Can you launch a business from Andorra?

In 2022, Andorra Research and Innovation (ARI) spearheaded an initiative within the framework of the National Innovation and Entrepreneurship Strategy of the Principality of Andorra. The process brought together a range of stakeholders from the country with an interest in entrepreneurship, representing the so-called quadruple helix: government, society, academia and business. Creand was pleased to take part in a series of workshops aimed at identifying what needed to improve for Andorra to become a truly innovative country and a place that actively supports entrepreneurship.

The conclusions were fairly clear. On the one hand, there was a shortage of home-grown talent, partly because many young people leave to study abroad — and often stay there. On the other, early-stage innovative projects faced significant challenges in securing funding, due to the limited availability of public and European grants. Finally, there was the challenge of helping emerging companies to internationalise without losing their roots in the country.

At that time, the entrepreneurial ecosystem was only just beginning to take shape. Objectively speaking, launching a business from Andorra offered no short-term advantages. Beyond the shared commitment shown by many stakeholders — who contributed what they could, including a great deal of enthusiasm, strong engagement and individual experience — we were trying to support the projects that were being created.

It is now 2026. Four years after that initiative led by ARI, having taken an active part in building the country’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and having supported numerous projects, I now feel sufficiently well placed to answer a question that often arises: can you launch a business from Andorra?

The short answer: yes, you can.

The long answer: it depends on what you want to build.

In my experience, a project with a real chance of success requires four key elements: sources of funding, business management skills, project-specific expertise, and an unfair advantage.

When it comes to business management, Andorra today offers meaningful support. While we do not have a fully fledged business school, there is a growing range of training programmes, entrepreneurial support schemes, start-up acceleration initiatives and mentoring opportunities. Particular recognition should be given to organisations such as Andorra Business, which for years have been driving initiatives with tangible and demonstrable impact.

As for specific expertise — directly linked to the talent challenge identified in 2022 — the situation is evolving positively. It is true that we do not have universities specialising in engineering, nor large-scale research departments. However, in recent years, highly specialised professionals across a wide range of technical disciplines have moved to the country. Individuals who have sold their companies, who are seeking new challenges and are eager to start again. It may not be the idealised narrative of the business school student meeting an engineer in a café, but it is increasingly common to find exceptional talent keen to build a venture from Andorra.

When it comes to funding, there is still work to be done. We continue to lack robust financing mechanisms for early-stage projects. While it is true that the number of private investors with a business angel profile is growing, this inevitably shapes the type of viable ventures: digital businesses, which are less capital-intensive and capable of validating their value proposition quickly, are far more likely to materialise. It is unlikely that the next quantum computer will be developed in Andorra, unless the entrepreneur is able to finance it with their own resources.

This brings us to the fourth pillar: the unfair advantage — the element that gives a project such a favourable position that it almost feels like cheating. For instance, access to distribution channels, key assets and privileged environments. In this respect, as a country, Andorra has some compelling attributes: nine million tourists a year, a mountain and snow environment, a national regulatory sandbox and living lab, and a small but cohesive and highly accessible entrepreneurial ecosystem.

In 2025, together with Andorra Business, we launched Enlaira, the first national acceleration programme for Andorran start-ups. We did so with a degree of uncertainty as we did not know whether there would be enough projects willing to apply. Fifteen did. We accelerated three, with very positive results.

This year, we are launching the second edition of Enlaira, with the aim of accelerating five more start-ups. We trust that our dedication, together with the teams’ hard work, will bear fruit. And who knows, perhaps sooner than we expect, we will be talking about Andorra’s first unicorn.