Startup Study 2025 (Tesi Finnish Industry Investment)

Summary

• The study identifies over 4,000 Finnish startup-based companies founded since 2010.p.2
• Finland's startup ecosystem includes roughly 2,000 active early-stage startups and tens of scaleups.p.4
• Startup-origin companies generate approx. €12 billion in annual revenues and employ close to 50,000 people worldwide.p.4
• New startup founding peaked in 2020 with 584 launches and has since dropped to ~270 per year.p.4
• Roughly half of startups are software or IT companies.p.4
• The employees of the 4,000+ identified startups have received almost €3bn in capital gains in less than ten years.p.43

Key insights

1. Early-stage startups themselves contribute only a small fraction of total sales and employment, which come after a few breakout successes mature.p.4
2. Startup activity is heavily clustered around Helsinki, with Espoo, Tampere, Oulu and Turku as other early-stage hubs.p.4
3. Early-stage startups employ some 10,000 people, but once they grow the employment impact is closer to 5x.p.15
4. The peak year for founding startups was 2020, well above the 9-year average of 335 new startups per year.p.18
5. Startup-based firms generate some €12bn of revenues in total, a likely conservative figure.p.14
6. The amount of funding typically increases 2-3-fold between rounds.p.34
7. Funding is driven by large rounds, with the number of annual scaleup rounds small and very volatile.p.27