4 ms·

There's quite a few things brewing in the Copenhagen/Malmö-region. Flattr is located there, Bambuser, Polar Rose and Neo4j are there and there's even a startup

There's quite a few things brewing in the Copenhagen/Malmö-region. Flattr is located there, Bambuser, Polar Rose and Neo4j are there and there's even a startup accelerator going on for the first time just now in Copenhagen: http://startupbootcamp.dk/ http://startupbootcamp.dk/ and another similar in a nearby university college http://www.startupcamp.se/ http://www.startupcamp.se/ But as you see from the other replies there's not one particular region that is so far ahead of the rest that it can be called the startup centre of Europe. Berlin, Barcelona, London, Stockholm... the startups of Europe are spread all over the place.

pdelgallego 16y ago
I just landed in CPH a couple on month ago, and I see a lot of potential in the Scandinavians countries as a niche market. The main problem is that salary and taxes are very high.
- grk 16y ago
  On the other hand, the salaries are high enough that you can work for 2 days per week and support yourself while bootstrapping.
  - erikstarck 16y ago
    Well, that depends. Salary expenses are high but so are the taxes which means you as an employee don't get to keep very much. Remember, Sweden and Denmark hold the #1 and #2 position for highest taxes in the world. Having said that, I actually plan to be employed 4 days/week and try a startup on the 5th. We'll see...
    - ohashi 16y ago
      Hi Erik :) What happens to the 2 free days most people call a weekend?
grk 16y ago
It's quite expensive to start a company in Denmark. You need ~10k eur for a limited liability company (ApS) and to be stock-based you need ~70k eur (A/S). The startup scene is growing, there's a lot of pressure from the government to create new companies. See: http://venturecup.dk/ http://venturecup.dk/ http://www.vf.dk/?sc_lang=en http://www.vf.dk/?sc_lang=en
- davidw 16y ago
  Italy has the same problem with limited liability companies. I created a modest initiative to attempt to get things fixed: http://www.srlfacile.org/ http://www.srlfacile.org/ I'd be more than happy to link to sister initiatives in other countries!
  - Be_Silly 16y ago
    But if you have a EU company in one state, another EU country is required to recognise that entity. Sorry i'm not up to navigating the EU legislation search, but there was a recent decision in the German supreme court, which allowed that English Ltd companies could form part of a & Co KG, instead of a local GmBH. Rolls Royce and others promptly made use of that form. i.e. they had to be treated as local naturalized entities. You still have to comply with local regs, normalize your branch status etc etc, but the principle is there. Oh, i'm pretty sure some states will have a paper mountain waiting for you to fill in, but in theory you can register a GBP20 expense (filing fee) Ltd company and trade anywhere. You can also choose your tax domicile accordingly i believe. Not surprisingly this is where i always seek advice, even though once i could reel off the applicable law, statute and case, treaties and quirks. But even expensive advice is rarely that expensive. Certainly not compared with some EU state incorporation procedures which are plain expensive in terms of time.
jagbolanos 16y ago
Göteborg is a great city, there are several VCs, good engineers due their universities and an Entrepreneurship culture

pdelgallego 16y ago

I just landed in CPH a couple on month ago, and I see a lot of potential in the Scandinavians countries as a niche market. The main problem is that salary and taxes are very high.

grk 16y ago
On the other hand, the salaries are high enough that you can work for 2 days per week and support yourself while bootstrapping.
- erikstarck 16y ago
  Well, that depends. Salary expenses are high but so are the taxes which means you as an employee don't get to keep very much. Remember, Sweden and Denmark hold the #1 and #2 position for highest taxes in the world. Having said that, I actually plan to be employed 4 days/week and try a startup on the 5th. We'll see...
  - ohashi 16y ago
    Hi Erik :) What happens to the 2 free days most people call a weekend?

grk 16y ago

It's quite expensive to start a company in Denmark. You need ~10k eur for a limited liability company (ApS) and to be stock-based you need ~70k eur (A/S). The startup scene is growing, there's a lot of pressure from the government to create new companies. See: http://venturecup.dk/ http://venturecup.dk/ http://www.vf.dk/?sc_lang=en http://www.vf.dk/?sc_lang=en

davidw 16y ago
Italy has the same problem with limited liability companies. I created a modest initiative to attempt to get things fixed: http://www.srlfacile.org/ http://www.srlfacile.org/ I'd be more than happy to link to sister initiatives in other countries!
- Be_Silly 16y ago
  But if you have a EU company in one state, another EU country is required to recognise that entity. Sorry i'm not up to navigating the EU legislation search, but there was a recent decision in the German supreme court, which allowed that English Ltd companies could form part of a & Co KG, instead of a local GmBH. Rolls Royce and others promptly made use of that form. i.e. they had to be treated as local naturalized entities. You still have to comply with local regs, normalize your branch status etc etc, but the principle is there. Oh, i'm pretty sure some states will have a paper mountain waiting for you to fill in, but in theory you can register a GBP20 expense (filing fee) Ltd company and trade anywhere. You can also choose your tax domicile accordingly i believe. Not surprisingly this is where i always seek advice, even though once i could reel off the applicable law, statute and case, treaties and quirks. But even expensive advice is rarely that expensive. Certainly not compared with some EU state incorporation procedures which are plain expensive in terms of time.

jagbolanos 16y ago

Göteborg is a great city, there are several VCs, good engineers due their universities and an Entrepreneurship culture