New study reveals UK is the second best country in Europe for startup businesses, according to analysis of multiple data points.
Post-Pandemic Business Landscape
The pandemic created a make or break environment for many businesses over the past 2 years. From companies going bust, to new business opportunities rising for budding entrepreneurs, the past couple years have been pretty turbulent.
With this in mind, a new study by Paymentsense has revealed the best countries in Europe for a startup business, by analysing the following data points: number of new businesses between 2015-2019, most popular type of startup business, city with the most new startup businesses, percentage of startups located in the most popular city for businesses and five year business survival rate in each country.
UK second most popular country in Europe for Startup Businesses
The UK has been ranked as the second most popular city in Europe to build a startup business. Between 2015 to 2019 there were 1,755,035 startup businesses registered here, with just a 1.1% percentage change from 2015 to 2019 showing a slight increase in the number of startup businesses.
Paris: Most Popular European City to Start a Business
Paris is home to over two million startup businesses and ranks as the most popular city in Europe for budding entrepreneurs to set up their business. From 2015 to 2019, there has been a 56.1% growth in the number of startups in the country. Software companies are the most prominent type of startup here, which is interesting considering the city is renowned for its fashion industry.
In third place, and home to some of Europe’s most astonishing architecture, is Spain. The city saw over 1,438,815 new startup businesses between 2015 and 2019, with a large proportion also being in the software and software as a service (SaaS) industries.
Malta: Highest 5-Year Business Survival Rate in Europe
Paymentsense analysed business survival rate data to understand where in Europe entrepreneurs have the best chance of their business succeeding in the first five years.
Ranking in first place is Malta where businesses have a 78.7% survival rate. In second place is Sweden, with a five year business survival rate of 60.8%! In Sweden, the capital city, Stockholm, has the highest number of startups. The Software sector in particular is the industry populating the business landscape in Sweden.
For new startup businesses closer to home, there is a 41.8% survival rate in the first five years, ranking the UK in 24th out of the 30 countries in the index.
Most Popular Industries for Startups in Europe
Paymentsense analysed 20,000 new startups from Eurostat and EU Startups to find out which industries are attracting budding entrepreneurs.
If you’re into computer software, designing and developing, the industry is booming. Software ranked in top spot on the leaderboard for most popular type of startup in Europe, with over 2.1K startup businesses falling into this category. Although you may be in for some tough competition, there’s also great opportunity for growth and investment.
Similarly, the information technology industry is also seeing rapid growth in the number of new businesses being registered. There have been 1,635 business startups in the industry, in particular in Lisbon, Portugal!
