For start-ups and established companies alike, Gibraltar offers a variety of unique advantages, making it an ideal place to setup an international business and expand to the bigger markets in Europe and beyond:

Click Here to open full presentation: Gibraltar for Israeli companies 2020

Economies of Small Scale: Gibraltar is a small contained economy (measuring 7sq kilometres), making it easier to administer and run pilot testing schemes and be in close geographical proximity to all test sites. Moreover, most start-ups have limited financial and human resources which impedes on their ability to test trial their technology in the large countries thereby creating a barrier to entry; for example, testing a certain mobile application in the UK may require the resources to simultaneously support millions of concurrent users, while doing the same in Gibraltar with its 30,000 inhabitants, would be much less demanding.

Lower bureaucracy: due to its small size, Gibraltar has fewer bureaucratic layers than most other countries, making access to key decision makers, both in Government and in industry much simpler and quicker. Thus, there are much fewer bureaucratic hurdles in Gibraltar for companies to get approvals, licenses or certification than in bigger countries.  In countries such as the UK, Germany or France, in order to get to the national level, a company may first need to pass the municipal and then the regional/country level, making it a longer and often more costly process.

British standards and EU Regulations: being a British Overseas Territory, Gibraltar adheres to high standards of service, and complies with all applicable EU Directives, which facilitates marketing to the rest of Europe.

Low profile:  Gibraltar is often not under the radar of the world media which means that if a company’s test trial fails, probably no one would hear about it outside Gibraltar. In a big country (such as the UK or Germany), such failure may attract negative media coverage which may cause some reputational damage with the associated risk of losing a target market of 60 or 70 million potential users. In Gibraltar, the risk is of losing a market of only 30,000 people. However, if the technology trial is successful, it is easy to get exposure in the local media and then showcase the success to the bigger markets in Europe.

English language and legal system: Gibraltar applies the English Common Law legal system and English language, thereby removing the language barrier for non-EU companies, which often impedes on conducting technology trials.

“Las Vegas” of the Online Gaming industry: Gibraltar is home to 35 of the biggest names in the online gaming industry. Being close to these top operators, acts a magnate to related support services and software development companies who wish to enter this lucrative market.

Cosmopolitan population: Gibraltar provides employment for people from a wide cross-section of the European population, meaning that it has a representative population rather than an homogenous one, which is important for a company looking to appeal to  the wider European markets.

Most attractive tax package in the EU: no list of Gibraltar’s advantages is complete without mentioning its tax benefits. Companies choosing Gibraltar as their gateway to the European markets enjoy Corporate Tax of 10%, no VAT, no Capital Gains Tax, no Dividends Tax and plenty of other tax incentives, making marketing and technology testing from Gibraltar, a highly tax efficient operation.

In summary, Gibraltar offers unique advantages that significantly reduce time to market and provide cost efficiencies to companies who wish to access the European markets. Innovative companies in the fields of FinTech, BioTech, CleanTech, Telecom, smart city solutions, homeland security and more are already here and ripping the benefits of testing their innovative technologies first in Gibraltar, before moving on to the bigger markets in Europe. For such innovative companies, Gibraltar is the first frontier rather than the final frontier.

Gibraltar’s HiTech map: