The State of Flanders’ Startup Ecosystem 2025

Flanders is positioning itself as a leader in shaping tomorrow’s breakthroughs, from biotech and agri-food innovation to space and defense. In partnership with Startup Flanders.

Key findings

• Flanders' tech ecosystem reached €84.4B in enterprise value in 2025, up from €64.6B a year earlier, and VC-backed startups hold 90% of that value.
• Ecosystem value in Flanders grew 3.2x since 2020, the fastest of the ten ecosystems compared, ahead of Catalonia at 2.1x and the 1.8x European average.
• Flanders startups are on track to raise €412.2M of VC in 2025, down from €1.1B in 2024 and back to about the €417.8M raised in 2020.
• University and research spinouts from Flanders are worth €11.3B in 2025, 13% of the ecosystem's value, and most of that sits in deep tech and life sciences.
• Flanders is on track for 20 VC-backed exits in 2025, a fourth consecutive year above 15 and the third year at 20 or more since 2016.