Data Insights: Macao Company Formation Trends Into 2026

2 hours ago

4 min read

When people ask whether Macao has “more entrepreneurs than in 2018,” the honest answer is not a slogan. It is a company register.

Macao’s Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) publishes Company Statistics from the Commerce and Movable Property Registry: newly incorporated companies, companies in dissolution, and the net change. That is not the same as “startups,” and it is not the same as “founders who ship.” It is the cleanest public series we have on how many legal entities enter and leave the market each year.

This note walks through that series from the mid-2010s through 2025 — with one clear rule: only DSEC (and DSEC’s diversification report) figures, no invented boom.

The headline arc: peak, pause, modest rebound

Year	New companies	Dissolved	Net change
2016	4,392	780	+3,612
2017	5,177	803	+4,374
2018	5,953	813	+5,140
2019	6,140	885	+5,255
2023	5,011	918	+4,093
2024	4,555 (−456 YoY)	1,098	+3,457
2025	4,678 (+123 YoY)	946	+3,732

How to read it. New incorporations climbed through the late 2010s and peaked around 2018–2019 (5,953 then 6,140). By 2024, new formations had cooled to 4,555 — down 456 year-on-year — while dissolutions rose to 1,098, so the net stock still grew (+3,457) but more slowly. 2025 edged back up: 4,678 new (+123 YoY), fewer dissolutions (946), net +3,732.

So if the question is “are we still adding companies?” — yes, every year in this table is a net positive. If the question is “are we at 2018–19 formation intensity?” — not yet. That distinction matters for founders and for anyone quoting Macao’s entrepreneurial energy in the press.

Figures: Official DSEC / gov.mo company statistics (2016–2025) and DSEC SIED Analysis Report 2024. See sources below.

What kind of companies? Mostly trade and business services

DSEC’s industry breakdown for new companies is stubbornly consistent.

2016: wholesale & retail 1,416 (32%); business services 1,159 (26%).
2024: wholesale & retail 1,509 (33%); business services 1,322 (29%).
2025: wholesale & retail 1,640 (35%); business services 1,352 (29%).

Together those two buckets are roughly 58–64% of new companies. Macao’s register is still, first and foremost, a trade + services register — not a tech IPO pipeline.

Capital size reinforces the SME picture. In 2025, 73.3% of newly incorporated companies had registered capital under MOP 50,000. (For context, in 2024 the under-MOP-50,000 band was 3,150 of 4,555 new companies — about 69% — per DSEC’s 2024 annual company release.)

That is useful for first-time founders: the modal new company is small, service- or trade-oriented, and lightly capitalised. It is also a reminder not to confuse “new company” with “venture-scale startup.”

The tech caveat (short, on purpose)

DSEC does not publish a pure “tech startups” line. Anyone who wants a tech story has to work with related buckets — carefully.

From Company Statistics 2024, new companies in financial activities, information and related activities totalled 247 — about 5% of new incorporations that year. That is a real slice, not a boom.

A different lens is DSEC’s Statistical Indicator System for Moderate Economic Diversification (SIED) analysis for 2024:

Direct economic benefit of high-tech related industries: MOP 8.89 billion in 2024 (up from 7.42 in 2023 and 6.63 in 2019).
Information industry value added: MOP 2.51 billion (2024).
Research & development / technical testing value added: MOP 1.56 billion (2024).
Firms certified under the tech enterprise certification scheme: 41 cumulative in 2024 (from 24 in 2023).

Manufacturing remains thin in the economy-wide picture (on the order of ~0.7% of value added in 2024 in the diversification framing). High-tech related activity can grow while still being a minority of company births.

MSC’s takeaway for founders: diversification policy and certified tech firms are moving — but the company register still says most new entities look like SMEs in wholesale, retail, and business services. Plan go-to-market for that reality (GBA customers, corridors, patient capital), not for a register that suddenly turned into Shenzhen.

What this means for founders

Use the register as weather, not as identity. Net company growth is real; 2018–19 peak formation is not back. Build for a market that adds thousands of entities a year without assuming every one is a peer startup.
Expect neighbours in trade and services. If you are building software, fintech, or health tech, your corporate peers on paper are often wholesalers and service firms. That is the sandbox José Alves–style MSC conversations keep pointing at: look outward for customers early.
Small capital is normal — traction is not automatic. Sub–MOP 50,000 registrations dominate. Cheap to incorporate does not mean cheap to win. Treat incorporation as step one, not product-market fit.
Quote tech with the right denominator. ~5% finance+info new cos (2024) and rising high-tech related benefits (SIED) can both be true. Do not merge them into “Macao became a tech hub because companies are up.”
Link the data to community, not to hype. Policy and programmes open doors; founders walk through them. MSC’s job stays the connector layer — mentorship, events, honest numbers — not inventing a unicorn narrative the register does not support.

Sources (official)

DSEC Company Statistics, 2024 full year / Q4: https://www.dsec.gov.mo/getAttachment/ea0af717-150b-4348-bbfd-a08e4e40185d/C_SOC_FR_2024_Q4.aspx
DSEC / gov.mo company statistics summaries: 2016 https://www.gcs.gov.mo/news/detail/en/N17BFPvrlg · 2017 https://www.gov.mo/en/news/90329/ · 2018 https://www.gov.mo/en/news/107270/ · 2019 https://www.gov.mo/en/news/122647/ · 2023 https://www.gov.mo/en/news/321487/ · 2024 https://www.gov.mo/en/news/352488/ · 2025 https://www.gov.mo/en/news/392961/
DSEC Company Statistics PDF, 2023 full year / Q4: https://www.dsec.gov.mo/getAttachment/05663237-f89c-41bf-9c76-89b1bf497385/C_SOC_FR_2023_Q4.aspx
DSEC BET (Macao Economic Bulletin) Q4 2025 — company appendix / main indicators (2023 dissolved 918 revised series): https://www.dsec.gov.mo/getAttachment/65ac848d-b58c-4070-955a-e0d266181f50/C_BET_PUB_2025_Q4.aspx
DSEC SIED Analysis Report 2024: https://www.dsec.gov.mo/getAttachment/2cbddefb-91fd-49a4-b4d9-7b809cf4dfc6/C_SIED_PUB_2024_Y.aspx
Company statistics landing: http://www.dsec.gov.mo/e/company.aspx

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Educational / community data note. Figures are official DSEC (and DSEC diversification) statistics; please verify against the linked releases before reuse in fundraising or policy materials. Macao Startup Club is a nonprofit community connector, not an investor.