StartupHeatmapReport2022

Open Startup Regions & Sustainable Growth > Review of Europe's Startup Hubs State of Development > Ranking of Europe's Best Startup Cities > Analysis of Interconnectivity between Startup Hubs > City-level Data on Funding, Acceleration, Community, Diversity, and Governance STARTUP HEATMAP EUROPE REPORT 2022 {{page}} ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION EUROPEAN STARTUP INITATIVE DEEP Ecosystems is the world's most active accelerator for ecosystem projects helping entrepreneurs to build up their local startup community rather than moving away. With the Startup Heatmap Europe, DEEP in collaboration with the non-profit european startup initiative is measuring the growth dynamics of startup hubs since 2016 and successfully turned these insights into guidelines and strategic insights for policy makers and practitioners alike. You can join the movement to build better, data-driven ecosystems and start accelerating your growth too. Visit our website and get in touch: www.deepecosystems.com   www.startupheatmap.eu 2 3 Funding Growth in European Startup Capitals Seed Development per City CONTENTS EUROPE's  PERFORMANCE Seed Investment Squeeze Funding Opportunities by Stages Efficiency of turning investments into jobs per city Funding Over Time in Europe „Unicorn“ Ecosystems raising >1bn € per year Exits over time in Europe Do European Founders prefer Europe or the US? Regional Ecosystems‘ Outlook {{page}} DEMOCRATIZATION 1 LONG-TERM OPPORTUNITIES OPEN REGION 5 Female founders in Europe Female founders by city Female founders trends Minorities: UK case study Average Funds Raised by Founder Origin after Acceleration 4 CONTENTS {{page}} The Open Region View Founder Migration Transnational Setup Increased Trend to Remote Work IMPACT DIVERSITY Investment Growth by Sector in Europe ESG startups scene in Europe Are the environmental European investments actually impactful? Breakdown of Green Investments 6 8 Investment Purchasing Power Corporate Relations Ease of Doing Business Most Important Target Markets Expansion Destinations for Unicorns Type of Expansions Expansion Destinations Over Time 7 9 Number of Opportunities Over Time Number of Opportunities by City Number of Startups Accelerated Over Time Relocation of Accelerator Participants Relocation of Accelerator Participants Over Time Relocation of Accelerated Startups Per City Number of Funding Raised by Accelerated Startups by City startup cities - boosting scale-ups Top Entrepreneurial University Locations Number of Developers per City Lively Tech Meetup Scenes Around Europe {{page}} STARTUP CITIES - GROWING ENTREPRENEURS startup cities - accelerating startups CONTENTS EUROPE'S MOST POPULAR STARTUP CITIES Top 50 Ranking Profiles of Top 15: Berlin London Barcelona Lisbon Amsterdam Tallinn Paris Munich Stockholm Madrid Zurich Milan Porto Dublin Vienna {{page}} 10 CONTENTS {{page}} Valentina Forrer THE AUTHORS Research Fellow at DEEP Ecosystems. Ph.D. Candidate at Free University of Bozen-Bolzano Research Associate at Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space & Lecturer at Brandenburg Technical University Dr. Andreas Kuebart Thomas Kösters Head of Research at DEEP Ecosystems, President of the European Startup Initiative and Associate Professor at University of Trento. Dr. Erica Santini Managing Director at DEEP Ecosystems Co-Founder at DEEP Ecosystems and Head of Acceleration & Community Sebastián Díaz Mesa Program Manager at European Startup Initiative / Coordinator DEEP Conference OUR TEAM Co-Founder at DEEP Ecosystems and Founder & CEO at CrystalsFirst GmbH Dr. Serghei Glinca Harald Eisenhauer {{page}} Takhmina Lolakova Co-Founder and Head of Platform at DEEP Ecosystems Interested to analyze your own startup hub? Get in touch ARE WE SILICON VALLEY YET? Europe's Performance in 2021 Funding Over Time in Europe Source: Dealroom.co {{page}} 2021 broke all the records With 101bn € in Venture Capital Investments, Europe has reached a record high. The gap to the US is declining but still sizeable: US-based startups raised 119bn € in the same year - that is 18% more than Europe (Pitchbook, 2021). Despite the pandemic, 2021 was another record-breaking year for Central & Eastern Europe. According to Vestbee’s report over €5.4B was invested by VCs in regional fast-growing tech companies showing an impressive 100% year-over-year growth dynamic. However, the investment boom might slow down next year once the long-term effects of inflation and the Russian invasion of Ukraine kick in. Ewa Chronowska, CEO at Vestbee and Partner at Next Road Ventures {{page}} Source: Dealroom.co „Unicorn“ Ecosystems raising >1bn € per year {{page}} The influx of capital boosted more hubs to critical size allowing 12 of them to reach "unicorn ecosystem“ status. That is when all local startups combined have raised more than 1bn € in one year. More hubs reach critical size Anna Elsa Karika, Head of Startup Support division, Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA) In 2021, Latvia finally welcomed its first unicorn - Printful, the country earned the 'most startup-friendly country in the world' title, and the number of funds invested directly in startups reached a record - attracting over 247 million. We're happy to see our startup ecosystem show ambition and strategic vision for nurturing more growth in the future! {{page}} {{page}} Source: Dealroom.co Exits over time in Europe Not only investments reached a record high, also the number of exits rose by almost double. From 1,516 in 2020 it went up to 3,063 in 2021.The chart to the right shows the number of exits per quarter since 2019. Record number of exits {{page}} When asked where founders would prefer to start their company if they had the free choice and all the possibilities, still a majority would go for Europe. In no EU-area the US has beaten Europe in 2021. Source: Startuip Heatmap Survey 2021 >57% founders prefer Europe over the US Do European Founders prefer Europe or the US? The majority of European founders is optimistic or even very optimistic about their regional ecosystems‘ developments. Overall, 36.7 % are extremely optimistic while 38.8 % are very optimistic. The UK, the West and Nordics and Baltics are the most optimistic {{page}} Source: Startuip Heatmap Survey 2021 >75% of founders are optimistic Regional Ecosystems‘ Outlook LONG-TERM OPPORTUNITIES Is it sustainable? {{page}} Source: Dealroom.co No increase of seed funding Seed Investment Squeeze While total investments have reached record heights in Europe in 2021, the number of seed deals measured by all deals between 500k € and 2mn € has declined since it‘s peak in 2019. Even if there is a reporting lag for deals from 2021 it is unlikely that there has been a comparable increase of investments in the early-stages as in later ones. It seems like the “wait-and-see” approach has been adopted by VCs, even though the pool of venture capital money continues to increase. Gladly, there is a significant growth in organized angel investing groups, many of which focus specifically on pre-seed and seed series. I think startups should focus more on building their business model and collecting research to support their request to early-stage investors. {{page}} Angela Ivanova, Co-Founder and Co-CEO @ LAM'ON