Luxembourg is a country with a well-developed economy, high credit rating, a diverse and skilled workforce and an advanced digital infrastructure supported by the government. In addition, the Grand Duchy is traditionally considered an excellent launching pad for companies to enter the European Union markets. All these factors attract young entrepreneurs who want to launch or scale their startup.
Thriving startup ecosystem of the Grand Duchy
The government has been investing a lot of money in recent years to support innovative companies and start-ups in Luxembourg. The country is gradually becoming Europe's Silicon Valley as a result. The Grand Duchy has a thriving startup scene that the government is actively backing. This ecosystem includes the startups themselves and several large accelerators and incubators, some of which are private companies and some of which are institutional organisations.
Luxembourg’s startup scene saw an increase in 2023
According to the Global Startup Ecosystem Index, Luxembourg is ranked 34th in the world in 2023, and 17th in Western Europe. In comparison with 2022 the country jumped 6 spots globally.
What is referred to as ecosystem?
The startup ecosystem supports young companies at all stages of development. Participation in special programs such as Fit4Start or one of the incubators in most cases helps aspiring entrepreneurs at the pre-seed stage to reach the funding and launch stage. The ecosystem offers a wide selection of incubators in different fields. The largest of them is the House of Startups, created with the support of the Luxembourg government.
+ 540
startups are present in Luxembourg in 2023
16
incubators and accelerators are helping them
9
support programmes are available for entrepreneurs
The ecosystem unites players that are ready to finance promising innovative companies. Among them are the Luxembourg Ministry of Economy, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, investment funds, venture capital firms and the Luxembourg Business Angels Network (LBAN).
Governmental support for innovations
A very important role is played by the Luxinnovation agency, which acts as a guide throughout the entire path of creating and establishing a new innovative company. The agency offers several public aids aimed at promoting research, development and innovation activities.
+ 200
Luxinnovation’s interactions with startups in 2023
45
startups incorporated in 2023 with support
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Relocation for entrepreneurs and ecosystem for innovative business in 2024
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Luxembourg top startup industries
Startups in Luxembourg are all over the place, covering almost all areas and industries. Nearly 40% of the younger companies in Luxembourg, those less than 10 years old with significant growth potential, are in two sectors: FinTech and IT. HealthTech, Creative Industries, Space, and Generic Business Software are also pretty popular, with shares ranging from 6 to 8%.
Top 6 main application sectors, in which the most startups are represented
IT
Information Technology is hardware and software used to create, store, transmit, manage, and display information and data. Typically applies only to technologies used in a business environment.Startups to follow in this sector: Cascade, Next Gate Tech, Continuous, Zetako.
Finance
FinTech is the provision of financial services using innovative technologies: Big Data, artificial intelligence and machine learning, robotics, blockchain, cloud technologies, biometrics and others. Already for a long time, Luxembourg has had the status of the banking capital of the world, so it is not surprising that this area is developing so actively.Startups to follow in this sector: Motion-s, Estating, Tokeny, Defyca.
Health
Healthtech is the innovative application of technology in the healthcare sector. The sector includes various technological advancements such as software, devices and data analytics to improve the delivery and management of healthcare services.Startups to follow in this sector: The CareVoice, Dropslab Technologies, Viewmind, Aspectra, Pharmony.
Creative
Creative Industries are associated with the creation or use of knowledge and information. These include advertising, architecture, fine arts, film, music, publishing, research and development, toys and games, television and radio, and video games.Startups to follow in this sector: Salonkee, Global fashion Group, Aiva Technologies, Anote Music, UNIGINE, Greenworlder, Theone.
Business
Generic Business Software is software available for use. These are completely off-the-shelf products already developed by an organization that the customer can immediately download and use to complete a task, such as MS Excel.Startups to follow in this sector: Emma, APIDNA, SustainCERT, ScoreChain, Doctena, Wizata.
