The Spanish entrepreneurial ecosystem has reached maturity and needs to look for new ways to revitalize itself and grow its business model. This is the main conclusion of the Entrepreneurship Map 2024, developed by South Summit in collaboration with IE University. The map reflects how startups already reach an average age of 3.19 years and follow a constant consolidation and growth with respect to the 3.12 years registered in 2023. In addition, 2 out of 10 startups in Spain are already scaleups, which is three percentage points more than the previous year and is also a symptom of this growing maturity.
However, the report highlights the need for the ecosystem to revitalize itself and, in this way, increase its economic figures, which have remained unchanged in the last five years. And the fact is that only 18% of Spanish startups present a positive EBITDA in 2024, a figure that has remained largely unchanged since 2017.
In addition to the difficulty in breaking the EBITDA ceiling, there is a freeze in the real income of startups: since 2018 the percentage of Spanish entrepreneurs with at least 150,000 euros of revenue in their projects has remained at around 35% without major changes. And the same goes for startups with large (over €500k) and medium revenues (between €150k and €500k), stuck at 10% reflecting no major variations.
The Entrepreneurship Map 2024 also warns of a steady decline in hiring expectations by Spanish startups. While they remain positive, with 60% expecting to increase their workforce in the short term, this percentage has been steadily declining since the 76% recorded in 2021.
What must the Spanish entrepreneurial ecosystem do to leave this situation behind and revitalize itself? The answer, according to the president and founder of South Summit, María Benjumea, lies in “knowing how to adapt to new technologies. The ecosystem is mature, with highly qualified companies and entrepreneurs with a great capacity for learning, but together we need to revitalize the ecosystem and keep it growing”.
Benjumea pointed out at the presentation of the Entrepreneurship Map 2024 that “the Startups Law, promoted among all the actors involved in the ecosystem, is now celebrating two years of success. This law is not the end but the beginning of the road to continue working together, promoting the growth of startups and increasing their capacity to attract investment.
IN MOTION: PURPOSEFUL MOVEMENT OF THE ENTIRE ENTREPRENEURIAL ECOSYSTEM
In this context, Benjumea announced the slogan of the next edition of South Summit Madrid 2025, to be held between June 4 and 6: “In Motion means that at South Summit we are very clear that we need a movement with purpose, in which we all participate and that has an impact on others, on the economy and on the planet”.
Precisely, one of these new fields of growth is Artificial Intelligence, which is already the technology most used by Spanish startups: 30% of them claim to use it in their day to day, which implies a significant growth of 10 percentage points compared to 2022. Although there is still room for improvement, as its use still lags behind startups in North America (almost 40%) or in Europe as a whole (35%).
For the development of the Entrepreneurship Map 2024, more than 3,000 startups registered for the Startup Competition at the last edition of South Summit Madrid were analyzed, 81% of which were international. In this regard, Juan José Güemes, Vice President of IE University and President of IE Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, stressed that “IE University is an institution founded by and for entrepreneurs. We work to consolidate an ecosystem of entrepreneurship and innovation worldwide. As a reflection of this, 30% of our graduates, present in 185 countries, decide to become entrepreneurs during their professional career”.
THE SKETCH OF THE SPANISH ENTREPRENEUR
The incorporation of women into the ecosystem continues to be a pending issue in Spain: the 80%-20% ratio of male and female founders in Spanish startups has not changed in more than a decade. As a result, the sketch of the Spanish entrepreneur remains unchanged: male with an average age of around 38. They are characterized by their high level of academic training, as almost 100% have university studies, 63% of which are complemented by a master’s degree -a percentage above the European average (59%)- and 17% have a doctorate -which is above the North American average but 4 points below the European average as a whole-.
In addition to their high qualifications, perseverance is also a trait that defines the Spanish startupper: 58% of them are serial entrepreneurs, that is, they have participated in the creation of at least two startups in their life. Of these, 54% say they have previously failed, while 35% have managed to sell their startup.
The gender gap in exits is also very present, as the percentage of women entrepreneurs who have managed to sell their startup is 12 percentage points lower than that of men (24% vs. 36%). This data would explain why the percentage of women serial entrepreneurs (38%) is much lower than that of men (63%).
HEALTHCARE AND FINTECH
According to the report prepared by South Summit and IE University, Spaniards have two favorite sectors when it comes to entrepreneurship: Healthcare and Fintech. These fields are also the ones with the longest startups, with an average of between 4 and 5 years in the case of healthcare startups and between 1 and 3 years in the case of Fintech projects. At the sectoral level, Green Business, which burst onto the Entrepreneurship Map last year, has established itself as the fourth most represented industry in 2024.
In terms of employment, 7 out of 10 Spanish startups have between 2 and 10 employees – 2% more than in 2023. If we talk about founders, it is worth noting that startups founded solely by women show an upward trend over the last three years, rising from 6% in 2022 to 10% in 2024. On the opposite side of the scale, mixed teams of founders have slowly decreased over the same period, from 35% to 31%, while male founders remain stable at 59%.
In addition, all the regions analyzed by the Map show a clear positive trend when it comes to filing patents and protecting startups’ own developments. This includes Spain, which goes from 15% to 20% of startups claiming to have developed a patent by 2024. Despite this, Spain continues to lag behind in this aspect when compared to other regions such as North America (30%) or Asia-Pacific (33%).
In terms of startup financing, equity funding rose from 44% in 2023 to 49%, consolidating its position as the most popular method, while private funding fell 4 points to 29% . Public funds, on the other hand, fall from 7% to 5%.
B2G: A MARKET TO BE EXPLORED
The Entrepreneurship Map 2024 has also analyzed the profile of clients targeted by Spanish startups, with B2B dominating the market either as an exclusive client (31%, 4 points more than in 2023) or combined with end consumers or public administrations (47%). On the other side of the scale are B2C startups, which only represent 7% of the market, 2% less than last year.
On the other hand, this report points to B2G, or Business to Government, as a minority business model but one that can be of great interest to startups.” In Spain only 6% of startups have public administrations as clients, while in other markets such as in Europe as a whole the percentage rises to 11% and in Asia-Pacific to 19%,” revealed Salvador Aragón, Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) at IE University. “Just like AI, public administration can represent a great opportunity for new startups and innovative ideas to be born,” he said.
For her part, Engracia Hidalgo, delegate of Economy, Innovation and Finance of the City Council, pointed out that “we have a very restricted system of access to the provision of services, so we must be able to modify the regulations so that startups can access the Public Administration”.
In the same vein, Daniel Rodríguez, Deputy Minister of Economy and Employment of the Community of Madrid, said : “Madrid right now is a competitive advantage for any entrepreneur, the fourth city in the EU. Our mission from the administrations is not to put sticks in the wheels of entrepreneurs, we still have room for improvement as clients of startups”.
The presentation was also attended by Jesús Herrero, general director of Red.es, who positively valued “the impact of the entrepreneurial ecosystem as a driving force in our country. To support it we have several axes of activity that facilitate Spanish startups their entry into the most innovative ecosystems in the world or participation in the most important technology and entrepreneurship meetings worldwide.”
