How Many New Companies Are Established Annually in Central Europe (2025 Data) | DataSend.ai

Introduction: Every New Company is a Potential Client

New companies are an extremely interesting segment for service providers. They do not have established suppliers, actively seek partners, and need practically everything — web, marketing, accounting, automation, design.

Yet, most suppliers target established companies where someone else is already in the supplier's seat, and you have to push them out.

This article summarizes the available data on the establishment of new companies in Central Europe for the year 2025 and shows how to turn it into a business strategy.

1. Germany: Growing Market

Germany experienced significant growth in business formation in 2025.

According to the Federal Statistical Office, approximately 487,700 new businesses were registered in the first three quarters of 2025 — representing a year-on-year increase of 6.9 percent.

Even more interesting is the segment of larger enterprises. During the same period, approximately 99,300 businesses with greater economic significance were established, meaning those whose legal form and number of employees indicate real business activity. Here, the increase was even more pronounced — 9.5 percent.

At the same time, the number of closures of larger enterprises also rose by 4.8 percent to approximately 74,300.

Net increase of larger enterprises: approximately 25,000 over three quarters. That’s 25,000 companies that are just building their supplier relationships.

2. Poland: Largest Volume of New Entities

Poland is the most dynamic market in the region in terms of the absolute number of new companies.

In the second quarter of 2025, 88,700 new entities were registered — 1.2 percent more than the previous year, while the number of bankruptcies decreased by 2.2 percent.

In the first quarter of 2026, approximately 89,000 new businesses were registered, of which 81.3 percent were sole proprietorships.

Throughout 2025, approximately 289,000 applications for business establishment were submitted to the CEIDG registry.

At the same time, the number of active businesses in Poland increased by 4.3 percent year-on-year to 2,909,645 — indicating that the market is genuinely growing, not just changing.

Practical Implication: The Polish market generates about 85 to 90 thousand new entities every quarter. Even with a high proportion of sole proprietorships, this is a massive influx of potential clients.

3. Austria: Record Year

Austria had an exceptionally strong year for business formation in 2025.

According to data from the Chamber of Commerce, 39,978 new companies were established — 9.4 percent more than the previous year. The Chamber labeled this development a founding boom.

The total number of active businesses rose to 605,826, which is 12,186 more than in 2024.

Profile of Founders: average age 36.4 years, nearly every second company was founded by a woman, and approximately 83 percent of founders started as sole proprietors.

Practical Implication: Nearly 40,000 new companies annually in a market with high purchasing power. For service providers, this is one of the most attractive segments in the region.

4. Slovakia: Exception to the Trend

Slovakia is the only country in this overview where the data for 2025 shows the opposite trend.

According to the Financial Administration, 65,277 new registrations of tax entities were recorded in the first seven months of 2025 — of which 18,801 were legal entities and 46,476 were individuals.

However, according to statistics from the Finstat portal, approximately 42,000 new businesses were established in 2025, while more than 66,000 were closed. This was the first time since 2016 that more businesses closed than were established — the difference exceeded 20,000.

The number of closed companies has gradually increased since 2023, reaching 7,765 in 2025 — the highest since 2017, excluding administrative deletions from 2021.

By Sectors: The most new companies were established in services, where their number increased year-on-year by nearly 91 percent. Approximately 3,100 new companies were formed in construction, and nearly 2,500 in information technology, with the most significant growth in IT consulting.

On the closure side, construction dominated — nearly a thousand closed companies and 17,610 closed businesses, representing a year-on-year increase of more than 30 percent.

Practical Implication: The Slovak market is undergoing consolidation. For suppliers, this means two things — data age quickly, and you need to work with verified contacts, but the companies that remain are more resilient.

5. What the Data Says About Other Countries

For the Czech Republic, Switzerland, and Hungary, data on the establishment of new companies for 2025 is not published on a comparable basis and at a comparable time as for the countries mentioned above. Individual statistical offices use different methodologies and different publication cycles.

What we know for sure: In Hungary, the number of active private entrepreneurs and business companies increased by 2.3 percent year-on-year to approximately 941,000, indicating that the market is growing. The Swiss register contains 792,199 active legal entities with daily updates. The Czech register records 2,935,937 active entities.

When comparing countries, it is always appropriate to look at what exactly is counted — methodological differences between registers are often greater than differences between markets.

6. Why New Companies Are an Interesting Segment

They do not have established suppliers. This is the strongest argument. With an established company, you have to push someone out who is already there. With a new company, you are one of the first to reach out.

They need practically everything. Web, logo, accounting, marketing, process setup. One new company can mean multiple contracts.

They decide faster. A new company does not have a complicated approval process. The owner decides and gets started.

They are more open to new approaches. An established company has habits. A new company is still forming them.

But beware of two things: New companies often have limited budgets and a higher rate of closure. Only a portion of them survive the first year.

7. How to Work with These Data Practically

Strategy 1: Target companies aged 6 to 24 months. This is the sweet spot. The company has survived the riskiest period, has its first revenues, but does not yet have established suppliers for everything.

Strategy 2: Tailor the offer to the budget. A new company will not buy a package for 3,000 euros per month. Offer an entry-level product — audit, simple website, basic setup — and gradually expand cooperation as the company grows.

Strategy 3: Choose growing sectors. In Slovakia, the most new companies were formed in services and IT. In Austria and Germany, business formation is growing across segments. Targeting a growing sector increases the chance that the client will survive and grow with you.

Strategy 4: Reach out regularly, not just once. Since new companies are emerging every month, it makes sense to have a campaign that runs continuously, not a one-off event.

At DataSend.ai, you can set filters by industry, region, and size across all seven countries and launch a campaign with automated follow-ups. The database contains 12.5 million companies with 8 million verified contacts, so when working with the rapidly changing segment of new companies, you won’t encounter issues with invalid contacts.

8. Summary of Numbers

Germany: 487,700 new businesses in three quarters of 2025, of which 99,300 are businesses with greater economic significance. Growth of 6.9 and 9.5 percent.

Poland: approximately 89,000 new businesses per quarter, 289,000 new entities for the year 2025.

Austria: 39,978 new companies in 2025, growth of 9.4 percent.

Slovakia: 65,277 new registrations in seven months, but 42,000 new businesses compared to 66,000 closures.

Conclusion: New Companies Are a Segment That No One Systematically Targets

Every year, hundreds of thousands of new business entities are established in Central Europe. Each of them needs a website, accounting, marketing, or process setup. And almost none of them have an established supplier.

Most service providers target established companies, where entry is the hardest. Targeting companies aged six months to two years is one of the least utilized and most effective strategies in all B2B sales.

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