In an economic landscape marked by rising operating costs, margin pressure, and greater financial strain, Spanish SMEs continue to rely primarily on their own resources to ensure business continuity. Specifically, more than 60% of SMEs survive thanks to their own savings, according to 2025 data from Hiscox’s 2nd Report on SMEs and the Self-Employed in Spain, an international insurer specializing in solutions for businesses and the self-employed.
A Structural Shift in Corporate Financial Culture
This predominance of self-financing, however, coexists with a gradual increase in external financing to support activity, reaching 34% in 2025, three percentage points higher than two years ago. This uptick, far from being merely cyclical, reflects both a greater financial professionalization and a growing liquidity need, and confirms that credit has ceased to be a one-off resource to solidify as a stable component in the financial structure of many SMEs.
At the same time, there is a notable decline in the use of family savings to sustain the business, dropping from 23% in 2023 to 15% in 2025, indicating a depletion of informal support networks after several years of sustained economic pressure. Additionally, reliance on mortgaging the home fell from 6% to 5%, which can be interpreted as greater patrimonial prudence.
In parallel, regarding entrepreneurship, the trend shows nuances. Although internal resources continue to lead startup financing (73%), 33% of SMEs have turned to external financing to start their business, six percentage points higher than in 2023. Thus, we are seeing greater openness to credit from the outset of activity and more diversified financial planning.
Furthermore, family involvement increases significantly, doubling from 7.5% in 2023 to 14% in 2025, and the number of entrepreneurs who mortgage their homes to start the activity rises from 6% to 9%. These figures point to a greater need for resources and a higher acceptance of personal risk, a dynamic reminiscent of the years after the 2008 financial crisis, when personal wealth acted as the main collateral in the face of tighter access to credit.