Source: Dealroom.co The share of early-stage funding between 0-15mn USD has dropped compared to larger rounds who have increased overproportionally. Funding is shifting to later stages {{page}} Funding Opportunities by Stages Funding is shifting to later stages Funding Opportunities by Stages Source:Dealroom.co For founders looking to raise small rounds below 1mn USD in Europe the opportunities have decreased by 22% while all other stages have increased in numbers. The strongest increases are seen in the largest rounds north of 40mn USD. {{page}} Efficiency of turning investments into jobs per city {{page}} On average the top 20 cities in Europe see 5 job openings per 1mn € investment raised. However, variations are huge and big hubs tend to be less effective in creating local jobs. This probably has to do with the international reach of their companies. The investment job dividend therefore has a glass ceiling. Are startup investments creating Jobs? Source: Own calculations based on Dealroom and Linkedin Job Listing Data democratization Is it happening everywhere or only in a few places? {{page}} Investment sums grew 1.6x in the average European city Source: Dealroom.co Funding Growth in European Startup Capitals The top 5 investment hubs still capture 63% of capital, but overall startup success is increasing across Europe. Only 5 out of 43 hubs with significant funding levels have shrunken. On average European startup hubs have increased their investment levels by 164% comparing the periods of 2016-18 to 2019-2021. Johan Franzen, Founder & CEO at Entnest Entrepreneurship is the future of work and the backbone of every nation's economy, but not receiving the broad support needed. We need a reset of trust and much more human interACTION based on passion and purpose to create more synergies together, instead of duplications. We need less power and opportunity concentration. We need to support with smaller amounts to very many entrepreneurs, rather than big amounts to very few. {{page}} {{page}} What about the European ecosystem leaders? Seed Development per City Source: Crunchbase The biggest sums of seed investments over a period of 3 years are recorded in London, Paris and Stockholm. However, all three hubs are shrinking between -3% and -17% on average per year. On the other hand, Berlin and Barcelona are growing. Impact Do we invest in the right trends? Analysing growth by sectors based on all deals between 500k and 100mn € in 2021 and 2020, we see an overproportional growth in EdTech startup investment sums as well as in Gaming and Home & Living with pluses of 104 to 161%. Investment Growth by Sector in Europe Source: Crunchbase Growth of sectors {{page}} Miquel Martí, CEO Tech Barcelona FOCUS BARCELONA: There was an initial fear about the impact of the pandemic on the ecosystem, but e-commerce, logistics, health, and a new wave of software enterprise shown not only resilience but the ability to grow. The number of solutions created in Barcelona gave answers to the new needs generated by the pandemic. These companies raised the attention of local and international investors until reaching a new investment record for the ecosystem. {{page}} ESG startups scene in Europe The environmental transition is not the focus of investments ESG startups are becoming more and more relevant throughout the European startup scene. Social and government investment display an increase between 2020 and 2021. Whereas environmental investment has been overlooked in comparison with the other ESGs. Source: Crunchbase {{page}} ESG startups scene in Europe {{page}} The population of the funded environmental-related sustainable startups is growing However, the number of environmental sustainability startups which received pre-seed and seed investments is raising dramatically. Though, this virtuous support to environmental cause can hide downsides. Source: Crunchbase Source: IPCC (https://climatetechvc.substack.com/p/-ipcc-6-running-out-of-time-97?s=r) and Dealroom The top 10 environmental investments in Europe are focused mainly on Energy efficiency, especially in the lithium battery manufacturing and facility, and in Electric light & heavy vehicles. The ecosystem restoration and reforestation, which is the most impactful in terms of CO2 reduction, recorded lower VC investments and no firms in the top 10 raised money in this field. “Green” VC investments don’t primarily target CO2 reduction Are the environmental European investments actually impactful? {{page}} Robert Jan van Vugt, Senior Innovation Manager CampX at Volvo Group {{page}} What I see in the sustainable mobility area is a change in behavior from VCs. This leads to larger seed rounds and more time spent on the Due Diligence. At the same time this area sees a lot of interest from Venture Capital. GreenTech firms raised 32.3% of the total environmental investments in 2021, followed by renewable energy, including solar and wind energy (29.8%), and clean energy/CleanTech vertical (26.2%). Although the battery sector is a sustainable "trap", the firms involved raised 7% of the green impact investment. Breakdown of Green Investments {{page}} Source: Crunchbase Green technology drives the environmental impact investment in Europe diversity Is it inclusive? Source: Startup Heatmap Europe Founder Sample (>20,000) 2021 While the share of female founders in Europe increased in 2021, recording +1.4%, the average percentage of women entrepreneurs per city slightly decreased. Therefore, together with a whole enhancement of female participation in the European startup scene, their presence appears more decentralized than in 2020. Female founders' involvement is stable in 2021 {{page}} Female founders in Europe Vienna and Lisbon are the "female leaders" {{page}} Source: Startup Heatmap Europe Founder Sample (>20,000) 2021 Female founders by city Despite Vienna being the leader in large ecosystems (19.2%), small and medium ecosystems display a higher share of female founders overall. Indeed, Lisbon (23.2%), Dublin (23.1%), and Stockholm (20.2%) are the top 3 cities in Europe for female founders. Source: Startup Heatmap Europe Founder Sample (>20,000) 2021 Female shares in big hubs are quite stable Female founders trends The big hubs, such as London, Berlin, and Amsterdam saw a slight decrease of women founders between 2020 and 2021. Whereas Milan, Paris, and Zurich are in the top 3 instead. Bigger differences in 2nd tier cities from last year are partially explained by the improvement of the sampling method. This is most visible in the case of Vienna, that remains a top ranked city, but sees a correction of the percentage following an increase of the sample size. {{page}} {{page}} Amsterdam has seen many organisations pop up aiming at empowering female entrepreneurs, so the City of Amsterdam wanted to bring them all under one umbrella and initiate EQUALS - an in-person and online hub for female entrepreneurs and women in tech. Based on current rankings and reports, we still have a lot of work to do, but steps towards our goals are being made with each campaign and initiative. Bas Beekman, StartupAmsterdam Director Minorities: The UK case study {{page}} In the UK, 31% of the total funding was raised by white founders with an elite university education between 2009 and 