WK Vienna: Start-up boom in Vienna continues

2023-08-02 04:01:37

Highest half-year number of business start-ups in Vienna for more than ten years. Ruck: “Confirmation of the high quality of Vienna as a business location”

Vienna (OTS) – In the first half of 2023, 4,943 companies were founded in Vienna, 6.6 percent more than in the previous year. The start-up capital of Austria – a quarter of all start-ups happen in Vienna – thus achieved the highest half-year value for more than ten years. “This high level of start-up activity is once again confirmation of the attractiveness of Vienna as a business location. Current economic data also shows that Vienna is able to hold its ground economically well above average. This is mainly due to the fact that we in Vienna – also through intensive cooperation with politicians and social partners – manage to maintain and expand the heterogeneity of the business location. This variety of industries and company sizes also makes the Viennese economy as a whole more resilient when times are difficult. In turn, the many founders contribute to this,” says Walter Ruck, President of the Vienna Chamber of Commerce.

Young people want to start a business

Vienna’s founders are around 36 years old on average. It is particularly exciting that the proportion of founders under the age of 30 is constantly increasing: “The fact that Vienna is particularly interesting for young founders has become increasingly apparent in recent years,” says Clemens Schmidgruber, CEO of Junge Wirtschaft Wien. A look at the half-year figures shows that this trend is now slowly gaining ground throughout Austria: the proportion of founders under the age of 30 has increased by almost two percent compared to the first half of 2022. “This is exactly where we at Young Business Vienna see great potential,” he emphasizes. “The younger people in our society want to lend a hand and take on responsibility, and we should give them this opportunity. We are therefore committed to making it possible for particularly talented young people from the age of 16 to start their own business.” Specifically, Schmidgruber calls for the exceptions to founding a company, which already exist, for example for school projects (without a trade license), to be expanded. Together with legal experts and the young people affected, we are currently working out suitable solutions,” explains Schmidgruber.

Facilitate digital start-ups and shorten the official marathon

In order to do better justice to the digital age, Schmidgruber also calls for an end to the gauntlet of e-founding. Because: Currently, only the company forms sole proprietorship and one-person GmbH can be founded using e-founding via the company service portal (USP). The justizonline.gv.at portal can be used to set up a registered sole proprietorship (eU) or a partnership (OG, KG). A notarial deed is mandatory for any other GmbH formation or change. The business registration for the sole proprietorship and the one-person GmbH can in turn be made via the USP. Registered sole proprietorships, OGs and KGs must use justizonline.gv.at for changes to the commercial register entry. “The e-founding was created to shorten the whole official marathon and to simplify the founding – but the current situation is above all chaotic,” says the CEO and calls for a uniform platform through which all the processes mentioned can be completed quickly and easily. “The emphasis is also on fast – because it sometimes takes longer to process start-ups submitted online than those in analogue form.”

“The figures prove once again: Vienna is not only the most liveable city in Austria, but also the city where many great ideas are born and successful companies are founded. It is all the more important to continue to break down hurdles for founders and, in particular, to get tomorrow’s entrepreneurs on board today. Because they are innovative, creative and not only play with their left hand on the social media keyboard, they are also not afraid of change and often approach problems more impartially – if we let them.”

Start-up service of the Vienna Chamber of Commerce

The start-up service of the Vienna Chamber of Commerce is the first point of contact for people who want to set up a company in Vienna. In addition to an extensive online offer, free information sheets and brochures, it also offers telephone consultations, start-up web seminars and personal consultations. All information at gruenderservice.at/wien