Startups, financing and geography – findings from a survey

This chapter investigates the importance of bank loans for the financing of startups and how location matters for expansion plans and financing. The two main questions posed are: what does the financing of Swedish corporate startups look like, and how does location matter for expansion plans and financing? To provide answers to these questions, both survey data and registry data have been used. The survey data are from a questionnaire sent out to startups listed in the files of the Swedish Jobs and Society Foundation. We looked at corporations founded during the period 2009–2013 that are family firms in terms of ownership structure. The survey indicated that bank loans are rare. Essentially, the entrepreneur personally takes most of the business risk. Combining registry data with the qualitative data from the survey, we used regression analysis to study differences due to location. The regression analysis showed that the degree of urbanization matters for plans for expansion. In the three most urbanized areas, the startup firms had plans to expand their business both at home and abroad. In the other urbanized areas, the focus was on expansion at home.