How it all began...

In 2013, Hagen and Martina opened the first location on Belfortstraße. Until then, Freiburg didn’t have a place where entrepreneurs, creatives, and innovators could come together to bring joint cool projects into the world. With the beer garden and schnitzel restaurant on Belfortstraße, they found the perfect spot to create exactly this kind of space.

Not just coworking – but also food and culture. Right next to the coworking space in Belfi, Café POW is creating a place that invites people to linger, even beyond the start-up and coworking scene. With what is probably Freiburg's most beautiful beer garden, POW is increasingly becoming a cultural meeting place – for everyone who appreciates good company, creative energy, and a relaxed atmosphere.

In addition to inspiring spaces for encounters, entrepreneurship, and culture, programs to support startups have also played a central role at Grünhof from the very beginning. Grünhof e.V. was founded in 2016 to better promote social and innovative entrepreneurship. Since 2018, the Social Innovation Lab (SIL) has been addressing all these activities related to social challenges and impact-oriented entrepreneurship.  

Grünhof also promotes sustainable entrepreneurship in the green tech sector. Ökonauten is the first program specifically designed to support green start-ups. Building on this, the smart green program was launched in 2016 with the support of Startup BW Accelerator. Since then, it has developed into a leading innovation platform for green tech, startups, SMEs, and investors – with the aim of promoting sustainable technologies across Europe.

In 2018, the Lokhalle Creative Park opened its doors in response to the fact that Belfortstraße had long since burst at the seams. As the name suggests, the focus here is primarily on the creative scene: creative professionals find space to work, exchange ideas, and network at the Lokhalle. At the same time, there are also flexible coworking spaces, and smart green and the Social Innovation Lab have their own office containers on site. The Lokhalle is also particularly popular as a location for events and room rentals – a place full of energy, ideas, and encounters.

The demand for coworking and office space in Freiburg has not yet been met. That's why we are opening our Augustinerplatz location in 2021, featuring a large, stylish coworking area, 8 team offices, 4 meeting rooms, and 16 fixed desks. Our Augi continues to set standards in terms of amenities, style, and inspiration. And all this in the heart of Freiburg's old town.

Grünhof 3000 GmbH (machn) is the first spin-off of Grünhof GmbH. Its focus is on transformation and innovation consulting for small and medium-sized enterprises. At that point, no one knew that two mega-exciting projects were coming our way with Wiha and Ganter (Bierle).

Cornerie x POW. We want to make it easy for young restaurateurs to start their own businesses, so after 11 years, we are handing over POW to Raphi and Josi. La Cornerie is creating a place that will breathe new life into our beautiful backyard.

Empty rooms, potential immediately recognized and simply put into action. Grünhof is breaking new ground and opening the HOKK Hotel, Restaurant, and Kiosk at the FT sports complex – HOKK GmbH, its second spin-off. 

Grünhof 3000 GmbH, founded in 2022, is becoming machn GmbH – and is thus no longer part of Grünhof. For us, this is a great example of what we want to achieve with our work: accompanying and supporting companies in becoming successful and effective – until they can stand on their own two feet.