Since our founding in 2014, we have supported 1,839 start-ups through the Start it @KBC accelerator program. This makes us not only the largest accelerator in Belgium and Europe, but even the fifth largest worldwide. We did an extensive data analysis of all these start-ups. This first Start-upbarometer by Start it @KBC highlights the current state of the Belgian and European start-up landscape.
AI on a rapid rise
Broadly speaking, start-ups fall into two large groups, software, which in 2025 accounts for 63.3% of all participating start-ups, and hardware, which represents 18.4%. In addition, there are smaller categories such as agrotech and biotech.
Within software, the rise of AI stands out, no less than 74% of all software start-ups today are AI companies. In 2025, AI accounts for 46.9% of all start-ups. This is a very strong increase, as over the entire period 2014–2025 AI represents only 11.8% of software start-ups, or 6.5% of the total.
Within hardware, mechatronics forms the largest subcategory with 72.2%. Over the entire period 2014–2025 this was 46.8%, or 7.6% of the total. Mechatronics refers to mechanical systems where hardware, electronics and software come together, from cars and robots to advanced production equipment.
“AI has in no time grown into the technology of the moment, almost half of start-ups today focus on it. And since we are only at the beginning, we expect this number to rise even further. The risk of a bubble is very real, a lot of money is flowing into AI today, but as always, the wheat will sooner or later be separated from the chaff,” says Lode Uytterschaut, founder and CEO of Start it @KBC. “There are also ethical issues, such as chatbots making racist statements or people using chatbots as therapists without being aware of the privacy risks. Furthermore, AI will evolve from a mainly explanatory function to one that is also more executive, very exciting but also very tricky.”
Despite the bubble effect, AI, thanks to its wide range of applications, has become indispensable in our daily lives. This is in contrast to blockchain, which has a much more limited field of application and, as predicted, has moved past the hype, with a very modest share of 0.7% over the period 2014–2025.
As for business models, we see that B2B is more common than B2C, with in 2025 75.5% of all start-ups compared to 24.5%.
Lode Uytterschaut: “A logical percentage, given Belgium’s historical position as a small B2B country with a large service sector within the fragmented European market, but still higher than the international averages that are somewhere between 60 and 65%. By comparison, Y Combinator, the leading accelerator worldwide, known for its focus on B2B, had 70% B2B start-ups in 2023.”
Software most popular with investors, but hardware raises the biggest amounts
Looking at the technologies most popular with investors, we see that the largest number of investments go to software, 80% compared to 19% for hardware. The remaining 1% falls into neither category.
“That software is popular with investors is not surprising, the start-up costs are lower and scalability higher, there are no long development times or logistical issues to get in the way, iteration is easier, and the marginal cost per item sold is minimal. In other words, it is a lot less complex to set up than hardware,” says Andy Gijbels, CTO of Start it @KBC. “Given the potential and popularity of AI, we expect software investments to continue to rise in the coming years, although sooner or later there will be a decline, when it becomes clear that not every AI start-up working on the same idea will survive. We even expect this within the next two years, when start-ups that are raising money today but fail to gain traction will run out of funding.”
That more investments go to software does not mean hardware start-ups have less chance to raise money, there are simply more software start-ups, so logically more investments go there. On the other hand, per deal hardware start-ups raise on average larger amounts. This is especially true for medtech start-ups, which must undergo extensive testing and approval before they can start production or sales. For mechatronics and other hardware subcategories, capital needs are also higher than for software. The lower position of AI in this ranking can be explained by recency bias, most AI start-ups are still too young to have raised significant funding, which lowers the average considerably.
- Medtech: €1,980,000
- Mechatronics: €1,422,000
(Hardware average: €839,000) - Big data & Data analytics: €1,407,000
- AI & Machine learning: €523,000
(Software average: €922,000)
At the same time, money is not everything, raising large amounts of capital is not a guarantee of success, nor does it necessarily mean more impact. The numbers show that 75.5% of the Start it @KBC start-ups that are still active today did not raise venture capital, just like 60% of the companies that were acquired. Moreover, the start-ups that did not raise funding account for 54% of all jobs created. A good example is Loop Earplugs, one of our most successful start-ups, which has so far raised very little.
B2B outperforms B2C
Between 2014 and 2025, start-ups in our program raised an average of €719,000 in funding.
B2B start-ups raised almost twice as much as B2C players, €1,007,000 versus €505,000.
They also perform better in terms of survival rate, while 70% of B2B start-ups are still active (of which 4.7% were acquired), this is only 55% for B2C (of which 3.1% were acquired).
CTO Andy Gijbels: “Investors prefer B2B because companies buy in a more targeted and less emotional way, they have bigger budgets and are generally more loyal customers. You need fewer clients to be successful. That makes growth faster, larger and more predictable, which is exactly what investors like to see.”
Men raise much more than women
The data also shows that the average founder age is 33, and that teams of three founders raise the most money on average, €1,166,000.
Male founders raise on average more than four times as much as female founders. The explanation goes further than simple gender bias.
“Women are more often solo founders and are less often active in software or B2B, but more often in food and B2C, both linked to lower survival rates and less funding. The chances of an acquisition in food, which often involves going concern businesses, is much smaller, 0.5% compared to 4.6% for software,” explains CTO Andy Gijbels. “And male teams raising more money does not necessarily mean they create more impact.”
- Only Male: €849k
- Only Female: €204k
- Mixed: €629k
Despite the still unequal funding, the share of female founders is increasing, while in the early years on average about 20% of start-ups had at least one female founder, in 2025 this has risen to 39%.
“Despite growing awareness, female founders still face structural challenges, ranging from unequal access to capital to a lack of role models or tailored support. Initiatives and programs such as Thrive, focused on female leadership and entrepreneurship in tech, remain necessary,” adds Lode Uytterschaut.
Start it @KBC start-ups have higher survival chances
Of all 1,839 start-ups that participated in the program since 2014, 67% are still active today. Compared to general averages, Start it @KBC start-ups perform very well. After five years, around 73% are still active, while according to an international benchmark this is 51% for start-ups that raised venture capital.
Uytterschaut explains this by pointing out that Start it is strong in selecting the most promising start-ups and in guiding them well, which significantly increases their chances of success and funding. The fact that more than 70% of founders come from a corporate background also plays a role.
“They have developed a solution for a problem they encountered in their previous careers, based on their own experience, background and market insight. This sector knowledge is a clear competitive advantage that logically translates into greater chances of success, funding or an exit,” concludes Uytterschaut.
221 of our start-ups have already raised more than one million euros, 119 start-ups more than two million. Altogether they have raised more than €1.1 billion and created more than 12,000 jobs, making our ecosystem one of the largest employers in Belgium.
Among the biggest success stories are well-known names such as Aikido Security, Bolt, Loop Earplugs, Conveo, Keyrock, Segments.ai, Crazy Games and Ritchie.
Learn more about the Start-upbarometer in the following media: