Europe’s startup landscape is shifting quickly, with scaleups increasingly driving jobs and innovation across the EU. But the pace of that growth varies sharply from one country to the next.
New companies across Europe are expanding rapidly, and scaleups in Latvia, Portugal and Greece posted the strongest performance between 2023 and 2024, growing more than anywhere else in the EU, particularly in employee numbers. At the other end of the scale, Ireland, Luxembourg and Estonia registered the largest drops over the same period, according to the latest data from the European Scaleup Institute (ESI).
A scaleup is a company that has moved beyond its initial startup phase, validated its business model and entered a stretch of rapid, sustainable revenue growth. These firms have been in existence for 10 years or less and matter because they drive both innovation and employment.
Growth rates are only part of the picture. Measured by the number of scaleups per million population in 2024, Ireland led with 415.3, followed by Sweden at 354.7 and Denmark at 274.3. Romania, Bulgaria and Latvia recorded the lowest figures, according to the European Commission.
Which industries are performing best?
While agriculture and fishing saw the biggest growth between 2023 and 2024, the three sectors where scaleups have expanded most over five years are information and communication, support services, and electricity, gas and steam, according to the ESI.
The electricity and gas industry recorded the steepest climb between 2020 and 2024, propelled by the EU’s energy transition.
Last year, the EU announced a €5 billion initiative aimed at supporting the continent’s most innovative deep tech scaleups. The first investments, however, are not due to be made until this autumn, a task the OECD considers important for ensuring new companies perform as strongly as possible and contribute positively to the economy.
“Significant sums of public money are allocated to incubators for boosting startups and scaleups, a task vital for enhancing competitiveness, innovation, productivity and employment,” the organisation said in a recent report.
