The entrepreneurial ecosystem, represented by Startup Valencia, closes the year boasting “record numbers” and with a clear proposal: continue growing. The association takes stock of 2023 and proposes international scaling for the new year to “consolidate the positioning of the Valencian technology hub as a benchmark in southern Europe.”
It ensures that in 2024 it will continue to generate connections in the ecosystem by promoting the physical concentration of startups through hubs and will claim public-private physical spaces “where to enhance the density of innovative projects, share knowledge, act as an icon and become a focus of innovation of the Valencian Community”. The La Terminal project, the space for the association in the Marina of Valencia, is underway and should see the light of day very soon.
In the words of Juan Luis Hortelano, president of Startup Valencia, “our ecosystem is already renowned on the international scene. “It is time to attract the best foreign entrepreneurs to our region to encourage investment and continue positioning Valencia Digital Summit, VDS, as one of the most important technological events in Europe.”
Throughout 2023, the association has exceeded 400 members with the addition of more than 50 new agents, including members, partners and stakeholders, which represents an annual growth of 14%. At the end of the year, there were 350 startups associated with Startup Valencia, an increase of more than 20% compared to the number of partners in 2022, and more than 60 affiliated entities.
The association has an active community of more than 35,000 people, 47% more than the previous year, he explains, “thanks to the internationalization of VDS.” The sixth edition held last October brought together 12,000 professionals from 91 different countries, 600 international investors with an investment portfolio of more than 8,000 million euros and 2,200 startups. There was also growth in the number of corporations participating in VDS, which reached 967 this year, which is 533% more.
The growth data presented are added to those recorded by the Startup Observatory of the Valencian Community of Startup Valencia, which records a 16% increase in the number of startups compared to 2022, with 1,314. The ecosystem entities are 1,677, 14% more.
In terms of investment, Startup Valencia uses data from the Startup Observatory of the Bankinter Innovation Foundation, which ensures that the Valencian hub has increased its volume in the first half of 2023, by 44.6%, “compared to the decreases of 48% registered in Barcelona and Madrid”. In total, Valencia has attracted, in the first six months of the year, 30 million euros and is the third city in Spain in terms of investment attracted.
