​12 Of The Most Startup Friendly Countries

There are a lot of factors that determine what makes a good startup-friendly country.

Have you considered moving countries and want to know if it’s a nurturing place for a startup company? Are you planning on initiating a startup, and just need to know where best to go about it? Or perhaps you’re just curious. There are a lot of factors that determine what makes a good startup-friendly country, and not all sources agree, but by the end of this article, you’ll know at least 12 nations that are pro-new business.

U.S. News conducts the Best Countries rankings.

U.S. News conducts the Best Countries rankings and is established in partnership with a brand strategy firm, BAV, which belongs to global marketing company Y&R; and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. The rankings are based on a survey that asked over 21,000 people globally from four regions to assess how 80 different countries are perceived on 75 unique metrics. Regarding which nations are the best to start a business for the 2018 consensus, the criteria included affordability, bureaucracy, cheapness of manufacturing costs, connections to the rest of the world, and how easily capital is accessed. The results are as follows:

Thailand:

In Thailand it takes about five days to start a business, and the density of new ones is low enough that there’s plenty of room for more.

Malaysia:

Malaysia is starting a process that takes about 19 days, and almost 50,000 new limited liability companies took advantage of the fact that most of the paperwork can be done online.

Mexico:

Mexico's has the startup process taking around eight days, and Mexico has lots of business registration reform that “led to an increase in the number of registered businesses overall.”

Indonesia:

Indonesia will allow a launching of a business which takes around 23 days, and the government sponsors the Program for Eastern Indonesian Small and Medium Enterprise Assistance.

Singapore:

Singapore: this country gives special attention to minority investors, and it takes three days to start a business. CNN Money has another selection, and their top four are New Zealand, United States, Canada, and Australia.

These countries “place relatively few hurdles in the path of business owners.

In each nation, it takes between two and five days to start a business and requires five or fewer steps to do so.” They also impose relatively small marginal tax rates. Tax rate is important because it “helps business launchers—and the friends, relatives, and angels who support them—accumulate savings for seed money.”

Africa.

You may not have heard of this country, but Mauritius is also ranked very highly when it comes to startups in Africa. The World Bank says that lots of reforms were passed recently, it takes six days to start a business, and now “exempts trade fees for licenses below 5000 Mauritian Rupees ($150) and introducing the electronic certificate incorporation.”

Keep your eyes on Sweden and Portugal.

As for Europe, there are at least two countries to keep your eyes on -- Sweden and Portugal. Neither may be amongst the best place to start a company now, but they are actively aiming to change that.

Professionals in Sweden even wrote a manifesto declaring how they want Sweden to be the most startup-friendly place in the world. They know what steps need to be taken and are driven to see them through. In June of 2016, Portugal’s Prime Minister announced that “his government aims to make Portugal the Most Startup Friendly Country in Europe” by welcoming entrepreneurship and emphasizing the importance of new businesses to the economy.

The Berlin-Based Internet of Things.

But there is also something interesting happening in Europe: there’s a Berlin-based Internet of Things company that wants to help IoT startups be their best. Next Big Thing gives direction to IoT startups who need it, offering access to a platform of investors, potential partners, other startups, engineers, and technology suppliers.

Harald Zapp, CEO of NBT, says, “Our vision is to enable deep-tech innovation and entrepreneurship in Europe.” They do this “by providing everything from business expertise to our technological competence to the entrepreneurs and industry partners we work with. IoT and blockchain have the potential to better our world in a truly disruptive way.”

The power of successful business lies in ideas.

NBT knows that the power of successful businesses lies in ideas. They guide other ventures with a “unique company-building models” and an understanding that the business world can be challenging to navigate. They even offer a job hub for those who need an extra boost.

So why do they do it? NBT notes that “in recent years, large companies have begun looking outside of their own stagnant innovation departments to more free-flowing, external startups—who don’t have such rigidly-defined corporate structures nor practices that too often stifle creativity and innovation.” Startups are incredibly important to the business world—not only do they help drive the economy, but they also help foster and nurture beneficial ideas that would otherwise not have the chance to thrive in a corporate setting.

Large organizations have begun to look outside their own corporation.

One of those ideas is IoT, which is why NBT focuses on it. They noticed, “large organizations have begun to look outside their own corporate structures for digital innovation, [they] still see many organizations fail to recognize the necessity of taking an entirely new and unique approach to IoT research and development.” IoT is a bit more expensive, which is why developers need some guidance, but ultimately they expect it to become much more popular worldwide.

What do you think the most startup-friendly regions of the world are?