Promising tech startup hubs worldwide: Dublin is the 8th best European city for startups! Here are its special powers

If you don’t think of Dublin as a good city for startups, you should change your mind quickly. The capital city of Ireland is ranked among the top ten cities in Europe for startups – and this is not without good reason! Dublin is like a bridge between the US and Europe and offers a lot of possibilities to start a business. Already more than 1,200 startups figured this out, including sectors like FinTech, EdTech and HealthTech. Surrounded by influential tech firms like Google, Facebook, Twitter and Amazon, Dublin is an attractive location to get off to a flying start with a new successful business. So let us discover the strengths, weaknesses and special powers of Dublin as a tech startup hub!

What are Dublin’s biggest strengths from which startups can benefit?

Tech startup hub Dublin – strength #1: mentoring and managerial systems

According to the European Digital City Index 2016 Dublin is #1 in mentoring and managerial systems. Since all the interviewees ranked this factor extremely high, this is an unbeatable fact. One could say Dublin is the “Eldorado” for mentoring relationships!

Tech startup hub Dublin – strength #2: entrepreneurial culture

Dublin provides everything a good entrepreneurial culture needs: multicultural diversity, new-business density but also established companies that serve as role models. Heaven for entrepreneurs!

Tech startup hub Dublin – strength #3: good access to capital

If you’re looking for support to start your business, Dublin is the place. Since the government is high interested in supporting entrepreneurs, there is a competitive start fund of a state agency, that invests in 15 new startups every quarter. Additionally, there are many international investors who make up to nearly 50% of the capital raised in Ireland. Sounds inviting, doesn’t it?

 What are the weaknesses of Dublin that could be a downside for startups?

Tech startup hub Dublin – weakness #1: digital infrastructure

There might be one point that is tarnishing Dublin’s image of a perfect startup hub: the poor digital infrastructure. This is definitely Dublin’s weakest spot and it is why Ireland’s largest city is currently behind most tech hubs. But it kind of gives you a “90s feeling”, so maybe it isn’t that negative. 😉

Tech startup hub Dublin – weakness #2: small startup scene

To tell you the truth: yes, the startup scene in Ireland is still quite small. While there are over 1,200 startups in Dublin, there are more than 275,000 in London, so you get the point. But the good news is that the ecosystem is growing steadily and significantly. Thus, we are confident to assume that soon this won’t be a weakness anymore.

What are Dublin’s special powers?

Tech startup hub Dublin – specialty #1: talented and well-educated young people

In Ireland, you can find one of the youngest and best educated populations in Europe. You know what this means: a diverse, creative, young and multilingual workforce. These really sound like fantastic settings to start a business, don’t they?

Tech startup hub Dublin – specialty #2: geography

Located between the US and Europe, Dublin brings these two continents perfectly together. As an English-speaking country in the Eurozone, Ireland offers good access to global markets. Especially for US businesses it is a great point of departure from where it is easy to expand into Europe.

 You want to find out more about startups in Dublin? Our Code_n Alumni Evercam and Carbon Control are two great examples for promising startups in Ireland’s capital city. Evercam helps to manage construction projects efficiently with time lapse cameras and a management software. The CEO and Founder, Marco Herbst, learned to appreciate Dublin’s strengths: “Having started Evercam in Kreuzberg, Berlin, I made the decision to move back to my hometown of Dublin to better make use of my network of contacts and what I felt was slightly easier access to both government support and also to open doors with larger companies. Our CODE_n experience at CeBIT 2015 was a great return to Germany where we were able to talk to European companies having established ourselves a little bit more than in the first few months.” Read more about the company and its founders here.

Carbon Control is an independent environmental standard and its mission is to contribute to the protection of the environment. They support organizations by monitoring and reducing carbon emissions resulting in lower energy consumption – and award them a mark of approval! By the way, CEO and Co-Founder of Carbon Control, Darragh Kirby, also runs some more startups in Dublin and is a great fan of Ireland’s capital city: “Dublin is a fantastic city for startups to base themselves with its can do attitude and strong sense of community. For its size, it boasts a significant number of business accelerators, startup incubators and government backed opportunities for funding. The city bridges the divide between the US and Europe making it an ideal place for any startup with global ambitions to be located.”

You want to browse for startups from all over the world? Then check out our Alumni section.