Hungary has 4 cities in the top 1000 and is the leading startup hub in Eastern Europe.
Hungary’s startup scene saw an increase in 2023 and jumped 1 spot from the previous year, outranking Serbia.
Hungary has numerous mature tech companies, such as well-known scale-ups Prezi, Ustream, and LogMeIn. However, in recent years, the ecosystem has not been able to keep up with its previous progress toward creating a critical mass of high-quality global startups. This is mainly the result of political and economic challenges, and the shortage of local IT talent due to brain drain.
The rift between the EU and Hungary over the country’s controversial judicial reforms have presented challenges for the country’s startup ecosystem and affect its connectivity to the region.
Yet, good news is continuing to arrive from Hungarian startups. For example, a recent exit, AImotive, is a startup specialized in autonomous vehicle technologies. While exits like AImotive are inspirational for entrepreneurs, more such success stories are required to maintain motivation in the ecosystem. There are several advantages for Hungarian entrepreneurs, including a low cost of business related overhead, a low cost of living, and proximity to the European market. Furthermore, Budapest is a popular digital nomad hub in Europe, with innovative coworking spaces and strong startup networks that attract skilled foreign entrepreneurs. The country offers the White Card Visa that allows foreign nationals who work or hold a share in a company outside of Hungary to stay in Hungary for up to two years. Another step towards attracting international talent is the Hungarian Entrepreneur Program. It enables non-European citizens to have temporary residence permits while building their businesses in Hungary.
Besides attracting talent, the government is actively involved in the ecosystem through support initiatives including Hiventures, a government-backed VC firm that became an important player in the local VC scene. There are also several government-backed incubators and JEREMIE (Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises) funds.
Several other initiatives and organizations to support the growth of the Hungarian startup ecosystems, by both the private and public sectors, include government-backed agency Design Terminal, the INPUT program, the National Research Development and Innovation Office NKFIH, Startup Safari, and the ICT Association.
Understand our ranking methodology and get the latest insights on the startup ecosystems of 100 countries and 1000 cities around the world!
Hungary is ranked within the top 100 startup ecosystems globally.
Hungary’s startup scene is best represented in Education, Foodtech, and in Energy & and Environment.
2023 National Rank & Change | City | Global Rank & Change | Total Score | Quantity Score | Quality Score | Business Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st 0 | 134th + 33 | 5.212 | 00.00 | 00.00 | 00.00 | |
2nd + 1 | 626th + 137 | 0.328 | 00.00 | 00.00 | 00.00 | |
3rd - 1 | 637th - 21 | 0.322 | 00.00 | 00.00 | 00.00 | |
4th 0 | 978th - 57 | 0.118 | 00.00 | 00.00 | 00.00 |
On our map, you can explore a total of 76 startups for Education.
In Eastern Europe, Hungary's Foodtech is in top 32. Hungary has a concentration of about 22 of the region's total Foodtech startups that are represented on our map.
Hungary's Energy & Environment is ranked 34th in the world. Our database contains 21 for this industry.
Apply to join hundreds of leading ecosystem developers and represent the Hungary startup ecosystem at no cost.
Join Now! Startup Ecosystem Development is a dynamic topic that requires keeping up with the most innovative policies, developments, and practices in the global startup scene. To bring startup ecosystem developers around the world together and help them to network and share knowledge, we decided to launch the StartupBlink Ecosystem Development Community on Slack. In […]
Download the Barcelona and Catalonia Report Ecosystem Report
Download the Global Startup Ecosystem Index Unlock the full list of Influencers with the StartupBlink Pro Purchase Now Key Insights: US Entrepreneurs are in a much better position to become influencers The United States has 130 influencers, representing 80% of all influencers globally, mainly hailing from major cities such as San Francisco, New York, […]