Austria has 7 cities in the top 1000 and has a vibrant startup scene that ranks 25th within the competitive global top 30.
Since 2023, Austria lost 2 spots in the Global Startup Ecosystem Index, having now positioned itself as 25th worldwide.
Austria’s startup economy is focused on the fields of information technology, media, and life science, as well as creative industries. The country has the potential to become a powerful European startup hub. Austria offers entrepreneurs an investment friendly tax system and a support network for acquiring funding. For instance, the Ministry of economics has been working to simplify the process of starting a new business by putting forward the New Companies Promotion Act (NeuFöG). In addition, organizations such as ABA-Invest in Austria are doing a great job of promoting the nation as an ideal location for early stage funding and government support.
Austria has a vast supporting network of early-stage investors, incubators, accelerators, angels, and VCs based in Austrian StartUps, the Austrian Angel Investors Association, and the Austrian Venture Capital and Private Equity Organisation. One of Europe’s most active VCs, Speedinvest, is headquartered in the Austrian capital. The most important funding sources in Austria are the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) and Austria Wirtschaftsservice (AWS). They offer non-repayable grants, guarantees, and subsidized loans.
With such strong support for startups, it is no wonder that Austrian unicorns, GoStudent and Bitpanda, have attracted international attention, putting Austria on the map for international investors. These recent public sector activities are welcome, especially those focused on the promotion and branding of the Austrian startup ecosystem. The previous approach of relying on Austria’s R&D capabilities has lacked effective marketing, resulting in missed opportunities and substantial losses, such as the inability to continue the iconic Pioneers startup event in Vienna after 2019. The emergence of the high profile ViennaUp event is a step in the right direction to attract talent and brand the global value of Austria’s startup ecosystem. Since 2019, the Austrian Startup Agency has been following the progress of the 37 recommendations it made for the government to help the startup ecosystem realize its full potential.
Austria enjoys a central location in the heart of Europe where it can act as a bridge between numerous markets to the West (including Germany and Switzerland, which share the same language) and the East (including Slovakia, Slovenia, and Croatia, all an hour away). Foreign talent is therefore within reach. Moreover, the country offers the Austria Golden Visa Program under which immigration through investment is possible. In the future, we hope to see Austria capitalize more on such strategic advantages.
Understand our ranking methodology and get the latest insights on the startup ecosystems of 100 countries and 1000 cities around the world!
Austria is ranked within the top 30 startup ecosystems globally.
Austria’s startup scene is best represented in Education, Energy & Environment, and in and Fintech.
2023 National Rank & Change | City | Global Rank & Change | Total Score | Quantity Score | Quality Score | Business Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st 0 | 70th + 1 | 8.802 | 00.00 | 00.00 | 00.00 | |
2nd 0 | 256th - 5 | 1.849 | 00.00 | 00.00 | 00.00 | |
3rd 0 | 285th + 35 | 1.504 | 00.00 | 00.00 | 00.00 | |
4th 0 | 466th + 25 | 0.576 | 00.00 | 00.00 | 00.00 | |
5th + 2 | 696th + 120 | 0.259 | 00.00 | 00.00 | 00.00 | |
6th - 1 | 749th - 24 | 0.226 | 00.00 | 00.00 | 00.00 | |
7th - 1 | 826th - 34 | 0.186 | 00.00 | 00.00 | 00.00 |
On our map, you can explore a total of 157 startups for Education.
In Western Europe, Austria's Energy & Environment is in top 15. Austria has a concentration of about 37 of the region's total Energy & Environment startups that are represented on our map.
Austria's Fintech is ranked 22nd in the world. Our database contains 30 for this industry.
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