EY’s business consultants have once again analyzed startup funding rounds across Europe and come to a positive conclusion: European startups raised 11 percent more venture capital in 2018 and the number of individual rounds increased by 15 percent. In absolute numbers flowed in 4,199 rounds 21.3 billion euros. Also in Austria increased capital and number of rounds.
Austria in 15th place
In 2018, Austrian companies under the age of ten secured € 173 million – about a quarter more than the year before. The number of rounds doubled to 71. In Europe, Austria ranks 15th. That sounds passable given the size of the country. In a direct comparison with Switzerland and Germany, however, is not quite as good picture. These five figures from the EY Startup Barometer show how little risk capital really flows in Austria:
Small biggest investment rounds
In Germany, the largest ten financing rounds have an average volume of 158 million euros. In Switzerland, the volume of the top 10 deals averaged 63 million euros. Austria’s top 10 have just come to an average of 14 million euros. Thomas Gabriel, Partner and Head Start-up at EY Austria: “In this country, there are still the big ideas for the big capital injections”.
Less than one percent of the cake
Of the 21.3 billion euros that investors put into European startups, Austrian start-up companies have not even secured one percent. Austria’s share of economic output, however, is considerably more than two percent. This shows a gap which should be closed in terms of Austria as a business location, “says Gabriel.
Vienna slips out of the top 20
Vienna has fallen into the top 20 in venture capital in the European city ranking. The investment volume in the Austrian capital has dropped from 119 million euros (2017) to 104 million euros (2018): 26th place, even though the number of rounds has increased from 23 to 43. In Paris, 2.5 billion euros flowed into startups in 2018. That’s 24 times as much as in Vienna. The French capital ranks third in Europe after London (€ 5 billion) and Berlin (€ 2.6 billion).