Berlin’s new startup factory

The brick building, once built as one of the first Agfa factories, covers five storeys. Soon, a creative lot of 1,000 is supposed to work on a tremendous 14,000 square meters and connect with established enterprises. “This is the biggest clubhouse for startups in Europe”, says the Factory chairman Lukas Kampfmann. Berlin’s new startup factory is supposed to open its doors this year. 

The concept is similar to those of co-working spaces: freelancers can use the premises for 50 euros per month. Apart from desks, internet and free coffee, this includes pink or green painted meeting rooms and also 3D printers, soldering irons and milling machines for the construction of prototypes. Members can also enjoy a restaurant, a café, a library for undisturbed working, a cinema auditorium as well as a yoga room and even a ball pool with a length of eight metres, filled with 34,000 plastic balls.

With a monthly membership fee of 50 euros, creative minds can become part of the Factory community if they succeed in the application process. Factory Berlin offers various memberships: from freelancers to small teams and startups to innovation teams of international corporations.

Many established tech giants and startups are already using the Factory Berlin premises, including Uber, Soundcloud, Schaeffler, Google and Deutsche Bank.

The new Factory will now also become the headquarters of the Berlin based digital hub for the Internet of Things (IoT), where established businesses, founders and scientists can consolidate their skills in order to develop new business fields. There, company builders such as NBT and startups will evaluate and validate IoT solutions, coming from research, with regard to their marketability.

Furthermore, Europe’s biggest FinTech hub is being developed in the former headquarters of Berliner Bank in Hardenbergstraße. Thus, Berlin will be strengthened as an IoT and FinTech location in the frame of the Digital Hub Initiative of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. Senator Pop: “With these hubs, we will make Berlin’s ecosystem accessible to established SMEs and at the same time strengthen Berlin as a location in the area of IoT and FinTech”.