Why build a biotechnology startup in Brandenburg rather than Silicon Valley?
CanChip Founder and CEO Ghazaleh Madani was invited to answer this question in the 2026 international digital magazine “Investing in Germany,” published on deutschland.de.
The 54-page international publication explores Germany as a location for investment, entrepreneurship, innovation, and business and is available in multiple languages for an international audience.
Ghazaleh is featured as one of five voices offering their perspective on Germany as an investment and business location.
Her contribution reflects both the opportunities that made CanChip possible and the challenges that young deep-tech companies encounter as they move from foundation to growth.
As Ghazaleh explains in the interview:
“Germany gave me the opportunity to study, pursue research and later build a company.”
After coming to Germany from Iran, Ghazaleh studied Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Potsdam. Brandenburg subsequently became the place where her scientific work developed into an entrepreneurial project and, ultimately, into CanChip.
The state’s universities, research environment, funding programs, and startup ecosystem all contributed to turning an initial idea into a biotechnology company.
Today, CanChip develops organ-on-chip and tumor-on-chip technologies designed to generate more human-relevant and predictive data during preclinical drug development.
At the same time, Ghazaleh’s contribution to Investing in Germany also addresses an important question for the future of Germany’s innovation ecosystem: How can successful deep-tech startups continue to grow once they move beyond the founding stage?
For biotechnology companies in particular, scaling requires substantial resources. Laboratory infrastructure must grow, highly specialized teams need to be built, technologies must be validated, and long development cycles need to be financed—all while companies compete in an international market.
Creating the right conditions for this next stage is essential if Germany’s scientific excellence is to translate into internationally competitive companies.
CanChip was founded in Brandenburg because we believe world-class biotechnology innovation does not have to be limited to established international technology hubs.
Germany has exceptional scientific expertise and a strong research landscape. The next challenge is ensuring that more of the companies emerging from this environment have the conditions they need to scale internationally.
We are honored that Ghazaleh and CanChip were invited to contribute this perspective to an international publication presenting Germany’s economic and innovation landscape to the world.