Barcelona ranks 5th as a startup hub in the European Union in 2022

The Catalan capital is only behind Paris, Berlin, Stockholm, and Amsterdam.

To make this ranking, the consulting firm takes into account parameters such as the number of coworking and accelerators active in the city, the number of unicorns (any technology company that reaches a value of one billion dollars in the process of life of the startup before going public), the traction generated by the main startups and other business and economic indicators.

Lluís Juncà, Director General of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Department of Enterprise and Employment, said that “these data demonstrate Catalonia’s solvent position among the main European startup ecosystems”. For Juncà, “the most important thing is that startups in Catalonia grow in quantity and quality, with a more intensive use of cutting-edge technologies and with proposals very focused on responding to global challenges such as health or climate emergencies”.

In terms of funding and employment, the group of more than 1,900 Catalan startups managed to attract more than 1,400 million euros in investment in 2021, according to data from “Acció” and generate more than 19,000 jobs. This represents a growth of 246% compared to the total raised in 2020.