2019. Whereas, only 9.3% of invest- ments have been raised by non-white founders (Extend Ventures, 2019). Therefore, non-elite educational background and ethnicity are a barrier to VCs' investments. Elitism and ethinicity affect VCs' funds raising Source: Extend Ventures 2019 VCs should dedicate development and mentoring programs for underrepresented founders who may not otherwise have access to funding networks. By providing funding, along with mentoring and educational training, VCs can help to bridge the diversity gap and make new founders a reliable and investable option {{page}} Oliver Holle, Managing Partner at Speedinvest Average Funds Raised by Founder Origin after Acceleration Source: Startup Heatmap List and Crunchbase Many founders from Southern Europe and CEE make the move to join accelerators in industrial countries of Europe. However, they do not have the same chances to raise funding on average. Among >3,115 tracked accelerator participants in industrial countries, the ones originally from CEE and the Mediterranean raised significantly less on average. Average Funds Raised by Founder Origin after Acceleration Founders from CEE and Southern Europe raise less {{page}} Open region How can Europe make its startup success sustainable? {{page}} The Open Region View Own chart, based on: Schmidt, et al. Open region: Creating and exploiting opportunities for innovation at the regional scale. European Urban and Regional Studies, 2018. Startups blur regional boundaries Ecosystems can relate to startup processes in multiple ways. Some startups relocate and new ones join, while others pass through, maybe for an accelerator program. Successful regions find ways to leverage all sorts of relations. European startup journeys Different places can have different kinds of benefits along the startup journey. Startups are born in locations with top universities, but need to move away to test their business cases to slightly larger 2nd tier cities and finally to raise funds they will move to financial centers. However, we see startups growing and re-investing in all regions they touch. The Open Region View {{page}} Dr. Tina Ruseva, Founder & CEO Mentessa GmbH The world has never been more connected before. This creates an abundance of opportunities for business and society, but it comes with the price of unprecedented interdependence, too. We can see it in the example of the pandemic or wars, which used to hold more regional effects, and now influence the economy on a global scale. {{page}} While before the pandemic the percentage of foreign-born founders was around 27% it has sharply increased to 37% today. However, a large part of these are non-European immigrants. Among European the rate of founders living abroad is 29%. This number is much higher than the population average and increased over time as well. Source: Startup Heatmap Survey 2021 37% of founders in Europe are foreign-born Founder Migration {{page}} Founder Migration Who moves the most? {{page}} Source: Startup Heatmap Survey 2021 Somewhat surprising is that the highest founder mobility is recorded by founders coming from Western Europe (Germany, France, etc.) with 38% of founders living abroad today. From Southern Europe we see an emigration rate of 31% and also from the UK there is a sizeable outflux. It shows that mobility does not depend on countries' specificities. {{page}} Taking all migration effects together including the immigration from outside Europe in, we see that the UK has the highest surplus of founders having 36% more founders in their country after migration. That shows that even a large outflux of founders can be compensated by openness to new foreign founders coming in. Only the CEE region so far has an overall negative effect based on migration. Who benefits from migration? Source: Startup Heatmap Survey 2021 Founder Migration {{page}} 62% of startups have a presence in more than 1 country Source: Startup Heatmap Survey 2021 By expanding swiftly to many international locations startups access resources and growth opportunities in various places at once, benefiting of the permeability of open regions. Transnational Setup {{page}} The movement of work to digital during the pandemic has made it easier to recruit qualified new employees from various cultural and professional backgrounds and organize project-based help through platforms like Upwork or LinkedIn, allowing us to work effectively and productively with people from all over the world. Paul Rösler, Co-Founder of Oxari Startups based in western region countries are most transnational Both in terms of employees abroad and investors abroad, startups from western region countries are most transnational, closely followed by startups from the UK and Ireland. Transnational Setup Source: Startup Heatmap Survey 2021 {{page}} {{page}} Source: Startup Heatmap Europe / Linkedin (data refers to February 2021 – February 2022) Trend in remote hiring increases interconnectivity With an increase in the numbers of remote jobs, startups can tap even more into foreign talent pools. Service providers have sprung up that make the hiring abroad less burdensome than before. However, due to corporates moving into the remote hiring area aswell, startups who were previously the only ones offering such flexible working conditions lose a competitive advantage. Increased Trend to Remote Work Dr. Tina Ruseva, Founder & CEO Mentessa GmbH Remote work changed the rules of the game. With people of all backgrounds, on all devices, collaborating anywhere with anybody, connecting and activating new talent becomes a critical challenge for any organization. This new level of diversity will be driving the transformation of the workplace and the economy for years to come. {{page}} Startup Cities Growing entrepreneurs Universities are a breeding ground Number of identified startup founders among alumni of local universities Top Entrepreneurial University Locations Many universities have taken on a more entrepreneurial focus in the past year and a vivid student entrepreneurship scene has developed, taking advantage of connected incubators and grants. Looking at where the most founders studied, we can see some surprising strongholds. {{page}} Source: Crunchbase Source: Stackoverflow Where are the developers? Number of Developers per City {{page}} By looking at registered users on the popular developer forum Stackoverflow.com and their current locations, we get an idea where Europe‘s largest pockets of active developers sit. London, Moscow and Istanbul are the largest pools followed by Berlin and the Spanish cities Madrid and Barcelona. {{page}} Lively Tech Meetup Scenes Around Europe Source: Meetup.com Meetup.com gives us a rough idea of the quantity of meetup events and also attendance. By tracking events in over 100 cities we were able to create a per capita comparison of the number of event participants on tech meetups. Top 10 meetup locations per capita {{page}} Top 10 meetup growth locations Lively Tech Meetup Scenes Around Europe Source: Meetup.com We do not only want to look at the status quo, but also the dynamics that are unfolding inside the tech scene. By analyzing the growth of the meetup scene we get an idea which locations are expanding and maybe will also be more important startup scenes in