(sda) Exactly 46,842 companies were newly entered in the commercial register in 2020, announced startups.ch, the online platform for company formation, on Thursday. Founder and CEO Michele Blasucci was quoted as saying in the announcement that anyone who had been thinking about starting their own company for a long time had seized the crisis as an opportunity and implemented their plans.
The start-up mood was particularly high in northwestern Switzerland, where start-ups grew by nine percent. Central Switzerland followed with an increase of seven percent as well as Zurich and Eastern Switzerland with increases of five and six percent respectively. Ticino (-16% start-ups) and French-speaking Switzerland (-4%) suffered due to the crisis.
In relation to the sectors, online trading and offers relating to the health sector have increased the most among start-ups. 14 percent of the newly registered companies come from the consumer goods / retail sector. IT and software development follow with a share of nine percent, as well as consulting and law with seven percent.
In contrast, there were losses in the area of leisure / travel / sport. There, the number of start-ups decreased by 1.3 percent. The area still holds 2.8 percent of the start-up industry ranking.
The typical company founder was young and male in 2020. One in five founders was 28 to 32 years old. 18 percent of the founders were 33 to 37 years old. 77 percent of the starters were men, 23 percent women.
In 39 percent of cases, new entrepreneurs prefer to set up a limited liability company (GmbH). It was followed by the sole proprietorship (32 percent) and the stock corporation (AG) with 20 percent. An AG had an average start-up capital of 120,000 francs, a GmbH with 20,000 francs and a sole proprietorship with 15,000 francs.
The counterpart to the record high start-ups was the high number of bankruptcies in the past year. There were 2490 in total, 88 percent more than in the previous year. According to the announcement, Blasucci would have expected significantly more bankruptcies in view of the corona crisis.
He was optimistic for 2021. After the pandemic has subsided, he expects a boom in start-ups. He is generally assuming an upswing.
Many aspiring entrepreneurs who are active in traditional areas have waited before founding their own company. This applies above all to the industries heavily affected by the corona pandemic, such as gastronomy, events, travel and entertainment. The low interest rates and the advancing digitization are further drivers for start-ups, especially in the IT, security, construction and real estate sectors that have been strong for years.
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