Bavaria is a global leader in insurance, one of the world’s most important banking centers, a major European player in asset management, home to one of Europe’s most innovative stock exchanges and Germany’s #1 location for venture capital. Its banking and insurance sector has grown 59 percent since the early ‘90s. Today, around 100 insurance companies, including Allianz and Munich Re – the world’s largest reinsurer – are located here with 180,000 employees. And in capital city Munich, which was recently rated Europe’s top technology hub by the European Commission, a new wave of disruption is being forged with critical advances in insurtech.
Bavaria is headquarters to eight of Germany’s 30 bluechips and subsidiaries of 32 of the world’s 50 most innovative companies. As Google’s VP of Engineering and Site Lead in Germany, Dr. Wieland Holfelder, explains, “… Berlin might be nice to start within Germany. However, if you wish to do serious business, you have to set up in Munich.” The concentration of major global powers has led to the development of Germany’s largest insurance sector and second largest banking industry. Almost 500 banks, 20% of Germany’s VC firms and the world’s largest number of insurtech startups have established a presence in the country’s most innovative state, Bavaria.
The future of insurance is made in Munich. In 2017, the InsurTech Hub Munich has been initiated by Bavaria-based insurance companies and Werk.1, the state government-funded digital startup center. Together with Silicon Valley’s Plug and Play, a VC and global innovation platform, InsurTech Hub Munich is developing the world’s biggest ecosystem for the digital insurance industry to shape the future of the billion-dollar market. Plug and Play has chosen Munich as its first European insurtech base not only because of the appealing number of insurers that are located in Bavaria, but also because of InsurTech Hub Munich’s positive effect on the startup scene that radiates well beyond the city boundaries. Another important actor is the Munich Financial Center Initiative (FPMI), a consortium of 50 companies, associations and scientific and state institutions from the finance industry that works to advocate for the industry’s interests across an array of issues.
Feel free to contact one of our U.S. representatives directly, or request a meeting using the form below.
Representative offices for the Bavarian U.S. Offices for Economic Development are located in Boston, New York and San Francisco to assist American companies interested in establishing an office or facility in Germany. We provide complimentary and confidential services for all stages of setting up a business in the state, from planning and site selection to implementation. Contact us to help you land in Bavaria successfully.
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