the future. {{page}} With the pandemic, the talent competition has become even stiffer. Companies are redefining their strategies not only in talent management but the strategy at their core. It’s all about talent. Being able to work from everywhere had an important impact on the great number of international talent that just decided to move to the city. Considering they're not forced to attend to the office anymore, or even if they have to travel once in a while, they chose Barcelona to start a new life. Miquel Martí, CEO Tech Barcelona Startup Cities Accelerating Startups Source: Startup Heatmap Europe On the Startup Heatmap we track calls for startups that offer growth support of any kind. On any given month, startups have between 60 and 80 opportunities to apply to. We identified around 30 opportunities that have no deadline and are accepting applications year round. The number of opportunities does fluctuate somewhat over the year, and 2021 saw a particular strong first quarter. Some of this might have been catch-up effects after the pandemic. How many startup competitions are there to win? Number of Opportunities Over Time {{page}} Number of Opportunities by City Source: Startup Heatmap Europe More equal distribution of startup competitions than funding Although there are more opportunities in the top hubs, it is impressive how much is coming out of smaller ecosystems. In our database we track opportunities for startups in more than 100 cities all over Europe. {{page}} {{page}} Timisoara’s support services ecosystem is growing faster than the number of startups, as more programs are available for pre-seed and seed categories. I see that the low number of tech startups in Timisoara is mirrored also in other cities that I monitor from Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Austria. Incubators and accelerators from these countries are recruiting and advertising their programs here, offering financing for relocation. This signals that there is more money available than entrepreneurs. Razvan Valceanu, Entrepreneur, Trainer and  Community Developer Source: Startup Heatmap List {{page}} COVID dent in accelerated startups has been overcome in 2021 2020 as the first year of the pandemic saw a sharp decrease in startups participating in accelerators. But this dent has been overcome in 2021, and the numbers returned to a trend of steady increase visible over the previous years. Number of Startups Accelerated Over Time Relocation of Accelerator Participants {{page}} While many startups participate in accelerator programs in their home city, 26% of all accelerator participants relocated temporarily for the program. 30% even crossed borders to participate in an accelerator program. These numbers are significant, because participants from different cities create links between ecosystems. Source: Startup Heatmap List 56% of startups move temporarily for accelerators Relocation of Accelerator Participants Over Time Source: Startup Heatmap List Relocation is a reinforcing trend Over the past five years, the ratio of startups that move for accelerators has increased from 49% to 62%. This trend is especially driven by startups that move to a different country to participate in an accelerator program there. {{page}} While the numbers of accelerated startups are obviously higher in big hubs like London, Paris or Berlin, accelerators in smaller ecosystems often attract more startups from other regions or even from other countries {{page}} Source: Startup Heatmap List Smaller ecosystems with more international guests Relocation of Accelerated Startups Per City Number of Funding Raised by Accelerated Startups by City {{page}} Why it can be worth to be accelerated out of the big hubs Source: Startup Heatmap List and Crunchbase The average follow-up funding startups that participated in accelerator programs were able to attract varies between ecosystems. However, startups that participated in accelerated in some smaller ecosystems, notably Tallinn were able to outraise the likes of London, Paris or Berlin. Startup Cities Boosting Scale-Ups Source: Startup Heatmap List and Crunchbase Investment Purchasing Power {{page}} While London might be the biggest hub in terms of investing, if you ask how much this money is worth the picture changes. Taking the median cost of a senior developer as a baseline Berlin, Paris, and Stockholm have a higher purchasing power per startup (around 140 developers). Munich, Tallinn and Porto follow shortly afterwards where startups could have hired 100-120 developers on average with the money raised. Money to scale Source: Startup Heatmap Survey 2021 Best "Access to Industry" ratings In the Startup Heatmap Survey we asked founders to rate the quality of access to industry in the startup hubs they know. On average 78.5% of founders rated it positively (8 out of 10 or better). The places with the highest ratings are Frankfurt with 92% followed by Munich (91%) and London (91%). Corporate Relations {{page}} Ease of Doing Business Where is Doing Business the easiest? Source: Startup Heatmap Survey 2021 Another growth factor are favorable business regulations. We again asked founders in the survey how they rate the business environment and saw an average approval rate of 69%. However, some hubs like Stockholm (97%), Dublin (97%), and Tallinn (96%) really excel in this metric. {{page}} Most Important Target Markets {{page}} Source: Startup Heatmap Survey 2021 Where are the markets? Asking European founders where they see their most important target markets over 40% say the US, followed by Germany. Interestingly the UK lost in importance and now ranges below Southern Europe with only 9% of respondents naming the UK as their most important target market. Last year this number stood at 15% still. Mapping the offices of unicorns in Europe reveals a relatively dispersed pattern: 688 offices are spread over 145 cities in 38 countries showing that unicorns do not only operate from one location but hire employees and pay taxes all over Europe. However, centers like London, Paris or Amsterdam attract the highest share of expanding unicorns. Source: Startup Heatmap Europe Unicorn Office Tracker Expansion Destinations for Unicorns Unicorns expand all over Europe {{page}} Type of Expansions London is the dominant expansion destination in Europe Source: Startup Heatmap Europe Unicorn Office Tracker While offices of unicorn companies are present in many European cities, London is by far most prominent in this indicator. Most branch offices can be found traditional financial centers such as Paris and Amsterdam. {{page}} Increasing presence in financial centers {{page}} Compared to 2018, the offices of unicorns are clustered more in traditional financial centers, such as London, Paris or Dublin. Cities that are rather known for their startup scene like Berlin or Stockholm decrease in importance relatively. However, this numbers might be biased through recent IPOs. Source: Startup Heatmap Europe Unicorn Office Tracker Expansion Destinations Over Time Survey Results EUROPE'S MOST POPULAR STARTUP CITIES Since 2016 the Startup Heatmap Europe Survey is one of the longest running surveys on founder sentiments answering questions like which is the most popular startup hub, how does the US and Europe compare in founder opinions and how bright or dim do founders see the future in their local startup hubs.  