As you already probably know, the two biggest startup scenes in Europe are London and Berlin. The last one is growing. And making extremely good progress to catch up.
I’ve published some thoughts and facts about London some weeks ago. As well as you often hear about the European startup capitals, you often don’t know where to go to get the pulse of the scene.
Here are the two hotspots I’ve discovered and visited during my trip in Berlin: Sankt Oberholz and Betahaus (if you know other places, please comment!). These place are 2 co-working places, but are basically…restaurants for the public side. Seems strange, no? Is there a place like this in Switzerland now? Nope. Or at least I don’t currently know!
You can simply come there, benefit from a free wifi and that’s it. Sure, they also have “normal” co-working spaces, with real desks and office chairs.
As well as there is a good atmosphere there, it is still not as geeky/nerdy as Central Coworking in London (that is, you even have (a few) normal people there – people not typing on their computer or playing/working on their mobile device!).
Here are some pictures both places!
Sankt Oberholz (direct at Rosenthalerplatz – underground line: U8 to get there):
For those who don’t speak German: “not every cow allow you to milk it”. There are many boards like this at Sankt Oberholz, which make the place different, kind of alternative restaurant (special vibes!).
Betahaus (Prinzessinnenstrasse 19, a few dozen meters away from Moritzplatz (that you can also reach with U8)). Betahaus seems to have more frequently startups events and will welcome Axelspringer Plug’n’Play accelerator (starting mid-May for the first session):
UPDATE: please find a list compiled by Venture Village on the 10 best co-working spaces in Berlin (thx to Next Wave Europe for mentioning!)
And lastly, I had the chance to visit the Berlin Congress Center before the NEXT Conference… which is simply amazing, even if the modern-looking side of the building is not as charming as the old train station of last year:
