Amid global turmoil, Swiss founders continue to launch companies

Many markets are currently characterised by uncertainty. Inflation has had a negative impact on consumer sentiment. Global supply chains remain disrupted and the war in Ukraine continues to have a negative impact. In this respect, it is remarkable that the number of incorporations in Switzerland is practically stable. In 2022, around 50,000 new companies will be added to the commercial register. This means only a slight decrease of 1.4% compared to 2021. These are the key results of the National Analysis of the IFJ Institut für Jungunternehmen.

Positive long-term trend

Since the slight decline in 2015, the commercial registry offices have recorded a constant increase in the number of new companies up to the current year. On average, 43'838 new companies were registered per year over the last 10 years. As of 27.12.2022, the year 2022 recorded the second highest level with 49'398 new companies and is significantly higher (+12.6%) than the average of the last 10 years.

Less high potential companies

A deeper look nevertheless shows some skid marks. For example, the number of newly launched public limited companies decreased by 6.1% compared to 2021. Since ambitious companies are practically always founded as public limited companies, significantly fewer potential highflyers were created in 2022 than in the previous year. This is probably due to the global uncertainties.

The development in the individual sectors was very different. It is pleasing to note that the number of start-ups in the IT and ICT sector increased by 1.2%. 2791 companies were launched in 2022.

High share of female founders

The evaluation also provides results on female founders. For start-ups in the narrower sense (young, highly innovative technology companies that want to grow strongly with external capital), the share of female founders is below 20%. If one considers not only this subgroup, but all newly registered companies, the share is significantly higher. 36.6% of all new companies are founded by women. In 9.5% of all new companies, there is a founding team of women and men behind it. Thus, one or more women are involved in 46% of all new company registrations. More than half (53.9%) of all new companies are founded by men.

Regional results

Zurich is the only major region which recorded an increase of +1.9% compared to the last year. Southwestern Switzerland (-0.3%), Ticino (-0.3%) and Eastern Switzerland (-1.5%) are at a high level as in the previous year. Far fewer new companies were founded in Central Switzerland (-4.5%), Espace Mittelland (-3.3%) and Northwestern Switzerland (-1.9%).

On average, 5.74 companies were founded per 1'000 residents in Switzerland in 2022. It is noticeable that 8 of the 11 cantons above the Swiss average offer attractive profit tax rates. Zug (23.12) leads the way by a remarkable margin, ahead of Schwyz (8.36) and Geneva (8.03). The Swiss cantons Uri (3.27), Bern (3.85) and Basel-Landschaft (4.31) have the fewest founders per 1'000 residents.

The full results in English, German and French can be downloaded below. 

(Press release / SK)