Find in the following the ranking of the most popular startup hubs based on founder opinions. The question we ask founders since 2016 is: Where would you start your company if you had free choice. Founders can pick three hubs from a list of over 200 cities larger than 250,000 inhabitants in geographical Europe. The survey's audience are Europe-based founders we invite actively to participate in the questionnaire based on a pre-screening. Also a small portion fills the survey directly on our website. Find all results and live updates of even more data points on www.startupheatmap.eu. {{page}}  Sample of >24,000  Pre-Selected Founders Equal Distribution by Region >1,300 Founder Votes collected Timeline Comparison since 2016  The Startup Heatmap Europe Survey Founders' Favorite Startup Hubs Rank City % of Founder Vote Change of Rank 1 Berlin 37.36% 0 2 London 33.09% 0 3 Barcelona 20.01% +1 4 Lisbon 16.36% +2 +6.74% 5 Amsterdam 16.17% -2 -1.28% 6 Tallinn 9.20% +3 +0.06% 7 Paris 8.28% 0 -1.25% 8 Munich 7.55% -3 -2.59% 9 Stockholm 7.12% +1 +0.94% 10 Madrid 6.43% +3 +0.77% 11 Zurich 5.92% -3 -3.27% 12 Milan 5.77% +5 +2.32% 13 Porto 5.67% +5 +2.33% 14 Dublin 5.37% -3 -0.57% 15 Vienna 5.01% -3 -0.82% 16 Warsaw 4.35% 0 +0.25% Change of % -1.56% -3.29% +2.69% {{page}} {{page}} Founders' Favorite Startup Hubs Rank City % of Founder Vote Change of Rank 17 Valencia 3.66% +25 18 Brussels 3.51% +25 19 Rome 3.49% +50 20 Copenhagen 3.24% -6 -1.94% 21 Helsinki 3.05% +2 +0.69% 22 Athens 2.61% +10 +0.70% 22 Belgrade 2.61% +38 +1.88% 24 Tel Aviv 2.28% -9 -1.86% 25 Antwerp 2.17% +63 +1.97% 26 Riga 2.12% +2 +0.05% 27 Sofia 2.09% +12 +0.65% 28 Palma de Mallorca 1.89% +12 +0.45% 29 Luxembourg 1.85% -5 -0.46% 30 Bucharest 1.82% -11 -0.88% 31 Budapest 1.67% +21 +0.53% 32 Vilnius 1.65% +15 +0.47% Change of % +2.25% +2.19% +2.98% Founders' Favorite Startup Hubs Rank City % of Founder Vote Change of Rank 33 Hamburg 1.60% +4 34 Malta 1.46% -9 35 Duesseldorf 1.45% +55 36 Basel 1.42% +10 +0.23% 37 Nice 1.41% -16 -1.03% 38 Eindhoven 1.35% +10 +0.17% 39 Frankfurt 1.32% -5 -0.34% 40 Prague 1.23% -14 -0.87% 41 Cluj-Napoca 1.19% +10 +0.03% 42 Bratislava 1.17% +29 +0.66% 43 Trento 1.16% +29 +0.66% 44 Utrecht 1.07% +19 +0.52% 45 Stuttgart 1.02% -7 -0.51% 45 Istanbul 1.02% -1 -0.21% 47 Geneva 0.87% -27 -1.57% 47 Oslo 0.87% -20 -1.20% Change of % +0.04% -0.78% +1.31% {{page}} {{page}} Rank City % of Founder Vote Change of Rank 47 Zagreb 0.87% +14 50 Cologne 0.73% -20 Change of % +0.22% -1.29% Founders' Favorite Startup Hubs Category Ratings by Founders Helpful Ecosystem N26 2021: 300mn € Total: 1bn € Business Regulations Value for Money Talent Availability Voted two years in a row the most popular startup hub in Europe, Berlin proves to be founders' favorite. It maintains a solid 39% of founders' vote showing that more than every third founder in Europe could imagine starting their company in the German capital. Those who do are being welcomed by thriving startup community with an ever growing number of meetup participants (+8%) and growing availability of seed capital (+13% avg. annual growth). Not suprisingly founders who say they want to startup in Berlin rate the access to funding, the helpful ecosystem and also value for money way above the European average. Sum of Seed Investments 500k € - 2mn € BERLIN {{page}} Delivery Hero 2021: 300mn € Total: 1bn € #1 Source: Crunchbase Access to Funding Source: Startup Heatmap Survey +202% GROWTH* GetYourGuide 2021: 300mn € Total: 1bn € Source: Dealroom.co Industry Connections Job Creation Measured by Avg, Number of Openings per Month +13% AVG. GROWTH Source: Linkedin Jobs Total Venture Capital Invested over Ttme * based on 3-year averages 2016-2018 vs. 2019-2021 Top Rounds 2021 Source: Startup Heatmap Who is Who 178 BERLIN Top 5 Job Creator Share of Female Founders Badges Size of the Meetup Scene Source: Startup Heatmap #1 Startup Support Organizations Number of Developers Top Accelerator Programs Startups participating in hub:raum raised 128.7mn € Top 5 Fintech Hub {{page}} Source: Startup Heatmap List Source: Meetup.com Startups participating in APX by Axel Springer & Porsche raised 74.8mn € Startups participating in next big thing raised 5.2mn € Source: Stackoverflow Top 5 Expansion  Location Industry Connections Revolut 2021: 747mn € Total: 1.59bn € Job Creation Measured by Avg, Number of Openings per Month Value for Money Business Regulations After Brexit London had to pass the crown of the most popular startup hub in Europe to Berlin, but still 33% of founders voted for the British capital as one of the 3 places they could imagine to startup in. This is mainly due to extremely high ratings of access to funding, friendly business regulations and industry connections. The continuous growth of VC funding over the past years (+231%) and a record of 21.48bn € raised by startups in the UK certainly underscore its continued importance and leadership in Europe's startup scene. -3% AVG. GROWTH Talent Availability * based on 3-year averages 2016-2018 vs. 2019-2021 Access to Funding Bit-stocks Limited 2021: 1.76bn € Total: 1.76bn € Total Venture Capital Invested over Ttme Source: Dealroom.co Category Ratings by Founders Froxt 2021: 467mn € Total: 588mn € Source: Crunchbase #2 Sum of Seed Investments 500k € - 2mn € +231% GROWTH* {{page}} Top Rounds 2021 Source: Startup Heatmap Survey Source: Linkedin Jobs LONDON Helpful Ecosystem Number of Developers Startups participating in CyLon London raised 70.8mn € Source: Startup Heatmap Who is Who Size of the Meetup Scene Source: Stackoverflow Top Accelerator Programs Source: Startup Heatmap List Top 5 Developer Hub Top 5 Fintech Hub Startup Support Organizations {{page}} LONDON Startups participating in Entrepreneur First raised 1.46bn € Badges Top 5 Expansion  Location Source: Startup Heatmap #2 Share of Female Founders Source: Meetup.com Startups participating in Barclays Acceleratory raised 285mn € 341 BARCELONA Source: Dealroom.co #3 Helpful Ecosystem Wallapop 2021: 130mn € Total: 160mn€ {{page}} Business Regulations Category Ratings by Founders Top Rounds 2021 TravelPerk 2021: 130mn € Total: 338mn € Talent Availability Access to Funding Value for Money Glovo 2021: 450mn € Total: 1bn € Source: Linkedin Jobs Job Creation Measured by Avg, Number of Openings per Month Source: Crunchbase Source: Startup Heatmap Survey Industry Connections +10% AVG. GROWTH Total Venture Capital Invested over Ttme Sum of Seed Investments 500k € - 2mn € +65% GROWTH* * based on 3-year averages 2016-2018 vs. 2019-2021 Having left Amsterdam behind, Barcelona increases its popularity by 2.69% points and closes the gap to the top 2. A solid 20% of European founders name Barcelona as one of the hubs they could imagine to startup in, This might have to do with the increase of Venture Capital flowing into the Catalan capital. In 2021 startups in Barcelona collectively raised more than 2bn € for the first time. The 3 year average from 2019-2021 is up 65% versus 2016-2018 and also seed financing between 500k - 2mn € increases steadily with an average annual plus of 10% over the last 3 years. Share of Female Founders {{page}} Source: Startup Heatmap Who is Who Top 5 Global Connectivity