Girona is the fourth city in Catalonia with the most startups

2024-02-10 05:30:46

Girona is the fourth city in Catalonia with more startups (31), the same as Sabadell and only behind Barcelona (1,376), Sant Cugat del Vallès (71) and Terrassa (32). In addition, the capital of the province is the only city in the Girona regions that is among the ten Catalan localities with the most newly created companies, according to data provided to this newspaper by ACCIÓ, the agency for the competitiveness of the company of the Department of Business and Work.

In total, there are 67 startups in the province of Girona (data from the year 2023). Gironès is the region of the demarcation with the most startups (38), followed by Selva (9); Alt Empordà (7), Baix Empordà (6), Pla de l’Estany (4) and Garrotxa (3). According to ACCIÓ’s figures, there are no newly created companies in Cerdanya or Ripollès.

Last Wednesday, the Minister of Business and Work, Roger Torrent i Ramió, announced the global figures ofand Catalonia, which has 2,102 startups, the highest figure in the historical series, 4% more than the previous year. This was one of the main conclusions of a study prepared by ACCIÓ that Torrent, together with the Secretary of Business and Competitiveness and CEO of ACCIÓ, Albert Castellanos i Maduell, presented at a press conference.

The head of Empresa i Treball assured that “the startup ecosystem is a sign of modernity and progress of the Catalan business fabric, it is attractive due to its great ability to attract foreign talent and investment, and it is transformative due to its high power of ‘innovation and modernization’. By councilor Torrent, “we have a crop of startups that makes us very optimistic about the present and especially the future. The Government’s responsibility is to support the growth of this ecosystem, so the sector and the country’s business fabric as a whole will benefit from it.’ In this sense, he added that “startups help to adapt to market developments and find solutions at a technological level, especially in the most disruptive field”.

Regarding the dimension of the ecosystem, the document points out thatand the number of Catalan startups has grown continuously in recent years and has almost doubled since the ecosystem was first analyzed in 2016. In fact, 48% of Catalan startups have been created in the last five years, “a fact that demonstrates Catalonia’s dynamism in this area”, the Government says. From a European perspective, StartupBlink, one of the most prestigious international consultancies specializing in the analysis of startup ecosystems, has recently recognized Barcelona as the best ecosystem for emerging companies in southern Europe, they say.

From a sectoral point of view, Catalan startups are dedicated to health (16.9%), business services and software (15.2%); ICT and mobile (5.7%); food (5.2%) and sustainability and energy (5%). The fields of fintech (4.8%), travel and leisure (4.4%), education technologies (3.8%) or those dedicated to digital content and media (3.6%) also stand out %).

More workers

The report concludes that Catalan start-up companies generate 20,600 jobs (2022 data), 8% more than the previous year. It is the first time that 20,000 workers have been exceeded, having doubled since the start of the historic series. In recent years, Catalan startups have been gaining in size, as 32% of companies have more than 10 employees, a percentage that in 2020 was 18%. Another indicator that demonstrates the maturity of the ecosystem is that 54% of the startups in the ecosystem have a founder with previous experience in creating startups, a percentage that has grown by 9 points in the last two years.

From the point of view of talent acquisition, the analysis highlights that almost one in four Catalan startup workers (24%) are foreigners. In fact, Startup Heatmap Europe places Barcelona as the second preferred startup hub for founders to create a startup in the European Union, only behind Berlin. According to the Secretary of Business and Competitiveness and CEO of ACCIÓ, Albert Castellanos i Maduell, “that for the seventh consecutive year Barcelona is considered the second hub in Europe preferred by startup founders to create an emerging company is a clear sign of maturity and of having an attractive and consolidated ecosystem”.

In terms of business volume, the study points out that Catalan start-ups invoice an aggregate of 2,112 million euros (2022 data), 14% more than the previous year and the highest figure in the series. Currently, 39% of Catalan startups invoice more than half a million euros annually, while in 2020 this percentage was 26%.

In terms of the investment received, during 2023 Catalan startups have closed 288 rounds of financing with a volume of 688 million euros. If longer periods of time are analysed, the report underlines that in the last five years (2019-2023) Catalan start-up companies have raised 5,276 million euros, 231% more than in the previous five-year period.