First European Startupmonitor identifies strengths and challenges of European start-ups

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Stefan Kyora

04.03.2016
European Startup Monitor

The German Startups Association (GSA) introduced the first European Startup Monitor (ESM) in Brussels and Berlin. More than 2,300 start-ups including companies from Switzerland were surveyed, to acquire comparable data for the European start-up ecosystem.

Startups are important drivers of the European economy. By creating new ventures, entrepreneurs generate new wealth, add products or Services to the market and create jobs. Data about this contribution to the European economy is rare. The European Startup Monitor addresses this problem. Based on a survey the study gives evidence of the development and importance of start-ups. The findings are good basis for comparing the performance of start-ups and start-up ecosystems across Europe.

The data for the study is generated by national startup associations and network partners, using their well established networks to circulate the online survey within the national startup ecosystem to create meaningful data. Switzerland is included in the Monitor, however there are no detailed statements because the sample of Swiss startups was too small.

 

Key findings of the study:

Job engines: European start-ups create on average 12.9 jobs (incl. founders) after 2.5 years. Germany leads the way with an average of 17.4 jobs. Moreover, the average start-up plans to add 6.8 more jobs within the next 12 months.

Focus on ICT: Most start-ups in the European Startup Monitor form part of the digital economy

Innovation drivers: Almost 2/3 of the start-ups in the sample rate their products and / or services as novel across the European or global market.

B2B-focus: 6 out of ten startups in the survey have a B2B business model

Revenue-driven: 8 out of 10 start-ups generated revenue in the last fiscal year

Access to capital: Start-ups in the sample have raised on average EUR2.5 million in external capital. The plan to raise an additional EUR3.3 million in external capital on average.

Challenges: The most important challenge is sales / customer acquisition followed by raising capital

Teams: most start-ups are founded by a team of entrepreneurs with a median age range between 25 – 34 years; 14.7 % of the start-up founders are female; 11.9 % of start-up founders and 31.6 % of the employees are from countries other than the location of the start-up

Satisfied with corporates: Regarding the environment European start-ups are satisfied with the traditional companies’ collaboration

Room for improvement: The school system’s promotion and communication of entrepreneurial thinking and acting can be improved

The study is initiated by the German Startups Association and conducted with engagement and support of European & Israeli associations such as the members of the European Startup Network and academic partners such as the Vienna University of Economics and Business, Umea School of Management, IE business school and Lancaster University. All countries are supposed to be represented by a national academic Chair for Entrepreneurship and national associations. For this, one Chair for Entrepreneurship per country will be selected. The data for the study is generated by national startup associations and network partners, using their well established networks to circulate the online survey within the national startup ecosystem to create meaningful data. The study aims to be published starting in 2016 on an annual basis.

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