As Germany heads to the polls on Sunday, February 23, homegrown founders are upping their political activism, hoping to have some sway on the election results.
For some, sharing their political views on social media and donating to political parties is an entirely new experience, but feels necessary as tensions build over migration and the future of Germany as a competitive business location hangs in the balance.
In the run-up to the election, the country’s investors have joined founders in ramping up their activism, hosting events with politicians and publicly endorsing political parties.
Nina Mannheimer, cofounder and CPO of regenerative agriculture startup Klim, says her political priorities as a founder have shifted significantly in the last few years. In the 2021 election, solving bureaucracy — making it easier for founders to set up companies and receive grants — was high on her wish list for the government.
But the rise of the far right party AfD and the security threat posed by the war in Ukraine feel like much more pressing issues than everyday startup matters, she says.
“That might not sound like a typical tech founder response, but that’s the thing, I can no longer look at this from a purely tech founder perspective,” says Mannheimer.
“I kind of feel like it’s a time where we need to go back to way more fundamental things. I care less about getting rid of bureaucracy than I do about not having war.”
Migration
Migration has been a focal point of discussion ahead of the elections, with parties such as the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) — currently first in the polls with 30% of the popular vote — and the AfD calling for a tightening of border controls and rules on asylum seekers.
Founders tell Sifted they are concerned by growing influence of the AfD – which has been designated a right wing extremist organisation in some German states — and the impact it could have on companies hiring talent from overseas. The party currently sits at second place in opinion polls, with roughly 20% of the vote.
Some startups tell Sifted that negative headlines about the AfD and crimes directed towards migrants from right wing extremists are causing some international talent to think twice about moving to Germany.
Nobody wants to earn €150k and be afraid of walking on the street.
“Some applicants have asked us: ‘Is Germany safe for foreigners?,’ says Christoph Seidenstücker, whose quantum startup Pixel Photonics requires international specialists that can’t always be recruited in Europe.
“The perception of Germany has really changed negatively from foreign talents’ perspective. If you want to move somewhere, your daily personal security is the most important aspect. Nobody wants to earn €150k and be afraid of walking on the street,” he adds.
Germany is in need of skilled foreign workers. A recent study by the Bertelsmann Foundation warned that Germany’s workforce could shrink by 10% by 2040 unless it is able to recruit 288k skilled foreign workers annually.
Ana Alvarez, founder of Migrapreneuer that helps migrants found businesses in Germany, says that while the CDU and the AfD in principle support skilled migration, both parties are proposing stricter language requirements for newcomers, making job integration and gaining citizenship harder, she says.
“Challenging times lie ahead for making Germany attractive as a business location, especially compared to countries like Canada and Australia that have more progressive attitudes toward migrant skilled workers and startup founders,” adds.
Economy
Some founders are casting their votes based purely on which parties are best positioned to get the economy back on track.
The economy has become a key priority for voters ahead of the election; in 2024, Germany’s GDP fell by 0.2%, after dropping 0.3% in 2023, according to official figures.
Emanuel Heisenberg, founder of ecoworks, which renovates buildings to make them more energy efficient, tells Sifted that he’s hoping for a CDU-Green coalition with Friedrich Merz and Robert Habeck at the helm — both of whom have a “strong transformation agenda” with plans to cut bureaucracy and reindustrialise Germany with digitalisation, AI and cloud applications.
He believes such a combination could bring confidence back to international investors.
“Seeing how down investors are on Germany is really shocking,” says Heisenberg. “I’m fundraising at the moment, and, speaking to US investors, they treat me like I come from a developing country. “They say, ‘it’s so interesting that such an innovative tech solution comes out of such a backward country.”
Eric Demuth, CEO of Austrian startup Bitpanda, agrees that Germany needs to return to its former glory as an industrial power and “once again be at the forefront of innovation.”
This, he says, requires big investment in digital infrastructure, AI, green technologies, strengthening the capital market and a “very radical approach to fighting bureaucracy.”
Demuth donated €1.75m to four parties: the CDU, the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Free Democratic Party (FDP), as he felt that these parties had the “most convincing approaches” for making these changes.
“I agree with quite a lot of the Greens’ topics, but in an isolated view on the economy, their program is horrible,” Demuth tells Sifted.
If change doesn’t happen, I think we will see an even bigger movement towards the right wing extremists — which is very dangerous.
What’s clear for all founders Sifted spoke to is that real change needs to take place in Germany. Otherwise, there could be disastrous consequences in the next election.
“If change doesn’t happen, I think we will see an even bigger movement towards the right wing extremists — which is very dangerous,” says Heisenberg.
Mannheimer says founders have a duty to use their platform to “push back” against the AfD to ensure it doesn’t become part of the long-term political establishment.
“Even if you’re just changing five people’s minds, or even if you’re just putting one new thought into their minds, I feel like it’s worth it,” she says.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/what-german-founders-want-election/
