Blum is Communication Partner for European Scaleup Conference in Rome
Scaleups as a fundamental player in Europe’s economic growth. Luiss Business School and the Zest Hub hosted the second European Scaleup Conference, organized by the European Scaleup Institute (ESI) on June 10-11, 2024, in Rome, Italy. Blum was Communication partner of the Conference, overseeing all the communication and supporting media relations, bringing the topic to the forefront of public debate in Italy.
The European Scaleup Monitor and the Italian Scaleups
During the conference, an innovative tool was presented which allows real-time monitoring of the trends in EU startup market, and, particularly the evolution from startups into scaleups. The European Scaleup Monitor classifies scaleups as companies than are less than 10 years old with a revenue growth of 40% in at least 2 of the last 3 years. According to unpublished data released during the conference at Luiss Business School, there are currently 818 scaleups in Italy. The majority of Italian scaleups are located in Lombardy (218), followed by Lazio (116). The average percentage of Italian scaleup companies in relation to all observed companies is 0.54%.
Scaleups in Europe
Regarding the comparison with other European countries, Italy is not present in any of the top 10 countries with the most scaling businesses, except in the ranking of the 10 countries with the most superstars, i.e., those companies experiencing strong growth but that are older than 10 years. Otherwise, European data from the monitor shows that very small countries (namely Malta, Cyprus, and Luxembourg) tend to rank high in the top ten countries with the most scaling businesses but with highly variable data over time, while Nordic countries (Finland, Denmark, Sweden) tend to achieve high scores on various business growth metrics and tend to maintain a rather stable performance over time. Specifically concerning scaleups, which are among the youngest companies to scale, the monitor shows that Poland, Lithuania, Romania, and Latvia are the top 4 European countries for the presence of this type of company on their territory. Regarding industries, the monitor records a large number of scaleups in the accommodation industry and the continuous rise of ICT and Deep Tech. Most EU scaleups and superstars belong to these sectors and play a vital role in driving innovation and digitalization.
Mapping the Italian Regions
As mentioned, in Italy, the region with the highest absolute number of scaleups is Lombardy, which also has the highest number of superstar; companies (152). But the region with the best scaleup rate (i.e., the percentage between scaleups and the sample of all observed companies) is Lazio. Compared to the national average, which sees 0.54% of companies in the scaleup phase, Lombardy and Lazio exceed this average respectively with 0.60% of Scaleups and even with 0.94% for Lazio. The percentage settles respectively at 0.62% and 0.42% for superstar companies. Among other regions with a good number of scaleups, we also find Piedmont with 47 startups in the growth phase (0.46% of the total regional companies), Emilia Romagna with 49 scaleups (0.34%), Tuscany with 36 scaleups (0.32%). The list is closed by Trentino Alto Adige which has only 9 scaleups (0.25% of the total) but has the highest superstar rate in Italy, with 24 companies in strong expansion, accounting for 0.66% of the total.
“Much Work to Be Done in Italy”
“The data released at the second European Scaleup Conference – comments Christian Lechner, Associate Dean of academic research at Luiss Business School and member of the European Scaleup Institute – certify that despite the increased enthusiasm and attention towards scaleups, there is a rather constant decline in the relative presence of all types of fast-growing companies across Europe. This indicates that there is still much work to be done if we want the old continent to truly become a competitive ecosystem for scaleups. Furthermore, the Italian gap in scaleup growth is evidenced by the data. This point is even more valid for the for the development of unicorn companies. Startups receive a disproporational amount of attention but almost no one, including the institutional world, focuses on scaleups. It needs to be highlighted that there is the risk, that, one one hand, the startup world is heavily promoted, while, on the other hand, potential scaleups are neglected that might go elsewhere to then become unicorns. In the end it’s scaleup and superstars that have a relevant impact on the economy”.