Start-up Report for May – Strong Growth Following Weak April
After a recorded decline in start-ups of 8.02% in April, growth rose by 10.52% in May compared with the previous year. Virtually all cantons registered growth. Cantons with an already strong proportion of start-ups benefited in particular.
Strong growth
As the surveys by STARTUPS.CH show, a decline in start-ups had been recorded practically every May in recent years. Things are different this year. In total, 3529 new legal forms were registered in the Swiss Commercial Register. This corresponds to growth of 10.52% compared with the previous year and 8.68% compared with the previous month. The smallest beneficiary was Romandie (+8.26% compared with the previous year). A similarly strong rise was seen in growth in Ticino (+10.66% compared with the previous year) and in German-speaking Switzerland (+11.55% compared with the previous year).
Cantons strong on start-ups benefit in particular
As can be deduced from the start-up report, particularly cantons that exhibit a medium to high proportion of the total start-ups were able to register growth. These include the canton of Zürich (proportion: 18.22%; growth: +14.21%), St. Gallen (proportion: 5.87%; growth: + 28.57%) and Bern (proportion: 8.25%; growth: +11.92%). Losses were most prevalent in cantons that are weak on start-ups, such as Obwalden (proportion: 0.43%; growth: – 42.31%), Jura (proportion: 0.54%; growth: -38.71%) or Uri (proportion: 0.14%; growth: -37.50%). However, these partly drastic declines fall into perspective when the total figures are taken into consideration. For example, start-ups dropped by eleven in Obwalden, twelve in Jura and just three in Uri.
Almost no change in the popularity of legal forms
Almost nothing has changed in the popularity of the various legal forms. The limited liability company (GmbH) is still by far the most popular company form (38.31%), followed by the sole proprietorship (31.62%). The public limited company (Aktiengesellschaft) follows a little further behind (20.83%). Together these three legal forms make up a proportion 90.76%.
