New report confirms Ghent's position as a European Technology Capital

Anyone who's been following the media lately will undoubtedly notice: in recent months, one after another, a Ghent-based company has been coming out with exciting news. Just think of the fundraising rounds of TechWolf, Otamiser, and Companion.Energy, for example, or the groundbreaking technologies of Cadskills or Trince. The Ghent 'techies' are conquering the world and putting the city on the map as the Technology Capital of Belgium and Europe.

This is evident from the new report 'The State of Ghent’s Startup Ecosystem 2024', a collaboration between Dealroom.co and the City of Ghent. It highlights some of Ghent's remarkable international strengths, which are outlined below.

More venture capital in Ghent start-ups

The report's first figure highlights the combined enterprise value of the 920 Ghent start-ups and scale-ups. After the second quarter of 2024, this already amounts to 35 billion euros, more than the entire year of 2023. Early-stage investments in Ghent have remained relatively stable over the past 5 years, with an average of 57.4 million euros. Investments in the breakout stage are increasing, with the level in June 2024 already reaching 61% of last year's total.

When it comes to venture capital, money that investors put into a start-up or scale-up to survive the initial phase or enable expected growth, Ghent stands out as one of the fastest-growing tech ecosystems in Europe. In 2023, Ghent increased by more than 65% compared to 2019. More than a third of the 920 start-ups and scale-ups in Ghent are supported by venture capital.

The leading venture capital funding rounds over the past 2 years were led by funds such as PMV, Entourage, Miles Ahead, V-Bio Ventures, Integra, Qbic, and AMAVI Capital. About 90% of these investors are also based in Belgium. In recent years, we've seen that foreign investors are finding Ghent increasingly attractive, especially from other top European cities. In recent months, several Ghent-based companies such as TechWolf, Otamiser, and Companion.energy have raised significant capital through both domestic and foreign investors.

Strong healthtech hub

Thanks to the further expansion of the healthtech hub, the promotion of Ghent as a test market for the sector, and the positioning of Ghent as the international healthtech hub in Europe, Ghent achieved tenth place in Europe in 2023 in terms of investments in healthtech through venture capital. Ghent stands alongside top cities such as Paris, London, Amsterdam, and Munich.

Acquisitions from abroad

The strong position of Ghent's tech ecosystem hasn't gone unnoticed abroad. The innovative technologies developed by Ghent-based companies are extremely interesting for realising further growth of foreign companies. For example, Teamleader in 2022 and Silverfin in 2023 were incorporated by Visma, the Norwegian software group. The American company LexisNexis recently acquired Henchman, and Contractify now falls under the AXI Group. These acquisitions ensure that Ghent attracts both new investors and generates new start-ups. In addition to these foreign acquisitions, more and more foreign companies are opening R&D centres or offices in Ghent. Think of BASF, Syngenta Global, Inari, Daikin, Amcor, Sanofi, Eastman, Yakult, Fujirebio, Legend Biotech, Nvidia, and Tinder.

Crucial role for Ghent University

Through its central position in supporting technological progress, Ghent University strengthens its status as a leading science city. Over the past years, it has created more than 150 spin-offs, new companies that emerge from university research. More than 100 have established themselves in Ghent, including Ablynx (now Sanofi), Molecubes, Aphea.Bio, and Biotalys. In 2024, these spin-offs will represent no less than 5.9% of the total combined enterprise value of Ghent's start-ups and scale-ups and more than 3,500 jobs.

Due to the close collaboration between various local technological sectors, educational and knowledge institutions, companies, and organisations, a unique community has emerged. In the Ghent tech cluster, there is extensive cooperation to address the challenges of tomorrow. All of this aims to further develop Ghent into the European Technology Capital.