“More than 550 startups in Düsseldorf, more new companies launched than in years, and a new generation of entrepreneurs who see opportunity where others see risk. Anyone who looks only at the crises misses the drive to build that is shaping this business location right now. These are exactly the companies we work with, from incorporation through growth and financing all the way to scale-up, with legal, regulatory, and technology expertise.”
There is a lot of talk right now about how tough the economy is. At the same time, new companies are being founded at a remarkable pace. Anyone who lived through the digital push of the pandemic years knows how quickly markets can change. With the breakthrough of generative AI, that change is accelerating again, and law, compliance, and management consulting are no exception.
The Startup-Verband, Germany’s national startup association, counts more than 3,000 newly founded companies in the first half of 2026 alone, already more than in all of 2024. Roughly one third of them are building AI-based business models. Düsseldorf, too, has grown into one of Germany’s most important startup locations over the past few years. At the first Startup Week in 2014, the city was home to around 100 startups. Today there are more than 550.
Innovation happens where people are willing to invest, build, and take responsibility despite uncertainty.
That is the backdrop for bpc and zuhorn joining forces this year as Unicorn Partners of Startup Week. In an environment of rising costs and cautious investment, an innovative location needs partners it can count on. Entrepreneurs need more than capital. They also need legal and regulatory direction, and Startup Week has offered the right setting for that for years.
A New Decade for Startup Week
The eleventh Startup Week Düsseldorf takes place from September 7 to 11, 2026. It opens the second decade of a format that brings together founders, scaleups, investors, mid-sized companies, and international technology firms. This year’s program centers on artificial intelligence, GreenTech, HealthTech, and female entrepreneurship. Together with the Future Tech Fest, the event also sets a distinctly international focus.
For bpc and zuhorn, Startup Week is far more than a sponsorship. Both firms have been closely connected to Düsseldorf as an innovation location for many years, and both advise technology-driven companies across their entire growth path.
Two Firms. One Integrated Advisory Approach.
bpc supports companies in putting digital regulation into practice. Attorneys, information systems specialists, and compliance specialists connect legal requirements with technical reality. The range of services covers regulatory advice on the GDPR, the EU AI Act, NIS2, the Data Act, and cloud governance, long-term managed services, and bpc’s own software solutions for privacy and AI governance.
zuhorn, a law firm and civil-law notary practice, adds corporate, transactional, and notarial advice to that approach. For more than four decades, the firm has advised companies in corporate law, venture capital, and M&A, as well as in IT, AI, and data protection law.
Together, the two create an advisory model that handles legal, regulatory, and organizational questions from a single source.
Advice Across the Entire Growth Path
New companies regularly start out with corporate law questions. At the same time, data protection, information security, and AI governance already carry weight in a company’s early stages. As growth picks up, financing rounds, due diligence, enterprise requirements, and regulatory audits are added to the mix.
While bpc supports companies on compliance, governance, and technical regulatory questions, zuhorn handles corporate structuring, financing rounds, equity investments, and notarial certifications. The same interplay proves just as valuable for mid-sized companies, corporate groups, and investors that are building or evaluating digital business models.
Two Events. One Shared Goal.
bpc opens Startup Week on Monday, September 7, from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. with “Bits & Bubbles – Digital Compliance Networking” on the outdoor terrace at Pommes & Wein on Graf-Adolf-Platz. The focus is on meeting people in person and on questions around AI, data protection, and digital compliance.
At the start of Startup Week, bpc invites you to “Bits & Bubbles – Digital Compliance Networking” on Monday, September 7, from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the outdoor area of Pommes & Wein at Graf-Adolf-Platz. The event focuses on personal exchange and discussions around AI, data protection, and digital compliance.
Encounters like these are how partnerships, investments, and new companies come about. That is what Startup Week has stood for over more than a decade, and bpc and zuhorn are looking forward to helping shape those conversations again in 2026 as Unicorn Partners.
Bits & Bubbles: Digital-Compliance-Networking
7 September 2026, 5:00–8:00 p.m., Graf-Adolf-Platz 1, Düsseldorf
Sundowner | Mix & Match at Medienhafen
7 September 2026, 7:00–10:00 p.m., Plange Mühle 5, 40221 Düsseldorf