Rising UP in Spain

Softlanding program for foreign startups

The entrepreneurship ecosystem, specifically for innovation and disruptive business models, is experiencing its best moment to date in Spain. Its vibrant pulse is a reflection of the growth in the creation of startups, a robust cohort of scaleups becoming competitive players domestically and internationally, and an investment environment that supports ever-bigger funding rounds. The Startup Law passed on December 2022 introduced a new framework of tax and labour incentives conducive to higher investment and talent attraction in emerging technology-based companies in Spain so as to bolster its growth.

Venture capital investment trends

Spain is the second fastest-growing startup ecosystem in Europe (x2.7). Investment in startups has reached record highs again in 2024 -aside from the exceptional 2021-2022 Covid period-, which reflects the consolidation of the maturity of the investment activity in startups and scaleups.

Source: Observatorio de startups. Fundación Innovación Bankinter

Advantages to investing in Spain’s

entrepreneurial ecosystem

Access to a domestic market of 49 million people and to the European market with 450 million people.

Point of entry to the Latin American market for European startups, and to the European market for Latin American startups.

Highly-specialized talent from internationally renowned universities and business schools.

Spanish companies and Spanish society have one of the highest ICT adoption and usage rates in the world.

A set of leading global multinationals with ambitious open innovation models.

A highly specialized industrial sector throughout Spain, with its own special programmes for startups.

More than 80 science and technology parks.

Top-rated events and meetings for entrepreneurs.

Booming ecosystem

Booming ecosystem With over 12,000 startups, 400 scaleups and 18 unicorns, and more than 300 incubators, accelerators, and support initiatives, the technology entrepreneurship ecosystem in Spain continues to accelerate its growth and strengthen its position among the most important in Europe. Our country´s ecosystem stands out for its multi-hub structure, with Barcelona and Madrid as the anchors among a growing number of cities and regions that are successfully fostering technology startups, like Valencia, Bilbao, Malaga or Seville, to name just the larger nodes. An estimated 70-80% of the funds raised by Spanish startups comes from international investors, mainly in growth funding rounds, a fact that highlights the strong appeal and keen interest in our country´s entrepreneurial ecosystem for foreign capital.

Top 20 rounds (M€) – 2024

The verticals that received the most venture capital investment during 2024 are: fintech, travel/touristech, and mobility/logistics. By number of deals, however, the most active verticals are heathtech/wellness, software and business/productivity.

Over 10 mega-rounds (those over 50M€) have taken place during this year.

Source: Observatorio de startups. Fundación Innovación Bankinter

Spain is a fertile territory

for co-working

Spain is home to over 2,200 co-working spaces, including public and private sector ones;

this abundance is indicative of an entrepreneurial system that is booming and is recognized as a welcoming environment that fosters entrepreneurship and innovation.

Talent

and human capital

Six Spanish business schools (IESE Business School, IE, Esade, ESIC, EADA and EAE) rank among the European’s top 20 business schools.

Furthermore, the MBAs from 3 Spanish business schools are among the top 10 best European MBA programmes according to the 2024 Global MBA Ranking.

_{^{Source: (Bloomberg Report 2023-24)}}

Global MBA ranking 2023

European Business School

Global MBA ranking 2023
Ranking	Business School	Country
1	Insead	France
2	SDA Bocconi School of Management	Italy
3	IESE Business School	Spain
4	London Business School	UK
5	HEC Paris	France
6	Esade Business School	Spain
7	IE Business School	Spain
8	ESCP Business School	France
9	University of Oxford: Saïd	UK
10	University of Cambridge: Judge	UK
...	...	...
30	Eada Business School Barcelona	Spain

Source: Financial Times

Top 10 fastest-growing countries

for professional developers (2019)

Source: Atomico.

Competitive workforce

In terms of wage costs, Spain remains very competitive compared to other European countries and the rest of the world. Our country places among the top 10 most desirable countries to work for digital workers.

Spain also attracts foreign talent. It is the third destination for European tech talent and the fifth for international tech talent.

Strengths of the Spanish

entrepreneurship ecosystem

IT developer salary (€ per year)

Source: www.salaryexpert.com (data extracted Nov. 2024)

Source: Digital Startup Ecosystem 2017" Mobile World Capital 2018. Atomico, Startup Genome.

Climate
and quality of life

Spain's excellent climate and quality of life are other aspects that entrepreneurs take into account when choosing our country to set up their new businesses.

What we can do
for your startup

Programme

Rising UP in Spain

Rising UP in Spain is a programme that provides a comprehensive menu of support services for up to 50 foreign startups to create their company in Spain.

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Programme

España Latam Scaleup

Discovery program for Latin American startups and scaleups.

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Rising UP in Spain

Testimonials

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WorknMates

Gonzalo Aguero & Angelina Vigliocco Founders

Rising UP in Spain programme first helped us with understanding the market, and then with understanding the legislation and the culture. It has also connected us with great partners who can make our entry much cheaper, simpler and more certain".

Invisible Collector

Pedro Mendes & Miguel Rangel Founders

ICEX-Invest in Spain and the Rising UP in Spain programme have been a major part of our international adventure. They have given us the opportunity to work close to the market, to understand companies and their needs, to be in Iberia's most significant sector clusters".

News

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Events

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Webinar "Why Spain for the Audiovisual Industry"

Online | 09:00 to 10:00 a.m. /

05/27/2025 - 05/27/2025

The Spanish Economic and Trade Office in Seul, PROFILM (Association of Spanish production companies) and ICEX-Invest in Spain are organizing the Webinar “Why Spain for audiovisual industry?” on next 27th May 2025.

Webinar: “Why Spain for a Swedish biopharmaceutical company looking to expand?”

Online: WEBEX platform | 11:00 to 12:15 a.m. /

05/28/2025 - 05/28/2025

The Spanish Economic and Trade Office in Stockholm, Farmaindustria (National Association of the Spanish based pharmaceutical industry) and ICEX-Invest in Spain are organizing the Webinar “Why Spain for a Swedish biopharmaceutical company looking to expand?” on next 28th May 2025.

Webinar: “Looking to expand in the healthcare sector? Why to choose Spain“

Online MS Teams platform | 11:00 to 12:00 a.m. /

06/25/2025 - 06/25/2025

The Spanish Economic and Trade Office in Düsseldorf, the German industry associations BVMed, and VDGH, the Spanish Federation of Healthcare Technology Companies (FENIN) and ICEX-Invest in Spain are organizing the webinar: “Looking to expand in the healthcare sector? Why to choose Spain“ on next 25th June 2025.

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Setting up a company

The different ways in which a company can operate in Spain.

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Aids and incentives

System of funding and incentives for your project.

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Talent

Get to know the Spanish talent pool for your project.

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Visas

Visas and residence permits to live and work in Spain.

Startups

Spain, an entrepreneurial ecosystem at its best

Rising UP in Spain

Advantages to investing in Spain’s