In line with the European Commission initiative to improve the economic and regulatory framework for startups and scaleups, this document analyses the potential of startups as future drivers of economic growth and job creation within the European Union. The European Startup Monitor 2019/2020 provided a well-founded database on the emergence, dynamics, and development of startups, and gave insights to help policy makers design strategies that foster the development of the startups. The now available European Startup Monitor 2020/2021 analyses in greater depth informations on startup founding teams, financing sources, current challenges and the assessment of the ecosystem environment. In addition, a number of new questions regarding the COVID-19 impact and the EU funding and grants were added. We hope that you will enjoy reading our document!

The ESN research team.