European Commission's Startup & Scaleup Scoreboard published

The Startup & Scaleup Scoreboard was launched as part of the European Commission's efforts to build a unified picture of the operating environment for growth companies across member states. Finland is included in the Front-runner group of eight countries, together with Estonia, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, Luxembourg, Ireland and France.

"Third place shows that Finland is one of the best places in Europe to build and grow innovative companies. The ranking reflects Finland's strengths in talent, entrepreneurship and the innovation environment.

Finland must continue its determined efforts to develop its growth company ecosystem, as competition for the best founders, talent and investments continues to intensify. At the European level, it is also important to advance the rapid and consistent implementation of the Commission's startup and scaleup strategy across all member states," says Marjo Ilmari, Director, Startup & Scaleup, at Business Finland.

Although Europe's startup and scaleup ecosystems have strengthened in recent years, the report also identifies common challenges. Development is concentrated in the leading countries, while the performance of many member states remains clearly below the EU average. According to the report, the greatest shared challenge is growing companies into internationally significant businesses. In particular, the availability of later-stage growth funding varies considerably between countries, making it more difficult for companies to scale. In this respect, Europe continues to lag behind the United States.

The report points to a common challenge: growing companies into internationally significant businesses. Although Finland performs strongly in the comparison, the availability of later-stage growth funding and the international scaling of companies remain challenges that affect Europe as a whole. The report also notes that competition for talent, investments and growth companies is international, and that supporting company growth requires continuous development.