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The UK is the most active country in Europe when it comes to startup accelerators, according to the European Accelerator Report 2014 by Fundacity.

In 2014 in the UK, 599 startups were helped by accelerator programmes, far more than any other European country. France was the second most active with 212.

The UK also leads the way with the amount invested by accelerator programmes. Startups received €13,245,636 from UK accelerators - more than double the amount invested by any other nation. Spanish accelerators are the second highest investors at €6,216,000.

But it appears that UK accelerators invest in their startups less than other European nations. An average of €22,112 was received by startups in 2014. Spanish accelerators invested €61,544 per startup, Germany €237, Italy €67,500, and the Netherlands €42,033. Eastern European countries appear to invest the most amount of money in their startups. Despite investing in just over 50 startups between them, Bulgarian accelerators invest an average of £78,750 and their Hungarian counterparts invest a whopping £93,333 on average.

Interestingly, all of the funds invested by Bulgarian investors came from public funds. Wayra, the startup accelerator run by Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica, invested more than any other accelerator at €4,512,780. But the most active accelerator was the UK's Entrepreneurial Spark with 352 startups.

Source: freshbusinessthinking.com