The fintech hub and venture capital make Zurich attractive

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18.10.2019
Zurich

The Heatmap Europe Report, a benchmark report on the attractiveness of startup hubs in Europe, is out. Zurich is the only Swiss city included in the publication. The availability of investments, industry connections and the fintech ecosystem are the strengths of Zurich. In the overall ranking, however, Zurich fell back by five positions to the 14th place. 

 

The Startup Heatmap 2019 Report is gives an impression of the trends in the development of startup ecosystems and founder mobility in Europe. The 2019 survey was collected between May and August 2019 and had 1,200 participants. The resulting report maps the perceived quality of startup cities, founder mobility and the interconnectivity between European startup hotspots.

Once again, London (1st), Berlin (2nd) maintained their positions as the most attractive cities in Europe despite the fact that they are losing momentum as shown by the decrease in the founder’s votes. Previously top-ranking cities have followed suit with declining popularity. From a broader perspective, the results revealed a growing trend in mobility demonstrated by 30% more foreign-born founders since 2016, fast internationalization given 55% of European startups establish international locations within their first year. Additionally, founders’ dependency on transnational networks has grown significantly, especially in cities such as London, Berlin, Barcelona, Paris, and Lisbon as founders seek to tap into resources from those ecosystems.

Switzerland: Small country with an international setup and funds
According to the report, Switzerland has an international set up and a significant number of top seed investors.

Zurich: the Fintech Hub with significant VC investments
On a city level, however, only Zurich made it into the ranks at position 14 (-5). Accordingly, Zurich is among the most prominent startup hubs in the German-speaking area and attracts mainly Fintech startups followed by Health & Biotech as well as Big Data startups. According to the report, foreign-born founders established up to 80% of the startups in Zurich, a clear indication of the increasing mobility among entrepreneurs.

In comparison to Munich and Vienna, which are among the top cities in the German-speaking area, Zurich is mainly attractive due to the availability of funding. Despite the positive results in Zurich, the other cities such as London, Paris, and Berlin are far ahead in providing capital to the system. Other parameters, which define the attractiveness of Zurich, include industry connections, startup ecosystems and talent availability. Zurich remains an expensive city and hence the city scored poorly in the variable 'value for money'.

(RAN)

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