Space
In Luxembourg, much attention is paid to space technologies; there is even a Luxembourg Space Agency, which promotes and finances specialized startups.Startups to follow in this sector: OQ Tech, space cargo unlimited, WEO, Mission Space, CONTEC, Databourg.
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Top 10 promising start-ups and even scale-ups founded in Luxembourg
The Startup Luxembourg ecosystem is open and transparent. There is open access to the database built by and for founders, investors, executives and tech enthusiasts. At the moment, it presents 546 startups with basic economic indicators. The main ranking criterion is Dealroom Signal.
What is it?
Dealroom Signal is specifically designed to find and fund the most promising and fast upcoming opportunities. The algorithm used is set up to find companies or startups having strong traction and, according to the list, are forecasted to be ready to take part in a funding event, or that are round-ready.
The Startup Luxembourg website publishes Top 50 startups to watch in Luxembourg. The ranking of the top startups in Luxembourg is based on this ranking. All startups are evaluated on their current situation regarding a number of factors, among them the fundraising timeline, growth indicators, the founding team, and others. Here are the top 10 companies in Luxembourg from this list in different industries.
Salonkee (B2B, B2C, wellness, beauty)
Founded in 2016. CEO and co-founder is Tom Michels. One of Luxembourg's most well-known SaaS. It is the end-to-end CRM system for everything related to hair, beauty and wellness. The number of employees is between 51-200 people. In 2018, the startup received its first grant from the Ministry of the Economy Luxembourg. In 2019, during Seed they have raised €1 million from Expon Capital. The Series A took place in 2021, and the Series B in 2023, in which they managed to attract 28 million euros. The total funding is currently €35.4m
OQ Technology (B2B, telecom, space)
The startup was founded in 2015. Founder and CEO is Omar Qaise. The number of employees is between 11-50 people. OQ Technology is the world's first satellite operator to connect to the Internet-of-Things (IoT) using the 3GPP standardized 5G protocol. From 2017 to 2018, the startup received several grants; in 2019, a seed round took place, during which it managed to raise $1.5 million. In September, during Series A, the startup raised another 13.0 million euros from Wa'ed Ventures and 5GVentures. At the moment the total funding is €20.6m
Next Gate Tech (B2B, fintech, enterprise software, finance)
Next Gate Tech is founded in 2019. The CEO and Co-founder is Davide Martucci. Currently there are between 11-50 employees. SaaS startup Next Gate Tech is a data-driven FundTech startup that provides intelligent automation solutions for the asset management industry. A seed took place in 2019 with a result of 550,000 euros, then several more investment stages went through, the last in 2023. At this point, Early VC managed to raise 8 million euros from investors. Currently the total funding amount is 19.1 million euros.
ANote Music (e-commerce, fintech, music)
This startup was founded in 2018. The Co-founders are Marzio F. Schena, Matteo Cernuschi and Grégoire Mathonet. Currently the startup has 11-50 employees. ANote Music is the main place for music investments. Over 30,000 investors diversify their wealth into music royalties. The stage gives access to catalogs previously reserved for private investment firms. It is a safe and accessible platform to let you own and share a piece of your favorite song in a simple way. In 2019, the startup received its first grant from the Ministry of the Economy Luxembourg. From 2019 to 2021, investments totaling 18 million were attracted in the Seed round. In 2022, the startup received a new grant of 800 thousand euros from Luxinnovation. And in 2023 at the Early VC stage, it attracted 3.3 million euros. The total funding is €5.1m
Wizata (B2B software, machine learning, AI)
Wizata was founded in 2014. The number of employees is between 11-50 people. The CEO & Co-Founder is Philippe Maes. Wizata’s platform is an increasing collection of AI-powered machine-learning-based applications. Groups of experts are always looking for improvement of the existing software, and at any time there are new solutions in development for their partners. The main goal is to simplify the complex industrial processes, make them easy to navigate, oversee, and keep control, to reduce energy and manufacturing costs and improve the efficiency significantly. In 2018, a seed took place, during which $1.5 million was raised from Expon Capital. In June 2020, the company entered an Early VC round, which resulted in 2.7 million euros. In 2021, another 1.5 million was raised in the Growth Equity non VC round. Total Funding is €4.1m.
