The Brexit Winners: Dublin, Berlin, Frankfurt, Inbound Tourists and British Universities - 3. Startup Hub, Berlin

3. Startup Hub, Berlin

With 2015 stats showing that the number of new companies joining London’s Silicon Roundabout has fallen by a third in one year, from 15,620 to 10,280, the additional pressure of Brexit could mean that London’s deflating startup bubble is set to burst.

Now, since many financial businesses are moving out of the capital and the laws for free labour within EU will need to be renegotiated, the city will lose a lot of its appeal.

Mayor of Berlin, Michael Müller has optimistically speculated, “It is possible that Berlin becomes the winner of Brexit.” The German capital fosters an international vibe, is home to a thriving startup scene, and still has an affordable cost of living. Berlin based companies such as Rocket Internet and Venture Capitalists Earlybird have transformed the scene in Berlin in the past 5 years.

Haseem Lavi, Founder of Berlin based jobseekingseeking site Jobspotting.com reported that his servers were “on fire” the day of the referendum, with four times more job seekers than usual.

“London has been the de facto startup hub for a long time,” Lavi has said, “But Berlin is catching up and with this change, it’s accelerating… clearly people are looking for alternatives.”