Bulgaria remains among the weakest performers in the European Union when it comes to the number of fast-growing innovative businesses, according to data from the European Scaleup Institute and the European Commission. The figures place the country near the bottom of the EU ranking for the number of scaleup companies relative to its population, highlighting a continuing challenge in developing firms that can drive long-term economic growth.
Scaleups are businesses that are generally no more than 10 years old and have moved beyond the startup phase. Having established a viable business model, these companies enter a period of rapid and sustained revenue growth and are increasingly viewed as a key force behind innovation, productivity, and job creation across Europe.
Ireland leads the EU by a wide margin with 415.3 scaleup companies per million residents, followed by Sweden with 354.7 and Denmark with 274.3. At the opposite end of the ranking are Romania, Bulgaria, and Latvia, which report the lowest concentration of these high-growth firms.
Although Bulgaria ranks near the bottom overall, other countries have recently made significant progress. Between 2023 and 2024, Latvia, Portugal, and Greece recorded the fastest expansion among scaleups, particularly in terms of workforce growth. Meanwhile, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Estonia experienced the sharpest slowdown in growth rates during the same period.
