Technische Universität München
More than 100 new start-ups at TUM in one year
TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF MUNICH
NEWS RELEASE
TUM sets new record for spin-offs
More than 100 new start-ups in one year
• Europe’s leading start-up hub according to the Financial Times
• Strong network with the manufacturing sector, tech companies, investors and other research institutes
• Highly specific assistance for start-ups
At the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the number of newly founded start-ups exceeded 100 for the first time in 2024. The innovation ecosystem centered around TUM is regarded as one of the most successful deeptech hubs in Europe. The Financial Times recently selected UnternehmerTUM as Europe’s leading start-up hub for the second time.
Deeptech solutions for urgent problems, interdisciplinary teams, customized support and a strong network: with these success factors, TUM has developed one of Europe’s leading entrepreneurship ecosystems. TUM researchers, students and graduates launched a record 103 start-ups in 2024. In the same year, UnternehmerTUM and the TUM Venture Labs supported more than 1100 start-up teams.
The start-ups have been achieving rapid success. Among the companies formed by TUM researchers and graduates are 21 unicorns, as companies that achieve billion dollar valuations without going public are known. Among them is Celonis, which, with a valuation of over 10 billion euros, was Germany’s first decacorn.
“More than 100 spin-offs in one year: That is a milestone not only for TUM, but also highlights Germany’s status as a center of innovation and its readiness to face challenges in the midst of today’s economic and geopolitical challenges,” says TUM President Prof. Thomas F. Hofmann. He adds: “The foundation of this success is the entrepreneurial mindset that we have been encouraging in our university community for many years.”
Intensive relationships within the ecosystem
In selecting UnternehmerTUM as Europe’s leading start-up hub, the Financial Times cited the intensive cooperative relationships within the ecosystem, in which different actors work on innovations with the start-ups. Various initiatives and co-labs bring together major corporations and SMEs from the manufacturing sector, development centers of large tech companies, investors, other research institutes, the state of Bavaria and the city of Munich. The network is expanded through international programs, for example with the EuroTech Universities Alliance. The start-up teams themselves incorporate diverse perspectives thanks to the wide range of subjects offered at TUM – unparallelled in the EU – extending from engineering to natural sciences, medicine and social sciences. The combination of these varied fields of expertise leads to particularly successful innovations.
A major strength of start-up support at TUM is the highly specific nature of the assistance provided. In 12 important subject areas, from quantum technologies to healthcare and aerospace, the TUM Venture Labs create direct links to cutting-edge research, technical infrastructure, expertise for the target market and industry contacts. The programs of TUM, UnternehmerTUM and the TUM Venture Labs are precisely tailored to the various phases of establishing the company, the background of the teams and the founders’ personalities. This is also supported by the scientific expertise within the Entrepreneurship Research Institute. UnternehmerTUM invests in the most promising start-ups with its own venture capital fund.
Further information:
• Entrepreneurship at TUM: https://www.tum.de/en/innovation/entrepreneurship
• UnternehmerTUM again ranked as Europe’s best start-up hub: https://www.tum.de/en/news-and-events/all-news/press-releases/details/unternehmertum-again-ranked-as-europes-best-start-up-hub
TUM Corporate Communications Center contact:
Klaus Becker
Media relations
Tel.: +49 89 289 22798
klaus.becker@tum.de
The Technical University of Munich (TUM) is one of the world’s leading universities in terms of research, teaching and innovation, with around 700 professorships, 53,000 students and 12,000 staff. TUM’s range of subjects includes engineering, natural and life sciences, medicine, computer sciences, mathematics, economics and social sciences. As an entrepreneurial university, TUM envisages itself as a global hub of knowledge exchange, open to society. Every year, more than 70 start-ups are founded at TUM, which acts as a key player in Munich’s high-tech ecosystem. The university is represented around the world by its TUM Asia campus in Singapore along with offices in Beijing, Brussels, Mumbai, San Francisco and São Paulo. Nobel Prize laureates and inventors such as Rudolf Diesel, Carl von Linde and Rudolf Mößbauer have conducted research at TUM, which was awarded the title of University of Excellence in 2006, 2012 and 2019. International rankings regularly cite TUM as the best university in the European Union.