Start-up report for the first quarter of 2017 – strong growth
A total of 11,023 new legal entities were recorded in the Swiss Commercial Register in the first quarter of 2017. During the same period the previous year the number was 10,356. This corresponds to a growth figure of 6.44%, as revealed in the latest surveys published by STARTUPS.CH.
Particularly strong growth in March
The year got off to a strong start, with January recording 4.82% more registrations than during the same month in 2016. But March proved to be the busiest month in Q1 by quite some margin, with a total of 4,168 new legal entities entered in the Commercial Register – some 15.36% more than in the same month the year before. The previous record for the number of monthly registrations was 4,273 in December 2015. German-speaking Switzerland recorded the highest growth figures in March (up 19.08%), followed by Ticino (up 9.40%). The growth figure for French-speaking Switzerland was 8.67%.
Significant cantonal differences
There were considerable differences in growth between individual cantons during the first quarter. Significant changes compared to the previous year were especially evident in the cantons with the lowest share of new registrations, with the canton of Uri recording the highest growth percentage (45.83%). However, its 35 new registrations accounted for only 0.32% of all new entries. The second highest growth percentage (27.42%) was recorded by the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden (share: 0.72%). The most significant falls were in Appenzell Innerrhoden (share: 0.18%; decrease: 35.48%), Nidwalden (share: 0.5%; decrease: 32.93%) and Obwalden (share: 0.44%, decrease: 22.58%). Significant increases were recorded in the cantons with the highest share of new registrations. Zurich once again saw the greatest number of new registrations (share: 18.09%; growth: 8.43%), followed by Vaud (share: 10.71%; growth: 4.61%) and Berne (share: 8.04%; growth: 7.00%).
GmbH remains most popular type of business entity
There was no change in the relative popularity of different types of company. GmbHs took first place with a share of 37.73%, followed by sole traders (35.31%) and AGs (17.93%). The great advantage of the GmbH for young entrepreneurs is the fact that liability is limited to the company’s assets and that the amount of share capital required is relatively low (CHF 20,000).
