The annual Impact Report by one of the leading European startup hubs, Maria 01, shows that startups with international talent in the founding team were able to raise bigger funding rounds in 2024. On the other hand, teams with female founders raised less than their peers – Maria 01 is tackling this issue with a new initiative to help founders with vision bring their ideas forward.
Today, one of the leading European startup hubs, Maria 01, has released its latest Impact Report, which measures the impact of the hub’s startups. The 2024 report shows that startups that had founders with international backgrounds secured nearly 60% of all funding raised by Maria 01 startups. More than a third (36%) of Maria 01 startups have at least one founder with an international background, reflecting the ecosystem’s strong appeal to global entrepreneurs.
“International founders tend to be bold risk-takers, willing to make bigger leaps of faith in pursuit of success. Many are highly educated, bringing expertise, fresh perspectives, and a strong drive to innovate, develop new products, and launch businesses. This influx of talent and ideas is a tremendous asset—not only for the Finnish startup ecosystem but for the entire economic future of Europe,” says Sarita Runeberg, CEO of Maria 01.
Most of the international founders come from Europe, Asia, and South America. Overall, Maria 01’s members represent about 40 different nationalities, and the total member count grew from 1,500 to 2,000 over the past year, showing a strong interest in entrepreneurship and being part of a hub that is committed to supporting startups on their growth path.
With its renewed strategy, Maria 01 aims to become an even bigger player in the global ecosystem, inviting international founders to Finland to use the hub as their home base. If moving to Finland is not applicable, Maria 01 also introduced a digital membership option last year.
“In Finland, we can offer many things for early-stage founders that many countries can’t. The excellent education system for their families, almost free and universal healthcare, supportive and inclusive startup ecosystem, and the world’s best work-life balance – something that many founders struggle with,” Runeberg explains.
The Impact Report also shows that startups’ revenue grew significantly from 2022 to 2023, demonstrating that despite the difficult market situation, startups have shown resilience and have been able to grow. At the end of 2024, Maria 01’s startups exceeded raising funding of over €1B since the launch of the hub in 2016, marking a significant milestone.
Meanwhile, the number of employees has dropped, showing that many startups have maximized their efficiency – some of which might come from the wide utilization of AI in different business units.
“We have stopped tracking AI as a separate industry in our Impact Report as we see that AI is affecting everything that we and the startups do. It has become an integral part of nearly every sector, seamlessly embedded into daily tasks, processes, and innovations. We were also happy to see that despite startups struggling to raise funding, they have been able to grow their businesses nevertheless,” Runeberg adds.
Maria 01 is launching a new program aimed at supporting early-stage founders. In the initiative, Maria 01 offers free working space for up to 3 months per company, with 50% of the quota reserved for female and minority founders. The program is available for startups from the idea stage onwards
“Maria 01 has a renewed strategy, launched at the beginning of 2025. In addition to our vision of being the leading startup campus in the world, we really want to be a founder-first campus. This new initiative supports the idea that anyone can and should become a startup founder if they have a dream of making the world a better place with the help of scalable technology,” Runeberg concludes.
