Barcelona committed to gazelle companies

There has been a boom in gazelle companies for some years now in Barcelona. Also known as high-growth companies, these are small businesses with at least 10 workers, which increase their size significantly over a short time, growing by more than 20% in three years.

In Barcelona, they account for 6.4% of companies with 10 or more workers (348 out of 5,452 businesses), and their capacity to create jobs is evident. These companies now provide 21,056 jobs in the city, with each gazelle company providing an average of 60.51 jobs.

These figures come from the Gazelle Company Observatory, a report by the Fundació Cotec and the University of Seville analysing the evolution of these small companies in the Spanish state.  The report was presented at the MediaTIC building in Barcelona a few weeks ago at an event attended by Mayor Jaume Collboni.

Leading city in innovation

Among the conclusions in the report, we can see that Barcelona is the city with the second-highest number of gazelle companies and that Catalonia is home to 17.4% of all the gazelle companies in the Spanish state. During the presentation of the report, Collboni pointed out that 44% of gazelle companies in the city have been through Barcelona Activa, the City Council’s local development agency, reflecting the role and commitment of the public sector in the growth of the business network.

The study also analyses the areas of activity with the most gazelle companies. In the case of Barcelona, the clear leader is the sector for programming, consultation and other IT-related activities, with 64 companies. The 22@ district also stands out as an area of excellence for innovation in Barcelona, where most gazelle companies operate.