Awakening of Polish start-ups

As during the last few years start-ups have risen to the forefront of economic discussion, it was only a matter of time before government institutions began to invest in actions aiming at attracting them. 

The Polish government is no different in this case.
In April of 2016, the government started the Polish Fund for Development (Polski Fundusz Rozwoju). One of the main goals of the program is to entice individuals from both Poland and abroad. The budget of the project is estimated to reach three billion zł (which is to be used for a variety of initiatives). The key aspect of the fund is the “Start in Poland” program which aims at providing sufficient help to firms budding through the process of establishing themselves, from incubation all the way to international expansion.   

The first program that took place under this initiative was the 2016 “Scale Up”, an accelerator which was co-led by the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development. The goal of the accelerator was to combine the potential of start-ups with the experience and resources of corporations (some of which belong to the State Treasury and its subsidiaries). Thanks to “Scale Up” program two hundred and seventy-six start-ups had significantly higher chances to develop as well as lay the foundations for their future successes.

Large or small, foreign or national
“Start in Poland” is currently organizing subsequent accelerators, now named “2.5 Accelerator Programs”. In this program, ten accelerators have agreed to support at least 25% of the start-ups functioning in tech industries. The program’s budget of 120 million PLN is currently supporting more than 100 start-ups. In addition to it, another version of the program has recently started to support companies functioning in the electromobility industry. 

Another important element of “Start-Up in Poland” is the “Poland Prize”. Its goal is to encourage foreigners to start up their companies in Poland. The aforementioned support offer includes assistance in processes connected to relocating to Poland, as well as taking up an economic activity.

Additionally, firms and start-ups may also receive substantial amounts of aid in the form of mentoring, schooling, consulting as well as financial support- up to the sum of 250,000 PLN. The condition of the PFR is that at least one member of the board is recognized as a foreigner. The foremost start-ups may also apply for additional help which may be given to them in the form of grants. Currently, 22 teams from all around the world participate in this program, some of them come from the countries with extremely developed start-up markets such as the United States or Israel.

Future Economic Growth
The effect of start-ups on the Polish economy is yet unseen as the rapidly developing sector is, unfortunately still quite young, as it just started to gain momentum with the implementation of numerous government programs. However, several statistics suggest that the future market share of start-ups will be essential for Polish economy. In 2016 Julia Pasterska of Deloitte indicated that by 2023, start-ups existing for more than five years will generate more than 2.2 billion PLN. Minister Jadwiga Emilewicz has pointed out that the highest value of investments in start-ups in Central Europe was attributed to investments in Poland. Partly due to this, the EU has contributed a further four and a half million to the rise of Polish start-ups. 

However some voices are not so positive- Jerzy Kalinowski (advisor to the board of KPMG) to name just one of them, pointed out that although there are more and more young companies, they still lack the capital which is necessary to succeed on the international arena. It must however be said that Kalinowski admitted that the Polish start-up market still maintains a fast pace of development, so this may very well change in the upcoming future. Hubert Lewiński from the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development recognizes other issues. He emphasizes that the main barrier is not the lack of capital, but the culture of doing business in Poland. All experts agree on one thing – sooner rather than later a remarkable start-up shall appear on the Polish market, with noticeable success being obtained by it on both the domestic and foreign market, which shall contribute to building up the confidence of foreign investors in Polish companies. Kalinowski notes that the key to success is further improvement, and evolvement of the start-up ecosystem in Poland as well as the stronger promotion of young, prosperous companies.

~ Jan Bartkowiak