Size of the Meetup Scene Top Accelerator Programs #3 Startups participating in Wayra Barcelona raised 99.2mn € Startup Support Organizations Source: Stackoverflow Source: Startup Heatmap Badges 83 Source: Startup Heatmap List BARCELONA Source: Meetup.com Number of Developers Startups participating in Connector Accelerator raised 7.3mn € Startups participating in SeedRocket raised 36.3mn € Category Ratings by Founders LISBON Business Regulations #4 Sum of Seed Investments 500k € - 2mn € Access to Funding Total Venture Capital Invested over Ttme -59% GROWTH* Value for Money {{page}} Balancer Labs 2021: 22mn € Total: 30mn € Industry Connections -49% AVG. GROWTH Casafari 2021: 12.7mn € Total: 119mn € Source: Linkedin Jobs Source: Dealroom.co Lisbon has developed a strong attraction for founders from all over Europe and it climbs another 2 ranks in the list of Europe's most popular hubs since last year. 16.36% of founders have voted for the Portuguese capital citing mainly its value for money, supportive ecosystem and talent availability as strong points of the ecosystem. This has spurred the growth of a buzzing local startup scene with over 43,000 meetup attendees in 2021 and a female founder share of 23%. It pays off as founders are adding an approximate 104 jobs per month to the local economy. This is despite the fact that Lisbon has not yet attracted large sum of investments and has seen even a decline in startup financing since 2018. Top Rounds 2021 * based on 3-year averages 2016-2018 vs. 2019-2021 Talent Availability Stratio 2021: 10mn € Total: 14.4mn € Job Creation Measured by Avg, Number of Openings per Month Source: Crunchbase Source: Startup Heatmap Survey Helpful Ecosystem LISBON Startups participating in Building Global Innovators raised 23.5mn € Source: Stackoverflow Source: Startup Heatmap List Number of Developers Top Accelerator Programs Size of the Meetup Scene Startup Support Organizations Share of Female Founders Source: Startup Heatmap Badges Startups participating in beta-i raised 264mn € Source: Startup Heatmap Who is Who Source: Meetup.com 50 {{page}} #4 Top 5 Female Founder Hub AMSTERDAM Access to Funding MessageBird 2021: 746mn € Total: 1bn € * based on 3-year averages 2016-2018 vs. 2019-2021 #5 Picnic 2021: 600mn € Total: 1bn € Helpful Ecosystem Sum of Seed Investments 500k € - 2mn € Talent Availability 4.14bn € was the total sum of investments raised in Amsterdam in 2021. That is the result of a 603% long-term growth of investments comparing the 3-year average of 2016-18 with 2019-21. This did not go unnoticed with founders and 16% of European entrepreneurs say they could imagine to startup in Amsterdam. Most attractive seem to be the entrepreneur-friendly business environment, the high availability of tech talent as well as the overal purpose orientation of the startup scene. Measured by the conversations of founders on social media, Amsterdam ranks in the top 5 of European hubs in terms of how often issues of sustainability and ecology are discussed. Category Ratings by Founders Job Creation Measured by Avg, Number of Openings per Month +603% GROWTH* Source: Dealroom.co Source: Crunchbase Value for Money {{page}} Mollie 2021: 665mn € Total: 900mn € Source: Startup Heatmap Survey Total Venture Capital Invested over Ttme Source: Linkedin Jobs Industry Connections Top Rounds 2021 +5% AVG. GROWTH Business Regulations Top 5 Investment Growth AMSTERDAM Badges Source: Stackoverflow Top Accelerator Programs Startups participating in Antler Amsterdam raised 3.6mn € Source: Meetup.com Startup Support Organizations {{page}} Source: Startup Heatmap List Startups participating in Startupbootcamp Amsterdam raised 82mn € Source: Startup Heatmap Who is Who 63 Number of Developers Startups participating in rockstart raised 123mn € Top 5  Developer  Hub Top 5 Purpose  Orientation #5 Source: Startup Heatmap Share of Female Founders Size of the Meetup Scene Helpful Ecosystem Value for Money Job Creation Measured by Avg, Number of Openings per Month Business Regulations Total Venture Capital Invested over Ttme Source: Crunchbase +70% AVG. GROWTH Ever since the early days of Sykpe, Estonia and Tallinn have been on the map of European tech. Reaching the 6th rank among Europe's most popular startup destinations, Tallinn shows healthy signals on many indicators. The 3 year average investment growth is through the roof with a plus of 365% and the total investment sum in 2021 scratching the 1bn € mark. Early-stage investments have recovered after a slump in the pandemic, growing 70% annually over the past 3 years. Female entrepreneurship is solid with 25% of founders being women and startup support programs like Alpine House by Superangel and Startup Wise Guys or Tehnopol offer supportive infrastructure for incoming new startups. Veriff 2021: 64mn € Total: 179mn € Bolt 2021: 600mn € Total: 2bn € Access to Funding Skeleton Technologies 2021: 51mn € Total: 205mn € Category Ratings by Founders Top Rounds 2021 +365% GROWTH* Talent Availability * based on 3-year averages 2016-2018 vs. 2019-2021 TALLINN Source: Dealroom.co Industry Connections Source: Linkedin Jobs #6 Sum of Seed Investments 500k € - 2mn € Source: Startup Heatmap Survey {{page}} Source: Startup Heatmap List Startups participating in CyberNorth by Startup Wise Guys raised 4.9mn € Source: Startup Heatmap TALLINN 55 Top 5 Value for Money Number of Developers Share of Female Founders Top 5 Ease of  Doing Business Startup Support Organizations Startups participating in Alpine House by Superangel raised 2.01bn € Source: Stackoverflow Source: Startup Heatmap Who is Who {{page}} #6 Size of the Meetup Scene Top 5 Female  Founders Hub Top Accelerator Programs Source: Meetup.com Badges -17% AVG. GROWTH Top Rounds 2021 {{page}} Source: Linkedin Jobs Job Creation Measured by Avg, Number of Openings per Month +171% GROWTH* * based on 3-year averages 2016-2018 vs. 2019-2021 Sum of Seed Investments 500k € - 2mn € Access to Funding Contentsquare 2021: 466mn € Total: 757mn € Talent Availability Sorare 2021: 650mn € Total: 689mn € Category Ratings by Founders Value for Money Source: Crunchbase Business Regulations Total Venture Capital Invested over Ttme Source: Startup Heatmap Survey Industry Connections PARIS One of the leading hubs for investments in startups in Europe with a formidable startup support ecosystem, ample talent pools and great industry connections, Paris struggles to reach the top ranks when it comes to international founder popularity. Glued to the 7th rank, Paris convinced roughly 8% of European founders as a place to startup in. Those who do find an active meetup scene of more than 100,000 followers and support in successful accelerator programs like the Family or La Maison des Startups by LVMH at Station F where alumni have raised more than 500mn € since 2017. Source: Dealroom.co Helpful Ecosystem #7 Mirakl 2021: 517mn € Total: 884mn € Top 5 Developer Hub Startups participating in The Family raised 668.7mn € {{page}} Top 5 Industry Connections PARIS Top Accelerator Programs Badges Number of Developers Source: Startup Heatmap List Startups participating in Station F - La Maison des Startups LVMH raised 514.58mn € Source: Meetup.com Source: Startup Heatmap Startup Support Organizations Startups participating in 50 Partners raised 