In Germany, a significant number of business founders describe their ventures as start-ups, with 27% of them using this term for their businesses. This is considerably higher than the figures suggested by common definitions. According to the KfW Entrepreneurship Monitor, only about 6% of newly founded businesses possess start-up characteristics, and other data sources report similar single-digit percentages.
The analysis by KfW Research highlights that 28% of entrepreneurs who took over existing businesses also consider these as start-ups. Typically, only newly founded enterprises are categorized as start-ups. Additionally, 16% of freelancers and 23% of sole traders identify their ventures as start-ups, despite these usually not fitting the standard criteria.
Dr Georg Metzger from KfW Research notes that "usage of the term start-up has evolved in the past ten years," suggesting that increased media attention may have broadened its application. Before 2010, mentions of "start-up" or "start-ups" in press articles were limited to between 2,000 and 3,000 occurrences annually and appeared more frequently in trade publications than in mainstream media. Since then, usage has surged significantly, reaching nearly 30,000 mentions in 2019.
The full study can be accessed online.