The Path to Series A in Germany

Germany’s startup ecosystem is facing a fundamental contradiction.

On one hand, there has never been a better time to build. Startups are raising larger rounds, faster than ever before. On the other hand, deal volume is shrinking, and survival rates to Series A are falling.

Antler’s new report, The Path to Series A in Germany, is one of the most comprehensive studies of German tech funding ever conducted. Analyzing 27,602 funding rounds across 3,022 companies built over the last decade, the study outlines the variables that determine which startups scale and which stall out.

The Key Takeaways

• The Startup Creation Gap: In 2025, 50 German startups were founded for every one that successfully secured a Series A round—up from 25:1 in 2019.
• The Survival Rate Paradox: Only 24% of German seed-stage startups successfully navigate the path to Series A. While Germany remains Europe’s most effective converter of seed capital, conversion rates have dropped from a peak of 31.4% in 2020 to 18.9% for the 2022 cohort.
• Deal Value vs. Volume: The bar is rising dramatically. Median pre-seed rounds have grown 10x (€1.1M), seed rounds 8x (€4.3M), and Series A rounds 4x (€14M) since 2015. However, Series A deal volume in 2025 has dropped to 2015 levels (-44% from its 2022 peak).
• The 5 Gold Standard Criteria: Success is not random. Combining five specific variables—a €2M+ seed round, 3+ syndicate investors, a named institutional lead, pre-seed investor continuity, and a pre-seed to seed gap of under 12 months—drives Series A conversion to 46.7% in a median of just 13.6 months.
• External Validation Matters: 91.3% of successful German Series A rounds brought in a fresh external lead VC, securing 70% larger median round sizes (€10.6M vs. €6.2M) compared to rounds led internally by prior seed investors.

"It has never been a better time to become a tech founder in Germany, and it has never been harder to succeed," says Christoph Klink, Partner at Antler.

"We are building a bigger funnel with a smaller exit. The path to Series A is getting harder, so we have created this dataset to give founders a clear roadmap to follow to maximize their chances of success."

Read the full findings and download the report here.