Switzerland has never created so many companies. Nor has it ever seen so many disappear for lack of a successor. Between record start-up numbers and a mounting succession challenge, Swiss entrepreneurship is changing shape.
Swiss entrepreneurship now reflects a paradox. On one hand, business creation has rarely looked so dynamic. On the other, entrepreneurs are operating in an environment marked by intensifying competition, a sharp rise in insolvencies, significant investment needs, and an increasingly pressing question: who will take over existing companies? SMEs are the backbone of the Swiss economy: they account for more than 99% of commercial businesses and generate around two-thirds of the country’s jobs, according to data from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) cited by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). The issue of entrepreneurship therefore extends far beyond start-up founders: it has a direct bearing on growth, employment, and the country’s productive capacity.
The business creation figures are encouraging on that score. In 2024, 52,978 new companies were entered in the Swiss commercial register — a record, up 2.6% from 2023. Over the past decade, annual start-ups have risen from about 40,000 to nearly 53,000. This momentum does not mean, however, that all of these businesses will evolve into growth companies: a significant share of new ventures are small structures, sometimes launched alongside salaried work, reflecting a search for independence as much as an adaptation to a labour market in which digital tools make it easier to launch certain activities. Creation, however, is only the first test. The real economic challenge lies in building a structure strong enough to invest, hire, and withstand cyclical downturns — and here the signals are more mixed. According to the autumn 2025 survey by the KOF Swiss Economic Institute at ETH Zurich, Swiss companies expect a nominal increase of 3.9% in gross fixed capital investment in 2026, after a modest 0.7% rise in 2025 — a limited but real rebound that presupposes sufficient financial headroom and a minimum of visibility on demand. The insolvency backdrop is a reminder that growth is never guaranteed: in 2025, 13,612 bankruptcies were declared in Switzerland under the Debt Enforcement and Bankruptcy Act, of which 12,485 involved companies, representing a 48.5% increase compared with 2024, and even 61.2% for business bankruptcies alone. SECO notes that a large part of this increase stems from the amendment to the Debt Enforcement and Bankruptcy Act that took effect in January 2025, which now allows public-law creditors to file for bankruptcy directly in the event of unpaid claims. At the same time, start-ups continued to increase: the picture is therefore less one of entrepreneurial collapse than of an economy in which business creation and business failure are now moving in tandem.
The other major transformation lies in succession — a less visible but equally structural challenge. According to a study by Dun & Bradstreet cited by SECO, around 101,427 companies were looking for a successor in 2024. The issue is particularly acute for smaller businesses: 17% of companies employing between 10 and 49 people faced a succession issue, compared with 8.1% of those with 50 to 249 employees. A company that disappears for lack of a buyer can mean the loss of jobs, know-how, supplier relationships, and a customer base built over several decades. Switzerland therefore needs two complementary profiles of entrepreneurs: those who create new structures, and those who know how to take over and grow those that already exist.
In 2026, the question may no longer simply be “How many companies does Switzerland create?” It is also “How many does it manage to grow and pass on?” An entrepreneurial economy is not measured solely by the number of registrations in the commercial register: it is also measured by companies’ ability to invest, create jobs, innovate, weather difficult periods, and, ultimately, change hands without disappearing. The next generation of Swiss entrepreneurs could therefore play a dual role: inventing new activities, but also taking over those that have made the existing economic fabric so strong. Between creation, growth, and succession, the real issue for the years ahead may be less the number of entrepreneurs than their ability to ensure continuity and renewal across the economic fabric.
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