5.2mn € Size of the Meetup Scene Source: Stackoverflow Share of Female Founders Source: Startup Heatmap Who is Who Top 5 Expansion  Location 163 #7 Category Ratings by Founders Source: Crunchbase Source: Dealroom.co +709% GROWTH* {{page}} Access to Funding Top Rounds 2021 #8 * based on 3-year averages 2016-2018 vs. 2019-2021 Source: Startup Heatmap Survey Celonis 2021: 930mn € Total: 1.25bn € Munich has made itself a name for high-tech and B2B solutions. Unicorns like Celonis, Flixbus or atai Life Sciences show that the industrial hub in Southern Germany can compete internationally when it comes to groundbreaking innovations. In fact Munich was the 4th fastest growing startup hub over the last 3 years in Eurioe, has the 3rd best ratings for startup-industry connections, hosts the 5th most offices of unicorns and creates the 3rd most startup related jobs in Europe. With PlugAndPlay Insurtech Munich hosts one of the most successful startup accelerators in the world whose alumni since 2017 raised more than 2.1bn € already. Business Regulations Sum of Seed Investments 500k € - 2mn € +8% AVG. GROWTH Job Creation Measured by Avg, Number of Openings per Month Industry Connections atai Life Sciences 2021: 146mn € Total: 323bn € Value for Money Source: Linkedin Jobs MUNICH Flixbus 2021: 606mn € Total: 1bn € Total Venture Capital Invested over Ttme Talent Availability Helpful Ecosystem Share of Female Founders Number of Developers Source: Startup Heatmap Who is Who Source: Stackoverflow Size of the Meetup Scene {{page}} Source: Meetup.com Source: Startup Heatmap List Badges Startups participating in Media Lab Bayern raised 12.5mn € #8 Startup Support Organizations Startups participating in Wayra Germany raised 121.5mn € Top 5 Industry Connections 53 Top 5 Investment Growth Startups participating in PLUGandPLAY - InsurTech raised 2.1bn € Source: Startup Heatmap Top Accelerator Programs MUNICH Value for Money Source: Dealroom.co Source: Linkedin Jobs Top Rounds 2021 Access to Funding Kry 2021: 262mn € Total: 550mn € Source: Crunchbase northvolt 2021: 2.56bn € Total: 5.6bn € Job Creation Measured by Avg, Number of Openings per Month Business Regulations Industry Connections Source: Startup Heatmap Survey -13% AVG. GROWTH Klarna 2021: 930mn € Total: 3.5bn € Total Venture Capital Invested over Ttme Stockholm remains in the headlines for its remarkable unicorns reaching one record after the other. With northvolt Stockholm hosts the best funded impact unicorn in Europe and with Klarna the leading Fintech startup too. The constant growth of Stockholm-based startups has allowed the city to further increase its total funding by 241% comparing the time span 2019-2021 vs. 2016-2018. At the same time Stockholm also has proven to investors that it can succeed in exits ranking in the top 5 in Europe in terms of total Exit sums. While there is many positives to mention, one stands out: Stockholm also has shown leadership in diversity with its share of female founders reaching more than 20%. Helpful Ecosystem +241% GROWTH* * based on 3-year averages 2016-2018 vs. 2019-2021 Talent Availability #9 Category Ratings by Founders Sum of Seed Investments 500k € - 2mn € {{page}} STOCKHOLM Top 5 Exits Hub Share of Female Founders Source: Meetup.com {{page}} Size of the Meetup Scene Source: Stackoverflow #9 Startup Support Organizations Source: Startup Heatmap Who is Who Source: Startup Heatmap List STOCKHOLM 98 Source: Startup Heatmap Badges Number of Developers Top Accelerator Programs Top 5 Female Founders Hub Startups participating in Sting raised 47.9mn € MADRID Source: Crunchbase #10 Value for Money A new entry in the top 10 of most popular hubs is Madrid. Increasing 3 ranks since 2021, Madrid attracted 6.43% of the founder vote making it the 2nd Spanish city in the top 10. At the same time Madrid joined the club of what we call "unicorn ecosystems" in 2021 as local startups collectively raised more than 1bn € in 2021. In fact, Madrid had one of the strongest growth rates with a plus of 134% of the 3-year investment average 2019-2021 versus 2016-2018. Even better, the growth of the funding is also apparent in early stages where Madrid saw a 49% average growth over the past 3 years. Today, Madrid is one of the leading expansion locations for startups in Europe and sees around 160 jobs created in the startup sector each month. Top Rounds 2021 Helpful Ecosystem Category Ratings by Founders Industry Connections Tiko 2021: 57mn € Total: 116mn € Job Creation Measured by Avg, Number of Openings per Month Business Regulations * based on 3-year averages 2016-2018 vs. 2019-2021 Clikalia 2021: 60mn € Total: 1bn € Sum of Seed Investments 500k € - 2mn € {{page}} Source: Linkedin Jobs +134% GROWTH* jobandtalent 2021: 441mn € Total: 1.25bn € Source: Startup Heatmap Survey +49% AVG. GROWTH Access to Funding Talent Availability Source: Dealroom.co Total Venture Capital Invested over Ttme Top 10 Developer  Hub Number of Developers 41 Badges {{page}} Source: Startup Heatmap Source: Startup Heatmap Who is Who Top Accelerator Programs Share of Female Founders Top 10 Expansion  Location #10 Size of the Meetup Scene Startup Support Organizations Source: Meetup.com Source: Startup Heatmap List Startups participating in Wayra Madrid raised 166mn € Source: Stackoverflow MADRID Startups participating in esa BIC Madrid raised 11.2mn € Zurich misses the top 10 after a drop in popularity of 3 % points compared to last year. This is despite a healthy ecosystem outlook based on various metrics. For example there is good access to funding in Zurich, particularly in the early-stages where we see an average growth of 27% of the past 3 years. The local meetup scene is relatively large with over 33,000 followers. Further Zurich ranks in the top 5 in terms of Ease of Doing Business rankings with a solid 85% approval rate. However, total funding levels have not skyrocketed like in other hubs and despite its strong position in crypto startups, Zurich does not see global inflow of entrepreneurs on the scale of the leading hubs in Europe yet. * based on 3-year averages 2016-2018 vs. 2019-2021 Vergee 2021: 111mn € Total: 111mn € Top Rounds 2021 Category Ratings by Founders Source: Linkedin Jobs {{page}} Helpful Ecosystem Source: Startup Heatmap Survey Job Creation Measured by Avg, Number of Openings per Month #11 +148% GROWTH* Industry Connections +27% AVG. GROWTH Business Regulations Access to Funding PriceHubble 2021: 32mn € Total: 32mn € Talent Availability Source: Dealroom.co Total Venture Capital Invested over Ttme Sum of Seed Investments 500k € - 2mn € ZURICH SkyCell 2021: 32mn € Total: 91mn € Source: Crunchbase Value for Money Startups participating in F10 raised 134.4mn € {{page}} Source: Startup Heatmap Top Accelerator Programs Share of Female Founders Source: Stackoverflow Top 5 Ease of Doing Business Source: Meetup.com Source: Startup Heatmap Who is Who Startup Support Organizations Badges Top 5 Global  Connectivity #11 Source: Startup Heatmap List Size of the Meetup Scene Startups participating in esa BIC Switzerland raised 55.3mn € ZURICH 121 Number of Developers #12 Everli 2021: 85mn € Total: 135mn € Industry Connections Business Regulations Sum of Seed Investments 500k € - 2mn € Source: Crunchbase Access to Funding +36% AVG. GROWTH +77% GROWTH* Casavo 