2025 BARCELONA GLOBAL en

The survey aims to gain insights from entrepreneurs in Barcelona to identify key strengths, challenges and opportunities of Barcelona as a scale-up hub. Feedback from these scale-up founders will help us pinpoint areas for improvement and strengthen Barcelona's ecosystem for growing businesses.

Barcelona Scale-Up Ecosystem: Insights from Founders

A project by:

In collaboration with:

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Barcelona

Scale-Up Monitor 2024

The Scale-Up Monitor is a report designed to track and analyse the growth of scale-up companies in a specific region.

Largest ecosystem for startups in Southern Europe

Second-favorite hub of founders in the EU

Scale-ups are companies that have progressed beyond the startup phase and achieved significant growth in revenue or number of employees. This study includes a comprehensive survey and three focus groups to provide in-depth insights into the factors driving scale-up success and the challenges encountered.

Second-largest startup hub with the highest number of founders from local universities in the EU

Fifth-largest ecosystem in the EU in terms of the number of scale-up

Fifth-largest hub in the EU in terms of funding rounds attracted by startups in venture capital in the 2019-2023 period

ACCIÓ,2023

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Average profile of a Scale-up Founder

Among the non-Spanish founders, 14% are from the EU and 9% are from outside the EU.

77%

of foundersare Spanish

10%

of foundersare female

41%

The majority founders are between the ages of 31 and 40

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76%

How was your company founded?

12%

4%

2%

2%

2%

2%

Independently

University

Hospital research institute

Venture Builder

Incubator/Accelerator

Science Park

Other

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As of 2024, where are the headquarters of your company?

6%

Barcelona

29%

Rest of Spain

65%

Rest of the EU

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53%

Family or personal reasons

22%

Barcelona’s quality of life

Why did you choose Barcelona´s region to set up your company?

12%

Attraction of international professionals to Barcelona

10%

Access to right employees at the right salaries

6%

Good european connections

Other reasons

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41%

Non-business friendly regulations

37%

What are the 3 key areas you believe can be improved in Barcelona?

Tax environment

33%

Lack of funding

Other issues

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34%

21%

18%

17%

9%

2%

41%

33%

24%

Are there any specific barriers that are preventing your company from growing?

22%

20%

18%

14%

14%

12%

4%

Access to funding

Income tax

Regulation related to my business

Corporate tax

Tax on stock options

Wealth tax for me and my business partners

Difficulties to attract talent

International transport connections

Administrative procedures for me and my employees

Administrative procedures to setup and run my business

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12%

Manufacturing

11%

Digital Healthcare

10%

Transportation and Logistic

In which sector/s is your company developing its activity?

9%

Hospitality, travel and tourism

9%

Convenience products such as food and drink, detergents, basic hygiene, etc.

Are there any specific barriers that are preventing your company from growing?

7%

Financial Institutions and professional services

6%

Digital and Media

• Barcelona’s ecosystem is highly diversified, essential for a dynamic scale-up hub.

• Major sectors: healthcare, manufacturing, consumer products, and hospitality.

• Data and advisory committee insights guided the focus group selection.

5%

Electronic devices

5%

Energy

4%

Automotive industry

4%

Sustainability

2%

Life Sciences

2%

Education

14%

Other

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What are the main challenges for you company?

18%

Selling internationally

Access to funding

25%

63%

Finding talent

45%

Other

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25%

Between 11 and 30

24%

More than 100

How many employees does your company have?

24%

Between 31 and 50

20%

Between 51-99

7%

Less than 10

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What is the percentage of non-Spanish nationals amongst your employees?

Less than 25%

12%

10%

How many employees does your company have?

Between 25-50%

39%

39%

More than 50%

90% of companies employ international staff, and 84% have employees from outside the EU, highlighting the importance of international talent for scale-ups in Barcelona

None

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How many people do you plan to hire in the next 18 months?

Between 1 and 10

6%

A Significant Improvement in Talent Availability: Only 25% of scale-ups faced talent access challenges in 2024 (down from 34% in 2021). Management Talent: 55% of companies found needed management professionals in 2024 (up from 31% in 2021). Digital Talent: 41% of companies accessed digital talent in 2024 (up from 22% in 2021).

