by Florian Kandler
Increased startup funding and more deals than ever: Austria has truly been seeing a funding boom in the last years! In 2018, the money invested in startups grew by an impressive 63%: 99 companies raised €237m in total. A strong signal! Startups in Austria are maturing and founders successfully attract both national and international capital to fuel their growth.
The Startup Report Austria in its latest and 4th edition is the most complete, freely available, yearly list of startup funding above €250.000 over the past year. The startups’ founders validated all of the information in the report. Hence, it is a compendium of startup knowledge, insights and tips. On top of that: A series of startup ecosystem insiders share their expert knowledge and perspectives in guest articles and Q&As. Let’s dive deeper into the reports’ insights:
Top trends of the Startup Report Austria
53% more deals than last year across all categories: be it 250k-500k or deals above 5 million. They all increased compared to 2017. Even the number of deals in the range of 1 – 2 million grew (19 deals in 2018 vs. only 11 deals in 2018) – this is a range, that is often hard for founders to raise money for, because it is too much money for business angels, and too little money for many VCs.
The money invested even grew by 63%, from 145 million in 2017 to 237 million in 2018. The top 11 startups raised more money than all 66 startups listed in the Startup Report Austria 2017. A strong signal that startups in Austria are maturing and that founders successfully attracted national and international capital to fuel their growth.
A closer look also reveals that total investment amounts for larger funding rounds (above €2 million) grew faster than smaller funding deals below 2 million. Large rounds grew by 66% (€183 million vs. €110,2 million), while smaller rounds only grew 54% (€ 54,6 million vs. € 35,4 million).
Carinthia, Styria, Tirol and Vorarlberg are gaining ground
Vienna is being chased by several states: Non-Viennese startups raised 39% of all capital and closed 36% of all funding deals. Styria is #2 in 2018 in numbers of deals (12) and has thus surpassed Upper Austria (10). Carinthia has seen two large deals (Bitmovin and Symvaro), boosting it to #2 behind Vienna in terms of the highest total of capital raised in 2018.
Maturing funding ecosystem
A continuously growing base of smaller investments and an even faster increase of larger funding amounts into more mature startups show that there are several startups in Austria that are growing up from being “teenagers” to being real global contenders for success.
You want to gain further insights and inspiration from founders who secured funding for their startups? Get your free copy now for a limited time: www.startupreport.at.
About the author
Florian Kandler, 3-time founder, mentor and startup enthusiast, shares his 10 years of startup knowledge and experience in closing 3 funding rounds with VCs and Angels in Europe and the US to younger founders on GetFunding.how and in his podcast series Gründer&Zünder.