Startups in Spain

Training in entrepreneurship and in business management it is increasingly common among professionals who want to enter the entrepreneurial sector and startups, which has been booming in our country for a few years.

According to the report Startup Ecosystem Overview by Mobile World Capital Barcelona, the organizer of the Mobile World Congress, at the end of 2018 there was 4,115 startups across Spain, 20% more than in 2017, when there were 3,259, which represents great growth in the Spanish entrepreneurial ecosystem.

The European city with the most startups is London, with 8,974, followed by Paris and Berlin with 2,750 and 2,330 respectively, and Dublin in fourth position. Two Spanish cities, Madrid and Barcelona, are in fifth and sixth place, and are therefore one of the most ideal cities for entrepreneurship at European level, and the best at national level. Madrid is in fifth place, with 1,235 startups, and Barcelona in sixth, with 1,197. Both cities are part of the Top 6 of European hubs by number of startups. At the national level, Valencia and Bilbao They follow Barcelona and Madrid, with a much smaller number of startups (261 and 60).

Las Spanish startups they raised 1.3 billion euros last year, an increase of 46% compared to the previous year, which closed with 850 million euros. The capital and Barcelona are also the Spanish cities with higher investment volume. There is a lot of international investment attracted by Spanish startups, although it is still a long way from European investment concentrated in certain countries.

The volume of investment in Spanish technology companies has grown steadily, and in 2018 Spain had the largest investment growth in Europe. Our country is the third European destination for technological talent and the second with the most coworking spaces.

María Benjumea, founder of Spain Startup-South Summit, an event on Spanish startups and international investment, stated in 2018 that the startup ecosystem is maturing and is solid. As for the Spanish entrepreneurial profile, this is still mainly male, but it is evolving positively, with more than 20% of startups founded by women or whose CEO is a woman.

Currently, in Spain 20% of the startups they have a team of 5 to 10 people and 9% have between 10 and 20 employees on staff. 90% plan to increase their workforce in the short term, since the professionalization of startups means an increase in employment generation.