2021: 50mn € Total: 300mn € * based on 3-year averages 2016-2018 vs. 2019-2021 Source: Dealroom.co Talent Availability Up 5 ranks from 2021, Milan reaches 12th rank among the most popular startup hubs in Europe. The seed funnel of early-stage investments shows particular strength with a 36% increase on average in the past 3 years making Milan one of the fewer hubs in Europe where it got easier for new startups to raise their seed round. With a buzzing support scene Milan has clearly managed to be the uncontested leader of Italian startup hubs. This is also mirrored in the high number of international startups establihsing 2nd offices in Italy. Also in terms of female entrepreneurs Milan is ranking 5th among large cities. Source: Linkedin Jobs Value for Money Top Rounds 2021 Scalapay 2021: 150mn € Total: 700mn € Source: Startup Heatmap Survey Total Venture Capital Invested over Ttme Helpful Ecosystem {{page}} Category Ratings by Founders MILAN Job Creation Measured by Avg, Number of Openings per Month 172 Startups participating in Digital Magics raised 116mn € Startups participating in BioUpper raised 2.9mn € MILAN {{page}} Startup Support Organizations Share of Female Founders Top 5 Female Founders Hub Source: Meetup.com Top 10 Expansion  Location Top Accelerator Programs Badges Source: Startup Heatmap Who is Who Number of Developers Source: Startup Heatmap List #12 Size of the Meetup Scene Source: Stackoverflow Source: Startup Heatmap LOQR 2021: 8mn € Total: 10mn € Sum of Seed Investments 500k € - 2mn € PORTO Category Ratings by Founders Source: Linkedin Jobs -40% AVG. GROWTH Infraspeak 2021: 10mn € Total: 15mn € Talent Availability #13 {{page}} Look, look! Porto has made a remarkable appearance on the Heatmap with a 5 rank jump to position 13. Over the past years the prominence of Portugal's second city has continuously increased and while still less known than Lisbon, Porto attracted votes of 5.7% of all the founders participating in the Startup Heatmap Survey in 2021. This is 2.33% points higher than the year before and places Porto well inside the top 5 of the fastest growing hubs in the ranking in terms of popularity. Also Porto's good ratings for value for money and talent availability are remarkable! Top Rounds 2021 Industry Connections Source: Crunchbase Job Creation Measured by Avg, Number of Openings per Month Value for Money Source: Startup Heatmap Survey Source: Dealroom.co * based on 3-year averages 2016-2018 vs. 2019-2021 Jscrambler 2021: 13mn € Total: 15mn € Business Regulations Total Venture Capital Invested over Ttme Access to Funding Helpful Ecosystem Source: Startup Heatmap List {{page}} Source: Startup Heatmap Badges #13 Source: Stackoverflow Source: Meetup.com Startup Support Organizations Top Accelerator Programs Number of Developers Size of the Meetup Scene 32 Share of Female Founders Top 5 Popularity Growth Top 5 Value for  Money PORTO Source: Startup Heatmap Who is Who Industry Connections Source: Crunchbase GH Research 2021: 116mn € Total: 116mn € Despite the decrease of popularity since 2017 Dublin has remained always in the top 15 of most popular startup hubs. Currently, 5.37% of Europe's founders chose the Irish capital as a place they could imagine to startup in. This might also have to do with the formidable ease of doing business rating: 97% of founders rate Dublin's business regulations very or extremely good. In 2021 Dublin also accessed the club of unicorn ecosystems for the first time, with local startups collectively raising 1.23bn €. Category Ratings by Founders Top Rounds 2021 Talent Availability BrowserStack 2021: 186mn € Total: 232mn € Source: Startup Heatmap Survey Job Creation Measured by Avg, Number of Openings per Month Value for Money Total Venture Capital Invested over Ttme #14 * based on 3-year averages 2016-2018 vs. 2019-2021 Helpful Ecosystem +12% GROWTH* DUBLIN -13% AVG. GROWTH {{page}} Sum of Seed Investments 500k € - 2mn € Source: Linkedin Jobs Access to Funding Source: Dealroom.co Business Regulations Wayflyer 2021: 71mn € Total: 592mn € Startups participating in The Yield Lab raised 76.9mn € #14 57 Source: Startup Heatmap Source: Stackoverflow Startups participating in NDRC raised 98mn € Number of Developers {{page}} Source: Meetup.com Top Accelerator Programs Size of the Meetup Scene Top 5 Female  Founders Hub Top 5 Ease of Doing Business Source: Startup Heatmap Who is Who Source: Startup Heatmap List Share of Female Founders DUBLIN Startup Support Organizations Badges VIENNA * based on 3-year averages 2016-2018 vs. 2019-2021 Value for Money {{page}} #15 +145% GROWTH* Industry Connections Total Venture Capital Invested over Ttme Source: Linkedin Jobs Bitpanda 2021: 158mn € Total: 508mn € Business Regulations GoStudent 2021: 70mn € Total: 639mn € Job Creation Measured by Avg, Number of Openings per Month Sum of Seed Investments 500k € - 2mn € Helpful Ecosystem Talent Availability Source: Crunchbase Top Rounds 2021 Adverity 2021: 112mn € Total: 155mn € Source: Startup Heatmap Survey With 5% of all European founders naming Vienna a suitable place to start their company the Austrian capital is among the top destinations for entrepreneurs from East and West. As a bridge-builder to the Central Eastern European region, Vienna scorse traditionally highest with founders from the Balkans. 2021 was a particular strong year for Vienna with crypto currency trading platform Bitpanda and GoStudent reaching unicorn status with their latest rounds. Among the large cities with more than 1mn inhabitants Vienna also has the highest share of female founders, reaching 19.2 % in the 2021 sample with more than >20,000 observations across Europe. +23% AVG. GROWTH Access to Funding Category Ratings by Founders Source: Dealroom.co Startups participating in Elevator Lab raised 116mn € 78 Share of Female Founders Source: Meetup.com Badges Startups participating in Female Founders raised 5.5mn € VIENNA Source: Startup Heatmap Who is Who #15 Startup Support Organizations Size of the Meetup Scene Top Accelerator Programs Number of Developers Source: Startup Heatmap List Startups participating in inits raised 160mn € Source: Startup Heatmap Top 5 Female Founders Hub Source: Stackoverflow {{page}} Speak to us 1:1 SUPPORT Work with our team of experienced experts to identify the right proxies for your ecosystem Multiple 1:1 sessions over 3-4 weeks to support your data gathering and analysis efforts Finalization of the findings by our team in a presentation for internal or external purposes. FREE MEASURE YOUR ECOSYSTEM'S HEALTH Speak to us HEALTH CHECK Free self-service tool to be used by anyone Many case studies with example indicators and benchmark data Simplified visual toolkit to assist strategic team discussions Template to create a full-scale Ecosystem KPI dashboard ECOSYSTEM HACK  Develop a joint vision for your ecosystem with a series of stakeholder workshops in hybrid format Inspiring guest speakers from international ecosystems Hands-on workshops to develop a vision and concrete action plans Proven methodology based on the Ecosystem Canvas by DEEP www.startupheatmap.eu/ecosystem-building A short note  on our services You can't Grow What You can't Measure Build Your Ecosystem Strategy Based on DEEP's Toolkit for Mapping, Benchmarking and Project Development