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City shortlist report

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City shortlist — prepared by GreenLaunch

ClimaFlow: where to expand next

Water technology · Scaleup · 3 people planned in year one · Prepared 10 September 2026

On the weightings you set, Amsterdam ranks first with a fit score of 68/100. Amsterdam is a credible option: strong on customers, weaker on cost. First year for 3 people is roughly €278,280.

Shortlist

Ranked on your own weightings.

Ranked city shortlist
CityFitStrongestWeakestFirst year
1. AmsterdamNetherlands68CustomersCost€278,280
2. RotterdamNetherlands66CustomersCapital€253,080
3. LondonUnited Kingdom62CustomersQuality of life€293,250
4. StockholmSweden53Quality of lifeCustomers€286,787
5. BerlinGermany51CapitalSpeed€272,420

Amsterdam

Worth a look · 68/100

Amsterdam is a credible option: strong on customers, weaker on cost. First year for 3 people is roughly €278,280.

Risks

  • • Office and housing supply is tight and prices reflect it
  • • Grid connection queues can delay anything power-hungry

Next steps

  1. 1. Meet Invest in Holland (NFIA) — free soft-landing help before you spend anything.
  2. 2. Shortlist two energy buyers or testbeds here and ask for a scoping call.
  3. 3. An entity here takes about 4 days, so you can leave it until a contract is close.

First-year estimate €278,280: people €259,200, workspace €13,680, set-up €5,400.

Rotterdam

Worth a look · 66/100

Rotterdam is a credible option: strong on customers, weaker on capital. First year for 3 people is roughly €253,080.

Risks

  • • Investor community is thinner — expect to raise elsewhere
  • • Permitting for industrial sites takes planning and patience

Next steps

  1. 1. Meet Rotterdam Partners — free soft-landing help before you spend anything.
  2. 2. Shortlist two hydrogen buyers or testbeds here and ask for a scoping call.
  3. 3. An entity here takes about 4 days, so you can leave it until a contract is close.

First-year estimate €253,080: people €237,600, workspace €10,080, set-up €5,400.

London

Worth a look · 62/100

London is a credible option: strong on customers, weaker on quality of life. First year for 3 people is roughly €293,250.

Risks

  • • Salaries and rent are the highest in the corridor — budget roughly double a Lisbon or Barcelona base
  • • Attention is scarce: standing out needs proof, not just a deck

Next steps

  1. 1. Meet Global Entrepreneur Programme — free soft-landing help before you spend anything.
  2. 2. Shortlist two energy buyers or testbeds here and ask for a scoping call.
  3. 3. An entity here takes about 1 days, so you can leave it until a contract is close.

First-year estimate €293,250: people €269,100, workspace €19,800, set-up €4,350.

Stockholm

Weak fit · 53/100

Stockholm is hard to justify against your priorities right now: customers is where it falls down.

Risks

  • • Employer social charges above 30% change the maths on headcount
  • • Long distances to the rest of the EU market
  • • Employer charges of 31.42% add roughly €21,366 to every senior hire.
  • • This is your home market, so it tells you little about cross-border expansion — use it as the baseline column.

Next steps

  1. 1. Meet Business Sweden — free soft-landing help before you spend anything.
  2. 2. Shortlist two batteries buyers or testbeds here and ask for a scoping call.
  3. 3. Start the entity process early: 7 working days plus banking.

First-year estimate €286,787: people €268,097, workspace €12,240, set-up €6,450.

Berlin

Weak fit · 51/100

Berlin is hard to justify against your priorities right now: speed is where it falls down.

Risks

  • • Bureaucracy is slow: incorporation, banking and permits all take longer than the UK or Netherlands
  • • German-language capability is needed for public-sector and Mittelstand sales

Next steps

  1. 1. Meet Berlin Partner — free soft-landing help before you spend anything.
  2. 2. Shortlist two energy buyers or testbeds here and ask for a scoping call.
  3. 3. Start the entity process early: 14 working days plus banking.

First-year estimate €272,420: people €252,000, workspace €11,520, set-up €8,900.

Method and sources

Each city is scored on six categories — cost, talent, customers, capital, quality of life and speed to set up — using published benchmarks normalised across all fourteen cities, then weighted by the priorities set in the app.

Indicative benchmarks compiled from public sources for comparison. Confirm figures with a local adviser before committing budget.

Figures reviewed 9 September 2026. Sources are listed against each figure on the individual city pages.