This year the whole world has benefitted from one of the Frankfurt ecosystem’s greatest success stories. BioNTech SE, the German company which along with its partner Pfizer, developed one of the first, highly effective vaccines against Covid-19 was founded by immigrants and is based in the nearby city of Mainz. The company’s immigrant roots and cutting-edge innovation are emblematic of the best of the growing Frankfurt startup scene. A diverse, cosmopolitan city, Frankfurt attracts international talent whose entrepreneurial efforts are supported by a range of government and university programs. The Frankfurt Startup Fund has provided more than 120 local companies with loans of up to €50,000 for startup capital. A new statewide initiative, StartHub Hessen, aims to bring together players in the ecosystem, from companies to investors to mentors. The Frankfurt School of Finance & Management supports and trains local founders through its Centre for Research on Entrepreneurship and Mittelstand (CREAM), while its Blockchain Center is an internationally recognized pioneer in the space. Frankfurt also hosts a number of prominent industry and startup events including the Frankfurt CIO Summit for IT leaders, the International Conference on Green Energy Technologies, SafariFRM, Frankfurt Digital Finance and the Frankfurt Euro Finance Summit, which plays to Frankfurt’s traditional strength as a financial hub. These efforts have paid off with significant recent successes for local companies. Mattress retailer Emma has been one of the fastest growing companies in Europe, while in January 2021, digital insurance platform Clark raised ​a €69M Series ​C round. Drone startup Wingcopter also raised a $22 million Series A to expand internationally.