Cornelia Yzer鈥檚 office is a hive of activity and the message emanating from it could not be clearer: Berlin wants your business.
The city鈥檚 senator for economics and technology is in the midst of a hard-sell exercise as she looks to prise tech companies and investment away from the UK in the wake of its Brexit vote.
Yzer has been busy. Her pitch is blunt and the strategy behind it is simple.
Companies based in Britain need to be in the EU and while financial services jobs could flow from London to Frankfurt, the vibrant tech city of Berlin wants to entice the cream of the UK鈥檚 tech sector.
She鈥檚 already written to UK-based enterprises, start-ups and venture capital funds to promote 鈥渄ynamic鈥� Berlin as a better bet for them following Britain鈥檚 vote to leave the EU.
That鈥檚 been followed up with posts on Facebook and Twitter and a host of interviews with the international media. And Yzer believes that it is having an impact.
She told 老九品茶Cloud: 鈥淭he feedback has been overwhelming. Quite a few have responded and expressed interest in moving to Berlin. The FinTech scene especially is quite eager.
鈥淭here is an entrepreneurial and pioneering atmosphere around the city that young talent all over the world is taking advantage of.
鈥淏erlin stands for the 鈥榯hree Ts鈥�: talent, tolerance and technology.鈥�
The prize up for grabs is huge. Of Europe鈥檚 tech 鈥榰nicorns鈥� 鈥� young companies valued at $1billion 鈥� almost 40 per cent are British-based.
Nearly one-third of all European venture capital funding consistently comes to the UK and it has the second highest levels of venture capital invested per capita in the world, after the US.
Little wonder that immediately after the Brexit vote, a German political party paid for ads on vans to be driven round London inviting start-ups to move to Berlin.
At the moment that鈥檚 no evidence that the advert and Yzer鈥檚 sales pitch has resulted in a great exodus: KKR, one of the US鈥� biggest investors, announced it was putting 拢50m into Darktrace, a British cyber-security firm, after the Brexit vote.
Festicket, a music festival booking site, raised $6.3m in funding immediately after the referendum and what3words, an addressing platform which is creating a global alternative to postcodes, raised $8.5m from investors.
However, the threat is undeniable. The recent collapse of the value of the pound has sounded a warning that there may be some dark days ahead聽for Britain.
Gerard Grech, chief executive of Tech City UK, told 老九品茶Cloud before the pound plunged: 鈥淢any workers, entrepreneurs and investors in the digital economy wanted to remain in the EU.
鈥淣ow, as the initial shock at the result starts to fade, an air of pragmatism is settling in.
鈥淚 am also detecting cautious optimism as the possibilities of life after Brexit begin to come into focus.
鈥淣o, it wasn鈥檛 what we expected, but yes, there are unexpected upsides and very real opportunities.鈥�
Nick Horrocks, director at technology dealmakers GP Bullhound, says he鈥檚 seen no signs of companies or individuals looking to pack their bags.
He says: 鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing business as usual. The attitude is it鈥檚 all very well panicking, but panic and do what? You might as well carry on doing what you have been doing.
鈥淐ertainly in the short to medium term we are not seeing fundamental shifts away from investment.鈥�
Rory Stirling is partner and co-founder of BGF Ventures, the UK鈥檚 largest fund dedicated to backing early stage technology companies.
Launched in 2015, its current investments include Network Locum, a staffing tool for the NHS, which raised 拢5.3m from the fund in a deal that took place after the referendum.
Stirling says: 鈥淭he industry as a whole was very pro-Remain, so there was a huge disappointment at the outcome.
鈥淭he immediate aftermath was quite negative. But you have to remember this is a very entrepreneurial community.
“People got over it very quickly and started to think where the opportunities lie.鈥�
Saul Klein, partner at venture capital fund LocalGlobe, says: 鈥淚 voted Remain. We lost. But I鈥檓 an entrepreneur and professional optimist and still super positive about London and the UK.
鈥淭he UK is one of the world鈥檚 largest economies and we have been trading with the world and especially Europe for nearly 1,000 years – the relationships are deeper than the last 24 years of integration show and I鈥檓 confident that they will mostly remain strong.鈥