Key takeaways
- A startup is a young, innovative company built for rapid growth, often financed externally.
- The SRL is the go-to form: limited liability, no minimum capital, eased entry of investors.
- Financing combines own funds, regional public aids, citizen loans, business angels and venture capital.
- Each Region has its investment arm: Wallonie Entreprendre, finance&invest.brussels, PMV.
Creating a startup in Belgium means launching a young company around an innovative idea, with the ambition of rapid growth. The process shares the base of any company formation, but differs on one decisive point: financing. An ecosystem of investors, regional public aids, citizen loans, business angels and venture capital: Belgium offers favourable ground, provided you know which levers to activate and when. This guide defines the startup, sets out the creation steps, and above all details how to finance it.
What is a startup?
A startup is a young company whose purpose is to acquire rapid growth around an innovation. This innovation can concern the product or the service, but also the organisational model. That is what distinguishes it from a classic company: where the latter aims at a profitable, stable activity, the startup seeks to grow fast, often before even being profitable, which assumes a scalable model and external financing.
Concretely, a startup arises from an identified problem and a new solution, tested and then refined. It is this promise of growth that attracts investors and structures the whole path.
The steps to create your startup
Legally, creating a startup amounts to creating a company. The difference lies upstream, in the idea and the team, and downstream, in the financing.
- 1
Validate the idea and the market
Turn the innovative idea into a value proposition, target a market and test a minimum viable product.
- 2
Build the team
Gather co-founders and key profiles, often supported by mentors, an incubator or a coworking space.
- 3
Choose the form and incorporate
The SRL is the go-to form; incorporation follows the classic path, from the financial plan to the notary.
- 4
Raise the financing
Activate the right levers, from own funds to investors, according to the stage of development.
For the incorporation itself, everything is detailed in our guide to creating a company in Belgium and, for the most common form, setting up an SRL. The real startup specificity is what follows: the financing.
Financing your startup: the crux
Few startups are financed by their founders' funds alone. Financing is built in stages, combining several sources according to the maturity of the project.
The main financing sources
Own funds and love money
The founders' and their relatives' contribution, a base of credibility to convince other financiers.
Public aids and subsidies
The regional schemes supporting innovation and creation, to activate early.
Regional citizen loans
Prêt Coup de Pouce in Wallonia, Winwinlening in Flanders, Prêt Proxi in Brussels, with a tax advantage for the lender.
Business angels
Private investors who bring capital and network, often through structured networks.
Venture capital
Funds that invest in high-potential startups in exchange for a share of the capital.
Incubators and accelerators
Support, sometimes a first financing, and access to an ecosystem.
To these levers is added crowdfunding, useful to test a market as much as to raise funds. The order matters: you generally start with own funds and public aids, before opening the capital to investors.
Public aids and incentives
Belgium actively supports its young companies, through the Regions and the federal level. Each Region has a public investment arm.
These aids do not dispense with a solid file. A credible financial plan and a clear value proposition remain the condition of access to most financing, public and private. Our guide to aids and subsidies for the self-employed rounds out the public-side picture.
Lay solid foundations for your startup
Choice of form, financial plan, incorporation and registered office: Monsiegesocial sets up the structure while you build your project and your financing.
Going further
- Creating a company in Belgium: the steps, the incorporation path.
- Setting up an SRL in Belgium, the go-to form for startups.
- Aids and subsidies for the self-employed in Belgium, for the public side of financing.