8%

Between 11 and 30

14%

47%

Between 30 and 50

More than 50

25%

None

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18%

Business angels

17%

Local venture capital

What are your main funding sources?

15%

Bank loans

International venture capital

15%

Founders rated seed funding in Barcelona at 3.8/7, down from 4.2/7 in 2021.

13%

Public funding

Corporate venture capital

13%

Founders rated the availability of growth and expansion funding at 3.41/7, down from 4.39/7 in 2024.

Self-funding / friends and family

6%

3%

Crowdfunding

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22%

22%

18%

What has been the total amount of funding raised by your company?

16%

14%

10%

Since October 2023

Despite the ongoing challenges of accessing funding, those who succeed are attracting significant investments. 22% of founders in our sample secured over €20 million, up from 12% in 2021, indicating a more mature and selective funding environment.

More than €20 million

Between €0.1 - €1 million

Between €1 - €3 miilion

Between €5-€20 million

Between €3 - €5 million

None

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Do you have plans to go through new investment rounds in the next 18 months?

Yes

37%

No

63%

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41%

Personal life

Talent availability

31%

25%

Interesting entrepreneurial ecosystem

Cost base

22%

Interesting market opportunities

12%

What do you value the most in Barcelona’s region?

Part of an international network of cities

8%

Convenient intercontinental transport connections

6%

4%

Convenient European transport connections

Security

4%

Quality of digital infrastructures

4%

Schools

2%

2%

Business friendly regulations and procedures

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What percentage of sales do you record outside of Spain?

Less than 25%

18%

24%

Between 25-50%

More than 50%

16%

42%

None

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Where do most of your sales outsides of Spain go?

22%

Mostly EU

Half EU, half non-EU

54%

24%

Mostly non-EU

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Calls to action 2025

Challenges

Calls to action

Access to Funding

It is crucial to generate more investment particularly in the early stages by attracting international investors and offering better tax incentives. Implement programs that support public-private co-investment. Although the Spanish Startup Law addressed some entrepreneurial needs, it should better cater to investors.

Regulatory Barriers

Implement stable and favorable policies for the entrepreneurial sector like tax reductions and streamlined procedures. Support startups with grants, scholarships, and tailored regulations. Simplify bureaucracy and strengthen intellectual property laws to protect innovations at all stages

Finding Talent

Promote the generation and retention of talent throug enhancing university-company collaboration to align training with sector needs and drive innovation. Provide updated training for professionals, and adopt an inclusive approach to attract diverse talent.

Collaboration and Support Among Key Players

Establish collaborative networks and infrastructures. Facilitate networking among entrepreneurs, investors, and support entities. Develop mentorship programs, create accesible coworking spaces, and provide advanced tech and R&D resources. Establish innovation centers and accelerators, offer professional services for startups, and encourage collaboration in open innovation.

Selling Internationally

Support startups in international expansion with expert advice and connections. Develop tools or platforms to connect entrepreneurs with potential clients locally and globally.

Entrepreneurial Culture

Promote entrepreneurial culture through Implementing entrepreneurial education in schools and universities. Offer ongoing workshops and seminars focused on business skills. Foster a culture of entrepreneurship through campaigns and events, celebrate local successes, and promote mindset geared towards innovation.

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Barcelona Global is a private, independent and non-profit association composed by 279 of the city's leading companies, research centres, entrepreneurs, business schools, universities and cultural institutions, and more than 1000 professionals aiming to make Barcelona one of the world's best cities for talent, and economic activity.

About us

The association has a network of more than 170 members who are living and working abroad, and 17% of international members that chose Barcelona as their ideal city to live and work in.

Barcelona Global develops strategic proposals for the future of Barcelona, promotes specific projects together with its partners, and mobilizes them so they get to know the city and each other, to ultimately better support and promote Barcelona as a global talent hub.

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Make it happen!

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4%

Barcelona offers good training for my employees

4%

For the support offered by public institutions

4%

It is where my target customers are

2%

Convenience to travel to locations in other continents

2%

This is where the founders were based

2%

For the funding availability

20%

Housing

8%

Security

Bad intercontinental transport connections

6%

6%

Cost base

4%

Difficult access to talent

Lack of interesting market opportunities

4%

Too small or uninteresting entrepreneurial ecosystem

2%

2%

Bad quality of digital infrastructures

2%

Not an international city, too local

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