Wondering how to attract foreign startups to your city? You’re not alone.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: most cities don’t lose founders to stronger ecosystems. They lose them to better-promoted ones. Building real advantages is only half the job. The ecosystems that win are the ones that make sure international founders actually hear about them.
In this episode of the Startup Ecosystem Podcast, we spoke with Gabriele Tatzberger, Head of Startup Services at the Vienna Business Agency, about how Vienna has positioned itself as a hub for international startups.
Listen to the Startup Ecosystem Podcast on Apple Podcast or Spotify.
Drawing on that conversation and StartupBlink’s work with ecosystems worldwide, here are six strategies any city can use to attract foreign startups.
1. Develop a Strong Value Proposition
Every city has something founders want. This could be sector-specific talent, an active investor base, regulatory advantages, or simply an affordable, well-connected place to build. The problem is that most cities describe themselves in generic terms. “Business-friendly” and “innovative” are not enough on their own.
To attract foreign startups, get specific. Vienna pairs its famous quality of life with a vibrant and modern startup scene. This helps facilitate collaboration between startups, investors, universities, and the public sector. The best example of this is through ViennaUP, its flagship festival. International founders can see for themselves, before they arrive, that they will be joining a connected ecosystem rather than entering an isolated market.
Identify what genuinely differentiates your city, then build your entire narrative around it.
2. Promote Your Ecosystem to the Right Audience
A strong value proposition only works if foreign startups actually see it. This is where most cities fall short. They create the incentives, design the support programs, and cater to sector strengths. But they get no reach beyond their local network!
Startup ecosystem promotion closes that gap. It means packaging your city’s strengths into clear messages and distributing them through channels international founders already use. This includes ecosystem rankings and reports, newsletters, webinars, podcasts, and global startup platforms.
StartupBlink supports this through three core services: demand generation (reports, webinars, and dedicated portals that collect qualified leads), recognition and visibility (amplifying your ecosystem’s data-backed achievements), and thought leadership (articles, podcasts, and reports that build authority with startup audiences).
Already have the strengths but not the visibility? StartupBlink puts ecosystems in front of 1 million startup ecosystem stakeholders a year, turning attention into applications, partnerships, and qualified leads.
3. Offer Comprehensive Support and Incentives
Relocating to a new country is expensive and disorienting. Cities that reduce that friction win founders.
The Vienna Business Agency model is a useful benchmark. Funding, mentoring, coworking access, introductions to local partners, and hands-on help with bureaucracy, all in one place. Programs like the Vienna Startup Package go further, giving international founders a structured, low-risk way to test the ecosystem before committing.
On the financial side, grants, subsidies, tax breaks, and relocation support all lower the barrier to entry. For a startup choosing between two comparable cities, a meaningful incentive package is often the deciding factor.
Read this article to learn more about the optimal mix of private and public sector funding in startup ecosystem development.
4. Leverage Sector-Specific Strengths
Foreign startups rarely relocate for a generally pleasant business climate. They move for access — to customers, specialized talent, research institutions, and industry partners in their specific vertical.
Vienna focused on digital health, fintech, and green tech, and built its international pitch around those clusters. Your city should do the same: a strong hospital and university network attracts healthtech founders; a deep financial sector attracts fintech; serious sustainability investment attracts climate tech.
Check your city’s ecosystem rankings to see where you already rank competitively. Then, promote those sectors relentlessly. Pair this with regular touchpoints — demo days, founder meetups, and events like ViennaUP — so incoming startups can plug into the network quickly.
Learn more about our recommendations for Startup Ecosystem Promotion in this article.
5. Enhance Quality of Life and Infrastructure
Founders relocate for business reasons. They stay because life is good.
Vienna’s consistently top-ranked living standards are a core part of its startup pitch, and for good reason. Housing, transportation, safety, healthcare, and cost of living directly affect a startup’s ability to recruit and retain talent. Quality of life is not a soft benefit, it’s a hiring advantage.
Infrastructure sends the same signal. Modern coworking spaces, innovation hubs, accelerators, fast internet, and reliable transport tell foreign founders your city takes startups seriously.
6. Simplify Legal and Administrative Processes
Even the most attractive ecosystem loses founders when market entry is slow, confusing, or bureaucratic. For foreign startups, unfamiliar legal systems are one of the biggest deterrents to relocation.
Two moves make the difference. First, streamline the frameworks themselves. Incorporation, visas, employee equity, and taxation should be navigable without a local law firm on retainer. Second, offer dedicated guidance: welcome programs, relocation guides, and founder support desks that walk international entrepreneurs through registration and connect them to the local network from day one.
The easier it is to arrive and operate, the more likely founders are to choose your city.
Attract Foreign Startups by Being Seen
Attracting foreign startups comes down to two things: building genuine advantages and making sure the right founders know about them. A clear value proposition, real support and incentives, sector-specific strengths, high quality of life, and simple market entry create the substance. Promotion creates the reach.
Vienna shows what this looks like when it works. But every city has its story to tell. The challenge is how to tell it to the audience that matters.
StartupBlink helps cities and ecosystem organizations reach 1 million startup ecosystem stakeholders every year through data-driven reports, portals, webinars, and branded content — turning visibility into applications, partnerships, and qualified leads.
