Eight years after the law of April 17, 2018, the startup label remains the key to a tax, customs and foreign-exchange regime without equal in the region. Its economic assessment is encouraging, but it reveals what the regime still does not do: finance scale-up.
A merit label backed by an exceptional regime
Promulgated on April 17, 2018, the Startup Act made Tunisia the first African country to adopt a legal framework dedicated to innovative entrepreneurship. Its pivot is the label: under the law, a startup is not merely a technological company, but a commercial company that has obtained this merit label. Without it, no advantages apply.
The instrument has reached a critical size. According to CEPEX, the ecosystem counts more than 1,450 startups, including 1,165 labeled and 17 scale-ups. The Minister of Communications Technologies mentions about 1,300 startups, and the cumulative number of labels stood at 1,146 as of early 2025. These discrepancies probably reflect different counting perimeters, cumulation of decisions or active companies, and invite caution.
Key numerical benchmarks of the ecosystem
| 1,165
labeled startups (CEPEX, April 2026) |
17
identified scale-ups |
$300 million
estimated cumulative revenue |
$24 million
raised by the ecosystem in 2024 |
Source: CEPEX.
Five criteria, two selection logics
