Foundation report March: Surprising decrease
In a notable shift from historical trends, March 2024 saw a decline in company foundations compared to February. Across Switzerland, the total of newly founded companies stood at 4,349, marking a decrease of 9.92% from the previous month. This represented a significant year-over-year decline of 13.64% from March 2023, highlighting a surprising downturn in the Swiss startup landscape.
Detailed Analysis of March 2024 Startup Decline
In 2023, 13599 new start-ups were counted in the first three months, compared to 13453 in the current year. Due to the sharp decline in March, the two years were almost on a par when comparing the first three months. The difference was -1.07%.
Cloudy outlook in French-speaking Switzerland
There were a total of 1242 start-ups in French-speaking Switzerland, making it undisputedly the region with the highest number of start-ups. Compared to last month, there was a decrease of 8.94%, as 1364 commercial register entries were counted in February. In Vaud, there was only a slight decrease of 4.92 percentage points compared to the previous month. The 464 new start-ups were 5.88% below the previous year’s figure.
Northwestern Switzerland took second place with 1006 new companies. This figure corresponds to a decrease of 4.73% compared to February and 11.44% compared to March 2023.
Sharp decline in Zurich
While 923 new start-ups were recorded in Zurich in February, the number in March was 764, a decrease of 17.23 percentage points and a year-on-year decline of 7.51%.
There was also a marked decrease in Central Switzerland, which was 12.96% compared to the previous month and 20.91% compared to the previous year. The highest number of commercial register entries was in the canton of Zug, with a total of 241.
Eastern Switzerland and Ticino follow the trend
In March, no region was able to boast an increase, meaning that there was also a decrease of 8.05% in Eastern Switzerland. The number of commercial register entries in the entire region was 548 and the difference compared to March 2023 was therefore -14.77%. In Thurgau, there was actually an increase compared to the previous month, which was 7.63% due to 141 newly founded companies.
Ticino recorded 218 start-ups this month and the change compared to February was -6.44%. The relative change compared to the previous year was similar to that of Thurgau at -14.17%.
Forecast and Implications for Future Company Foundations
The decline in March came as a surprise, as this has been a strong month in recent years. Compared to the previous year, the difference was as high as -13.64%. As there has been less activity in company formations in recent years, this is also expected for April 2024.
