London, Skopje, Berlin, February 4, 2026 – Native Teams, the global platform for work payments and legal employment, launched the Global Expansion Report, which provides the first cross-market benchmark of cost, timelines, digitalisation levels and regulatory risks for establishing and operating a legal entity across 19 jurisdictions. Based on aggregated data from more than 3,000 internationally active companies and verified input from 17 independent legal, accounting, and compliance services, the report unmasks the true economics of going global in the era of remote work. The study was conducted during Web Summit Lisbon and in partnership with Swiss Entrepreneurship Program (Swiss EP), Startup Club Skopje, Fil Rouge Capital, Eleven VC, and MFG Invest.
Europe and North America Dominate Expansion Plans
The report includes European (79%), Asian (11%), North American (the United States, 5%), and Oceanian (Australia, 5%) markets. More than 100 founders, executives, and HR leaders across SaaS, AI, cybersecurity, fintech and digital infrastructure, as well as professional services, sustainability, and VC, provided first-hand insights on the hiring models, prioritised regions, and the biggest mistakes that should be avoided.
The study shows that Europe (UK, Portugal, Spain, DACH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland)) and North America (US) are the top target regions for the business expansion for the next 12-24 months, while APAC, Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Chile), the Middle East, and Africa appear as secondary markets once product-market fit and funding are established.
Simeon Iliev, Chief Opportunity Navigator, MFG Invest, commented: “We see a clear trend: Central Eastern and Europe and LATAM offer world-class talent without world-class burn. These high-performance regions remain underestimated, yet they enable early-stage companies to scale efficiently. What matters most to us as investors are signs that the leadership team can operate in a distributed way – with clear communication, documented processes, strong ownership and the ability to manage remote or hybrid teams.”
Digitised Economies vs Manual Workflows: Why Global Expansion Can Take Minutes or Months
Despite the global shift to digital business, company formation remains manual across half of the world. The report reveals an average incorporation complexity score of 2.9 out of 5 (1 = Very Easy, 5 = Very Hard), driven by outdated procedures that continue to dominate even advanced economies. While markets such as the United Kingdom, Ireland and Estonia offer fully digital, low-friction registration (score 1), most jurisdictions still rely on in-person notarisation, share capital deposits, and local bank verification, significantly delaying setup and inflating operating costs. Countries such as Australia, Hong Kong, Malta, Cyprus and the United States fare moderately well (score 2), whereas Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, Croatia and Austria remain focused on paperwork and manual approvals (score 4), with the Philippines ranking as the most complex market globally (score 5). These barriers make expansion unpredictable and complex, forcing companies to wait weeks, and sometimes months, before they can legally hire or operate in new markets.
Jack Thorogood, CEO and Founder of Native Teams, commented: “Our findings clearly reveal a tipping point in global expansion strategy. While flexible hiring models such as Employer of Record, contractor arrangements, and hybrid setups, remain the most efficient pathway for early market entry, the economics shift once a company scales beyond a small team. When a business reaches roughly 4 to 10 employees per market, the annual cost of EOR begins to mirror, or even surpass, the investment required to establish and maintain a local entity. At this stage, owning infrastructure not only delivers stronger cost predictability but also greater control over compliance, payroll, and long-term operational growth.”
Banks and Notaries Bureaucracy Slow Cross-Border Investment
The process of a legal entity incorporation follows a similar sequence across most jurisdictions, though the complexity, required documentation, and duration vary. Most founders mark the main procedural barriers in the preparation and registration phase as mandatory notarisation, share capital deposits, obtaining bank reference letters, source-of-funds verification, and signing engagement letters. Opening a local or digital bank account is often the most time-consuming step that raises overall incorporation costs.
The Real Cost of Global Expansion – €15,000 Per Market, Every Year
The timeline and cost of registering a legal entity vary significantly across jurisdictions, primarily due to differences in procedural requirements, documentation standards, and the level of digitalisation in local authorities. Across the 19 reviewed markets, setting up a legal entity costs an average of €7,300 and takes 15 to 23 business days to incorporate, while ongoing maintenance averages €7,700 per year – bringing the average total annual cost to approximately €15,000. However, managing an entity involves additional overhead and liabilities – including legal filings, payroll setup, tax registrations, and ongoing compliance – which makes it significantly harder to operate compared, for example, to the Employer of Record (EOR) model.
To find out all market insights and statistics, download the full report here.
Media contact:
Sonia Shapiro, Head of Brand Marketing, Native Teams
Kseniia Chernikova, Head of Media and Communications
About Native Teams
Native Teams is the global platform for work payments and employment, designed to support both businesses and the teams behind them. Beyond Employer of Record (EOR), the platform provides multiple end-to-end solutions for global hiring, expansion and multi-currency payments for employees and gig workers, ensuring compliance, efficiency, and financial stability.
With Native Teams, businesses can maximise the value per dollar spent and reduce their administrative workloads through simple, scalable and fully compliant solutions. Serving 3000+ companies in 95+ countries, Native Teams makes global employment simple, compliant, and people-centric.
