Taiwanese startups' exports up 29.3% in 2025: MOEA

Taipei, Feb. 2 (CNA) Exports from Taiwanese startups grew 29.3 percent to reach NT$147.9 billion (US$4.68 billion) in 2025, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said Monday.

Southeast Asia posted the fastest growth among overseas markets, with exports surging 125.48 percent year-on-year, the ministry said in its second annual white paper on Taiwan's startup ecosystem.

Japan followed with a 46.73 percent increase, while exports to the United States grew 11.75 percent, the report added.

Taiwan had 10,552 startups -- defined as businesses with a paid-in capital of less than NT$100 million or fewer than 200 regular employees that have been established for less than eight years -- including 278 that had entered public markets, the report said.

Total startup investment in 2024, the latest year for which figures are available, reached NT$100.2 billion, with health care, biotechnology and electronic hardware ranking as the top three investment sectors, the report added.

Meanwhile, 2,300 startups operated in the government's "Five Trusted Industry Sectors" -- referring to semiconductors, artificial intelligence, military, security and surveillance, and next-generation communications -- accounting for 22.56 percent of the total, the report said.

At a news conference, Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Ho Chin-tsang (何晉滄) said that government efforts to support digital and financial transformation have encouraged greater participation by corporate venture capital, with large companies increasingly viewing startups as an important source of external innovation.