabling an important source of investment funds to continue to grow. Berlin also ranks 14th in thenumber of women founded venture capital firms, like Auxxo whose goal is to drive change by funding womenfounded startups through their Female Catalyst Fund and building the Evangelistas network of over 150 womenangel investors.
Areas for Improvement:
As noted, Berlin’s operating environment score is relatively weaker when compared to the enabling environment.
Overall Berlin’s market score is in the top half of the index; however, the cost sub pillar shows room for significant
improvement ranking 49th out of 55 cities. In particular, the city is held back by the relatively high corporate tax rate,
high cost of starting a business, and the large number of procedures to start a business when compared to othercities. These costs raise the barrier to entry for potential women entrepreneurs who are also saddled with theburden of restricted access to capital, as is the case in Berlin. The city ranks 35th in the gender proportion sub pillar
for capital, notably driven by relatively low proportions of city businesses in 2nd round or higher funding round with awoman founder or executive and low proportions of venture capital funds given to businesses with at least 25%
female executives.
Also, within the operating environment, the talent pillar ranks in the bottom half of the index at 39th place. Notably,
the women’s skill and experience sub pillar in 46th place. Berlin ranks 40th in the ratio of women to men withexecutive experience, 41st in the percent of women enrolled in top universities, 39th in women’s labor force
participation. However, Berlin is uniquely positioned to overcome this challenge through the technology sector
where they can leverage their strong 8th place showing in the policy sub pillar to encourage more women both intechnology and to use technology to help them scale their businesses. For example, Berlin ranks 14th in technology
training organizations for women per capita like Women Techmakers or the Digital Women Program at ReDI Schoolof Digital Integration. In future years this will hopefully pay dividends in encouraging more women leadership in thetech industry, where Berlin currently has a dearth of women compared to men ranking in the bottom half. Womenalso use the internet less then men for business research although their use of the internet for business networking
purposes is nearly on par with men. Overall Berlin is showing strong momentum in the index since the 2017
inauguration, ranking it 12th and in the taking off position to be a powerhouse for women entrepreneurship.