The corona crisis hits startups particularly hard. More than 90 percent are affected.

In the end, it got worse than feared: In the survey on the effects of the coronavirus, it was assumed that many startups were affected (nine out of ten). The scene had never been so existentially affected. Startups are often small companies that depend on private capital. If that doesn’t happen, they have a problem. The current crisis also hits startups particularly hard because many have no financial reserves.

Corona crisis: State aid does not benefit all startups

The federal association surveyed over 1,000 startups. The result: Around 91 percent of companies are affected by the corona pandemic. With only a few exceptions such as the construction industry, all sectors are affected equally often. Over 80 percent of those questioned are also at risk of their existence due to Corona. The measures against the coronavirus are causing companies to complain about more and more delivery failures.

Another finding of the study: The threat to startups will be acute for both large and small startups in the next six months. Startups with an upcoming round of financing are particularly affected. Some government aid, such as short-time work helps startups – but not all. Many startups are classified as “not bankable” and therefore cannot apply for a loan but sort to alternative financial solutions (https://looselending.com/). Nevertheless, two-thirds of the startups plan to use government aid measures.

State aid: The startup association proposes this measure

Larger companies with a capitalization of 50 million euros will probably receive support from the planned economic stabilization fund. An estimate of around 150 to 200 startups fall into this category. Smaller companies with few employees can rely on emergency aid from the federal and state governments. For example, there are 9,000 euros for affected companies with less than five employees.

According to the WHO, Europe is the region most severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic in the world. However, medium-sized companies are left behind for a while. According to the study, startups need help over the next few weeks to avoid bankruptcies. The federal association has therefore drawn up a four-stage plan to hopefully be able to avert the disaster.

These include so-called matching funds, in which not only the state but also private investors help – mostly in a ratio of 70 to 30. An estimate states that the startup scene needs a single-digit billion amount to be able to catch all healthy startups. It is in hope that the federal association can do this together with politics.