The Government announced that Catalonia has 2,102 start-ups (data from 2023), the highest figure in the historical series, 4% more than the previous year. This is one of the main conclusions of a study by the Ministry of Business and Labour, presented at a press conference on Wednesday.

The Minister for Business and Labour stated that "the start-up ecosystem is a sign of the Catalan business fabric’s modernity and progress. It is attractive due to its great capacity to attract talent and foreign investment, and it is transformative due to its high level of innovation and modernisation".

With regard to the size of the ecosystem, the document indicates that the number of Catalan start-ups has grown steadily in recent years and has almost doubled since the ecosystem was first analysed in 2016.

In fact, 48% of Catalan start-ups have been created in the last five years, a fact that demonstrates Catalonia's dynamism in this field. From a European perspective, StartupBlink, one of the most internationally renowned consultancies specialising in analysing start-up ecosystems, recently recognised Barcelona as the best start-up ecosystem in southern Europe.

From a sectoral point of view, Catalan start-ups 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%). Other notable sectors include fintech (4.8%), travel and leisure (4.4%), educational technologies (3.8%) and those dedicated to digital content and media (3.6%).

R&D, technology and connection with research

Start-ups have established themselves as one of the most strategic factors for transferring knowledge to the market and having an impact on the economy and society as a whole. In this regard, the report highlights that the Catalan start-up ecosystem has 213 spin-offs, i.e. business initiatives by members of the university or research community, 21% more than in 2022. As a result, Barcelona is the hub in the European Union with the second highest number of founders from local universities, only behind Paris.

This commitment to knowledge and research is also evident from the perspective of the R&D conducted by start-ups: 91% of Catalan start-ups invest in R&D, while more than half (51%) have a patent or knowledge protection system.

The directory of Catalan start-ups

The study is based on data from the digital platform Barcelona & Catalonia Startup Hub, a directory created by the Ministry of Business and Labour in 2016. It features tech companies that are a maximum of 10 years old and have scalable, repeatable business models that could work in global environments and are geared towards rapid growth.