How can we help Flemish growth companies achieve real growth?

Flanders counts around 11,200 active start-ups, but only 14% evolve into true scale-ups. With its new scale-up monitor, VLAIO (Flanders Innovation and Entrepreneurship) pinpoints the core issue: while the region excels at launching start-ups, their further growth is often held back by limited access to capital, coaching, and international networks.

The monitor reveals that Flemish scale-ups attract significantly less venture capital on average than regions like Berlin. The ecosystem remains too fragmented, with too few integrated programmes that combine funding with tailored guidance.

While Ghent and Antwerp are key hotspots, smaller cities like Hasselt are also showing promising growth.

Flanders has all the right ingredients, but still lacks a coherent strategy to help growth companies truly scale. More capital, stronger collaboration, and targeted support will be essential to unlock that potential.