Characteristics of Polish startups
Startups are a relatively new phenomenon in the Polish economy. More and more companies appear on the Polish startup scene, giving employment to dozens of people yearly. The very young age of startups characterizes the market. Every third company operates for three to four years. Regarding location, startups are spread nationwide, with a small share of companies operating in foreign markets. However, the most significant number of startups were registered in the Lower Silesia and Mazovia provinces.In 2022, healthcare startups were the most sought-after by investors in Poland and received the most funding. Investors were also eager to invest their funds in startups from the transportation and delivery and IT and Internet services sectors. Most startups target companies and corporations (B2B) with their products and services. The target group for four in ten startups was individual customers (B2C). The most common product/service offered was applications - web and mobile. SaaS services were also very popular.
In 2023, Venture Capital investments reached 2.1 billion zloty, with the largest funding going to the startup ElevenLabs. This software company that specializes in developing natural-sounding speech synthesis and text-to-speech software.
AI is the keyword that characterizes the products and services of Polish startups
Artificial Intelligence in Polish startups is central to their core products and services. For one in three startups, AI, DeepTech, or Internet of Things are keywords that fully capture the nature of their business product.In 2023, startup funding was much lower than a year earlier. However, the companies' revenue situation is better than a year ago—nearly seven of 10 startups generated revenue. Invariably, the primary source of income remains the sale of content and advertising, products, and services. The vast majority of companies finance their operations with their own funds. Capital from domestic Venture Capital in 2023 amounted to 25 percent, and from foreign Venture Capital, only eight percent. However, financing is not the main barrier to developing startups in Poland. This is because entrepreneurs mainly point to the high cost of hiring an employee, the problem of obtaining financing in the subsequent phases of development, or too much bureaucracy when running a business.
