Europe's Economy Is Going Pro Start-up 📈

According to a recent report by Morgan Stanley, Europe’s economy shrank 7.2% in 2020 under the influence of the Covid lockdown. Keeping in line with global trends, Europe also saw deepening unemployment, bankruptcies and a massive shift in consumer habits. A lot of the industries that were earlier purely physical - education, events, groceries, etc - saw a massive slump in business. This behavioural shift was a cue for creative entrepreneurs to set up disruptive online platforms to cater to such industries.  

The same report by Morgan Stanley now predicts the European economy to rebound with a growth of over 5% in 2021. This growth, it suggests is going to be led mainly by start-ups that are more adaptive towards the changing global behaviour. The start-ups will not only pull endangered industries out of the abyss but also potentially add $2.7 trillion to Europe’s economic output by 2030.

Spain’s Pro Start-up Legislation

Spain has taken the first step towards promoting start-ups in the post-Covid economy by passing a legislation to turn the country into an ‘Entrepreneurial Nation’ by 2030. 

The Startup Act is a 10-year plan intending to simplify setting up shop in Spain as well as bringing in tax concessions and incentives for foreign investments. For this, it plans to assign a budget of approximately $6.6 billion in the next 3 years. So it will be something of a milestone.

Spain may only be one of the few countries in Europe to set up a start-up legislation, but several other European countries are already welcoming and encouraging a start-up driven economy. 

Case in Point? 

Here's a quick list of European start-ups that have received millions of dollars in funding in the last one month to revolutionise industries. 

• Helsinki-based Bob W raised $11.8 million in seed funding to create a tech-driven “ridiculously clean” hotel alternative across Europe - with hopes to pull the hospitality industry out of its slump. The company has already seen 3 times more occupancy rates during the pandemic than other hotels on an average. 
• The Milan-based Everli raised $101 million, Norway-based Kolonial landed $265 million, and Dutch online supermarket Crisp raised $35.7 million in funding to provide online grocery shopping facilities to consumers while adapting to the new “safe” shopping trends.
• The Vienna-based start-up GoStudent is spearheading the European ed-tech movement in a traditionally offline market. The start-up has already raised $83.3 million to expand its e-learning platform across France, Spain, Italy, the UK, Ireland, Turkey, and Greece. 
• French startup Vybe has raised a $2.9 million funding to build a challenger bank for teens. The company hasn't even gone live yet, but over 260,000 teens have already pre-booked their accounts with the company.