News|Impossible Founders: Hamburg’s New DeepTech Startup Factory Driving Green Transformation
Impossible Founders: Hamburg’s New DeepTech Startup Factory Driving Green Transformation
Hamburg / Germany07/15/2025
The Hamburg-based initiative Impossible Founders, in which DESY plays a key role, has won the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs’ competition and will receive funding to strengthen Hamburg’s innovation ecosystem.
As part of the federal EXIST “Startup Factories” lighthouse competition, Federal Minister Katherina Reiche has selected ten new startup factories to take science-based deep-tech spin-offs to the next level. Hamburg’s Impossible Founders is the first to be introduced.
Why Impossible Founders?
Hamburg is taking on one of the great challenges of our time – the sustainable transformation of economy and society through technological deep-tech innovation – with a broad alliance of research institutions, businesses, and foundations. Impossible Founders unites scientific excellence, entrepreneurial drive, and social responsibility for deep-tech startups from Northern Germany with a European ambition. Their guiding question: “What if it’s possible?”
Focus and Priorities
The initiative focuses on green technologies, particularly sustainable materials and processes, supported by key technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum tech. Strong ties to Hamburg’s business and research ecosystem ensure direct paths from lab to market.
Targets by 2035
- Operate four incubators and two accelerators
- Found over 170 startups with at least €2.5 million in funding each
- Create over 3,000 jobs
- Raise at least €1.8 billion in capital
- Deliver 400 innovation projects annually with corporate partners
With world-class research, leading infrastructure, and a city committed to ambitious climate strategies, Hamburg offers fertile ground for transformative innovation. Big challenges? For Impossible Founders, they’re just the beginning – living by the motto: “Go big or go home.”
More information: https://www.impossible-founders.com/