In 2024, the Czech Republic ranked 26th; in 2025, it had moved up to 19th. The country has thus made progress in the eight areas of the startup ecosystem that were monitored, but we are still far from being among the top performers in the EU.

“Even though we’ve jumped from 35% to 60% over the past two years—primarily thanks to the new ESOP regulations—we still remain in the bottom quarter of countries (19th out of 22). The chart shows that we are lagging behind in three areas: access to capital, legislation specifically targeting startups, and public procurement and digitization,” says Martin Jiránek, the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s representative for startups, assessing the Czech Republic’s ranking. He also points to the differing pace of progress between the Czech Republic and neighboring Poland—while the Czech Republic has moved from 35% to 60% over the past two years, Poland has jumped from 34% to 88%, right behind leaders France and Spain. “Significant systemic changes can be made within two years,” he notes.

“The findings of this year’s ESNA report confirm that the Czech Republic is capable of improving conditions relatively quickly where there is a clear political priority—typically regarding employee stock ownership or business creation. A shift from 35% to 60% over two years is significant in a European context. At the same time, however, the report very openly highlights our structural weaknesses. The biggest challenge remains access to capital, where the Czech Republic lags significantly behind developed startup ecosystems and where growth often shifts abroad,” said Markéta Přenosilová, Deputy Director for Startups and Innovation at CzechInvest, commenting on the Czech Republic's results.

“If we want to keep pace with countries like Poland, which has managed to accelerate much more rapidly in a short period of time, we must focus on systemic measures—particularly the development of venture capital, support for investors, and the creation of a truly competitive environment for scaling companies. It is precisely the ability to retain startups even during their growth phase that will be decisive in determining whether the Czech Republic moves from being a ‘good place to launch a startup’ to becoming a true European leader,” adds Markéta Přenosilová.

CzechInvest, a member of ESNA since 2022, joined the initiative with the aim of improving the environment for fast-growing innovative companies. The Ministry of Industry and Trade signed the Startup Standard Declaration—which led to the creation of ESNA—back in 2021.

The ESNA report highlights the Czech Republic’s progress in the first area assessed: the rapid establishment of companies and the facilitation of market entry. According to the report, this progress was driven by the full digitization of the Trade Register, the elimination of unnecessary steps in company registration, and the recognition of selected foreign documents and signatures through the EU’s single digital gateway.

In the chapter on the eighth monitored area, digitization (Digital First), the ESNA report mentions the Czech mobile app “eDoklady,” which provides digital official documents and thus reinforces the national Digital First principle.

The Czech Republic, along with France, also contributed the most to progress in the monitored criterion “number of days to start an online business.” Both countries achieved full implementation, with the Czech Republic improving by as much as 75 percentage points.

Challenges and key areas for improvement:

SNS 1: Fast company formation and market entry facilitation – increase from 50% to 77%
SNS 2: Attracting and retaining talent – increase from 48% to 73%.
SNS 3 ESOP (employee stock options) – dramatic increase from 4% to 83%.
SNS 4 Innovation and regulation – decrease from 47% to 45%
SNS 5 Public procurement for innovation and technology transfer – increase from 42% to 55%.
SNS 6 Access to Finance – dramatic decrease from 67% to 22%
SNS 7 Social Inclusion, Diversity, and Protection of Democratic Values – skyrocketing growth from 0% to 77%
SNS 8 Digital First – increase from 47% to 48%