High potential of Southeast Europe
Slovenian startup companies annually collect around 100 million dollars in startup capital, which places Slovenia at the very top of Southeast European countries. This region is still rather uninteresting on the map of the startup world, but that doesn’t at all mean that startup companies in this part of the old continent don’t have high potential. Exactly the opposite: last year’s sale of Outfit 7 proved that even Southeast Europe can create unicorns, which is what companies worth more than a billion dollars are called. That is the belief in the ABC Accelerator, where they collaborated with EIT Digital to make an overview of startup ecosystems in Southeast Europe. Besides Slovenia, they took startups in Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania and Kosovo under the microscope.

The most successful in attracting investors
It might seem that countries included in ABC Accelerator’s report can’t even follow the biggest startup ecosystem in the region – Bulgaria, which can boast with more than 3000 companies – but it is necessary to point out that these companies are in significantly earlier development stages than, for example, Slovenian companies and consequently also collect less capital. In one year, all three thousand Bulgarian startups collect about as much as four hundred Slovenian startups.

Slovenia leading the Balkan pack
With Slovenia at the helm, Balkan countries have excellent opportunities to commercialize innovations that come from universities and public institutions, to exploit the incredibly strong community of software developers, and to connect accelerators and incubators for rapid company growth. A series of very successful crypto-financings, also led by Slovenian startups, is also contributing to the region’s step to the forefront of European startup ecosystems.

Half a decade of rapid growth
Slovenian companies started developing faster in the last six years, and in the last four years, they’ve collected around 300 million dollars in venture capital. That is six times more than in the entire decade before. But it’s not only important how much venture capital has been attracted by Slovenian companies, what is also important is the fact that more and more startups are capable of financing their development from their own earnings, with no aid from foreign capital.

Foto: In their study, ABC Accelerator and EIT Digital, presented a list of startups with global growth potential, among which they include  Viberate. 


Read the full article on Dnevnik.si (in Slovene).