Berlin has established itself as an important European hub for the services industries.

Numerous international companies rely on Berlin as a service location: BASF operates a global service hub here with over 3,000 employees, while Mercedes-Benz has a shared service center with more than 1,500 employees. Deutsche Bank pools its expertise in a technology center and the Corporate Bank Center of Excellence, among other places, while Mercedes-Benz Bank is represented by a bank service center with over 600 employees.

Amazon, Lufthansa, Bosch, Lidl, eBay, and Sony Music also have customer and administrative centers here – a strong indication of the capital's appeal as a location for business-oriented services.

Key location factors

Market potential

Berlin offers a strong sales market with 3.7 million consumers in the city and over 6 million in the metropolitan area.
The city's largest economic sector with the highest settlement rate and start-up momentum.
Job engine Berlin: Around 1.5 million employees subject to social insurance contributions – almost 88 % of all employees subject to social insurance contributions in Berlin (as of June 30, 2024).
High share of economic power: The service sector contributes significantly to Berlin's economic performance, achieving a 3.5% increase in revenue in 2024.
Tourism on the rise – in 2024, more than 30 million overnight stays were recorded for the first time since 2019.

Berlin offers the best opportunities for:

Domestic and foreign administrative headquarters
Company representative offices and Berlin offices
Services for companies and institutions
Companies from the trade fair and event management sector
Advertising, public relations, and marketing
Service and Customer Center
Continuing education institutions such as coding schools
Associations

(Sources: Berlin-Brandenburg Statistics Office; Berlin Partner for Business and Technology, 2025)

Advertising industry

Berlin is a central location for advertising, communications, and digital agencies: Over 1,200 companies generate around 1.6 billion euros in revenue here and employ more than 11,700 people. Major globally operating agencies such as Media Consulta and Scholz & Friends are headquartered here or maintain branches along the Spree.

The capital is one of the most creative agency locations in Germany: almost one in three Cannes Lion winners comes from Berlin.

(Source: Projekt Zukunft, 2025 – figures for 2023)