A new ranking of Europe’s startup hubs by the Financial Times, Sifted and data provider Statista has rated 150 of the best campuses, labs and other institutions offering incubator and accelerator programmes to rapidly-growing tech companies across the continent.
Scores were devised by Statista using a weighted combination of information provided by the centres’ alumni ratings, the industry’s perception of the centre, and the track record of companies that went through the programme.
Munich and Paris dominate the list, hosting five out of 10 of the best-performing hubs — bagging four of the top five spots.
UnternehmerTUM in Munich finished first for the second year running, while its neighbour Start2 Group took bronze —but topped the subrankings for start-up hubs’ networks and best track record.
Zooming out to the overall list, the UK and Ireland boast the most hubs overall (33), ahead of Spain and Portugal which followed with 24; Germany with 19; Eastern Europe with 17; and Scandinavia and the Baltics with 16.
Wondering how other centres ranked in the top 150 list? Check out the full ranking here.
1. UnternehmerTUM
Location: Munich, Germany
Score: 90.182
UnternehmerTUM — now the two-time (and so far only) winner of the rankings — is the startup lab of the Technical University of Munich (TUM), which was founded in 2002 by German heiress Susanne Klatten.
The nonprofit runs 20 programmes designed to guide startups through the essentials of building a company, from prototyping and pitching to venture capitalists to developing leadership skills.
Each year, 5,000 participants join its startup programmes, resulting in the creation of 50 new businesses. One of UnternehmerTUM's strengths is its expansive network, which includes industrial giants like Airbus and BMW, SMEs, regional and international universities, VCs and government departments.
Notable alumni include global transport provider FlixMobility, spacetech company Isar Aerospace and smart thermostat maker Tado.
2. Station F
Location: Paris, France
Score: 88.645
Founded in 2017, Station F was backed by French billionaire founder Xavier Niel as a new hub for French tech. Under the leadership of Roxanne Varza, the hub offers over 30 startup programmes, including its Fighters Programme for entrepreneurs from underprivileged backgrounds and partner-delivered programmes like Microsoft’s GenAI startup accelerator in partnership with GitHub, Mistral, Nvidia and tech consulting firm Cellenza.
Station F’s wide range of programmes and accommodation schemes like Flatmate have attracted over 1,000 startups to the hub, and has played home to buzzy GenAI startups like Mistral, Photoroom and Poolside.
The hub’s dominance in France’s and Europe’s tech ecosystem was underscored by its recent hosting of the AI Action summit.
3. Start2 Group
Location: Munich, Germany
Score: 87.921
Formerly known as German Entrepreneurship, Start2 Group provides support to participating startups, including access to free office space, to help them expand globally. Programmes include helping founders raise their next round and courses targeting different growth strategies and bringing together startups, corporations, universities, investors and government officials.
Start2 was found to have the best network for founders and the best track record, and counts fintech Spreadly and sustainability management platform Footprint Intelligence among its alumni.
4. HEC Paris Innovation & Entrepreneurship Institute
Location: Paris, France
Score: 85.153
HEC Paris Innovation & Entrepreneurship Institute is the entrepreneurship centre of HEC Paris, a world-leading business school which offers accelerator and incubator programmes. One HEC accelerator helps founders launch their startup in 11 weeks; another advises founders trying to shape an inclusive business withsocial impact. They also provide corporate accelerators, like WomenEntrepreneurs4Good (WE4G) to support women entrepreneurs at the early stages of their journey.
5. Founders Factory
Location: London
Score: 84.991
Founded in 2015, Founders Factory offers a venture studio, accelerators and funding for early-stage founders. It partners with corporations on accelerators — like Aviva x Founders Factory Fintech Program — and has a key focus on fintech, climate, deeptech and health innovations.
Alumni include media company Fanbytes, data visualisation platform Flourish and content management system Storyblok.
6. Venture Kick
Location: Schlieren, Switzerland
Score: 84.745
Venture Kick provides startups from Swiss universities with initial funding — a ‘kick’ — in order to increase the number of Swiss spin-outs, accelerating their time-to-market and connecting them to investors and corporations. The philanthropic organisation was the eighth most active investor in Q3 2024 and has supported startups like bio-implant creator Regenosca and VR platform MindMaze.
7. Lanzadera
Location: Valencia, Spain
Score: 84.509
Founded by Juan Roig, Lanzadera offers startups in-person training and access to funding and networks. Its personalised accelerator programme Shuttle pairs founders with startup experts to help them identify problems with their business and develop solutions. Participants are invited to Marina de Empresas to work alongside corporations and angels. Early-stage marketing Neety is currently taking part in its accelerator, alongside agritech Emernova.
8. SSE Business Lab
Location: Stockholm
Score: 84.141
SSE Business Lab is the startup incubator of the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE). It offers current students, alumni or members of staff entrepreneurial programmes, VC and networks of made up of partners and angel. Its three programmes Ideate, Activate and Incubate are tailored to individuals, teams with a business idea to test and startups with a scalable idea respectively.
Companies it has supported include buy now, pay later platform Klarna and e-scooter startup Voi.
9. Startup Autobahn Powered by Plug and Play
Location: Stuttgart, Germany
Score: 83.87
Founded in 2016 by Mercedes-Benz, Plug and Play, Arena2036 and the University of Stuggart, Startup Autobahn connects mobility tech and deeptech startups at all development stages to corporate partners like Aldi and Porsche. It also offers accelerator programmes and funding.
Previously funded companies include digital location company What3words.
10. ESA Business Incubation Center
Location: Paris
Score: 83.444
The ESA Business Incubation Centre (BIC) supports space-related startups and is the headquarter for the larger ESA BIC network made up of 29 hubs. The incubator provides startups with commercialisation programmes, a network of investors and research partners.