Frictionless Markets (fintech, crypto and defi)
The company was founded in 2021. The startup has between two and ten employees. The CEO and founder is Pat Hourigan. It's a trailblazing startup in the financial tech space, with a focus on blockchain and tokenization. The company's main thing is helping people use blockchain for transactions in private markets, which is set to be a trillion-dollar industry by 2030. In 2022, the startup moved on from the Seed stage and got investment from QBN Capita and Blizzard Fund to the tune of 1.3 million dollars. Right now, we've got €1.2m in funding.
Cascade (B2B, fintech, regtech)
The company was established in 2019. Maciej Waloszyk serves as Managing Partner. Cascade is a centralized platform designed to streamline client data management and provide a robust Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) framework. Cascade is a globally renowned platform, utilised in 25 countries worldwide. Its comprehensive framework is designed to effectively manage and maintain the complete lifecycle of a client, from inception to ongoing monitoring. In 2021, the company received a grant from the Ministry of the Economy of Luxembourg. In 2022, it successfully completed the Seed stage and received 1 million euros of investment. The total funding currently stands at €1.1m.
Dropslab Technologies (B2B, health, engineering and equipment)
The company was established in 2018. Mr. Meysam Minoufekr serves as the company's Chief Executive Officer and Founder. The company employs between 11 and 50 people. A technology startup that provides a structured approach to the creation, maintenance, and modernization of traditional work instructions and workflow. One of the most notable features of the platform is its live chat functionality. This feature enables field and office teams to communicate in real time, facilitating seamless collaboration. In 2020-2021, the company was awarded grants from EIT Health and the Ministry of the Economy of Luxembourg. In 2022, the company completed a seed round of investment, securing 100,000 euros in funding. The total funding amount is now €200,000.
Viewmind (health, biotechnology, pharmaceutical)
The company was established in 2017. The company's Chief Executive Officer and founder is Mark Edwards. The company employs between 11 and 50 individuals. A digital health company that develops tools for the accurate measurement of patients' cognitive health through a non-invasive series of short tests. ViewMind's technology employs digital ocular phenotyping to assess a patient's cognitive status. The company works closely with scientific institutes and medical organizations to test and refine this technology. In 2019, the company received a grant of 1.4 million euros from the Ministry of Economy of Luxembourg. In 2020, during the seed round, it secured $1 million in funding. In May 2024, during the early VC round, it attracted $6 million. The total amount of funding received is 7.7 million euros.
Success story from Luxembourg
For yet another example, there is a great success story of a local startup, which was founded in 2018 by Aidan McClean. Today, UFODRIVE is a smartphone app that lets you rent electric vehicles. Aidan McClean came up with the idea after trying to rent a car several times without success.
We have redesigned the entire car rental process from the ground up. Using our experience designing and implementing transformational technology in Financial Services for over 20 years we put the customer at the center and created the fastest, smoothest way to rent.
Renaud Marquet
Inspiring start of UFODRIVE
Together with COO Renaud Marquet, they took a comprehensive look at the car rental industry and found out exactly what consumers want. They also pointed out that there is a lot of demand for electric vehicles. They created UFODRIVE, the first digital rental company that only rents electric vehicles. The company offers premium cars with no unexpected fees or payments. The entire rental system is transparent.
Over the course of three Seed rounds from 2018 to 2021, the startup raised €6.1 million. In 2022, Series A took place, which brought the company 19.0 million euros. Currently, the total funding is €23.4m.
Today the company's portfolio includes 35 locations, including cities in the USA, UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, over 20 million clean miles driven, 200,000+ integrated chargers and 2 million+ KG CO2 emissions avoided.
The startup scene in Luxembourg is always changing. New companies join the mix every year, and many of them have great potential. That means the list of top startups in Luxembourg is always evolving and is likely to change in the future while changing the future.
