+++ Press release +++

Founder and CEO of German Startups Group suggests freeze measures to the ministries of finance and of economics in order to stop the corona nightmare in the German economy and reverse sustained damages

Berlin, 17 March 2020 - Christoph Gerlinger, founder and CEO of German Startups Group, a Berlin-based leading venture capital provider in Germany, having a standing exchange with the forward thinking startup ecosystem and periodically also with politics, has suggested three freeze measures to the ministries of finance and of economics this morning in order to avoid a melt-down or even a wipe-out of the German economy's equity and a mass unemployment as well as a new financial crisis resulting from it for self-enforcing spiral effects -

- Reimbursement of 90% of the epidemic-related shortfall in gross profits to corporations, businesses, freelancers and artists by the public sector

- Ban of epidemic-related layoffs of employees

- Granting of a put option to shareholders of listed German companies at 90% of pre-epidemic share prices for several months by the public sector.

In his opinion this would cost far less than expected due to the self-enforcing positive effects and than the mass social welfare after a manifestation of the downward spiral, and could be financed through government bonds almost at zero interest. The nightmare within the German economy would be at a halt immediately and most of the sustained economic damages reversed. Germany, thanks to its solid financial situation, would have the financial margins to do so. The government would not refund the personal and material damages only after the crash, but prevent the crash and thereby great suffering of people, instead.

By making the proposal, the management of German Startups Group wants to contribute to accelerating the political discussion, highlighting the tangible existential threats of many people in this country and to thinking in bold actions.

With its startup portfolio and cash assets German Startups group itself is not directly adversely affected by the Corona epidemic, except the fact its share price has also fallen by 30% in that context.

 

German Startups Group
Christoph Gerlinger

German Startups Group

The German Startups Group, a Berlin-based publicly traded company comprises one of the leading VC providers in Germany. With a focus on Germany's young, fast growing companies - so called startups - the company acquires majority and minority shareholdings by providing venture capital. The core investment focus is on those tech companies whose products or business models include disruptive innovation, allow for a high degree of scalability and are run by strong entrepreneurial management teams. Since it commenced operations in 2012, German Startups Group has built a diversified portfolio of stakes in such companies and has become the most active private venture capital investor in Germany (CB Insights 2015, Pitchbook 2016).

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