Global Startup Ecosystem Ranking 2023 (Top 30 + Runners-Up)

This ranking identifies the top 30 global ecosystems and 10 runners-up. These ecosystems are more mature than other ecosystems globally, featuring a higher number of exits over $50 million and more funding activity. In previous years, the runners-up have been grouped as tied #31 and tied #36. For 2023 and future reports, we are showing the specific ranking of the runners-up for improved transparency and to allow easier future benchmarking. For more information about how this ranking is created, please see the Methodology section.

Key Findings

• The top three ecosystems have maintained their positions from 2020, with Silicon Valley remaining at the top, followed by New York City and London tied at #2.
• Boston and Beijing have both slipped out of the top five to #6 and #7 respectively, losing two positions each. This has paved the way for Los Angeles to rise to #4 and Tel Aviv to #5, both gaining two spots.
• Singapore has entered the top 10 for the first time, moving up an impressive 10 places to #8 from #18 in the GSER 2022, the biggest improvement in the rankings.
• Miami has also made impressive progress, making it into the top 30 ecosystems at #23, an improvement of 10 positions from last year.
• All major Chinese ecosystems dropped in the overall rankings: Shenzhen moved down 12 places, Beijing two, and Shanghai one, now standing at #35, #7, and #9 respectively.
• Indian ecosystems continue to rise, with Mumbai leading the way by moving up five places to tied #31. Bengaluru-Karnataka and Delhi both moved up two places, to #20 and #24 respectively.
• Melbourne has moved up an impressive six places from last year, to reach #33.
• Zurich has made remarkable progress and risen 10 places from last year, entering the top 30 + runners-up at #36, and making the biggest year-on-year improvement in Europe.

Global Leaders

North America remains the globally leading region in terms of the number of tech startup ecosystems in the ranking (15 of the top 30 with three additional entries in the 10 runners-up). The top three global ecosystems remain the same from 2020, with Silicon Valley at #1, followed by New York City and London tied at #2. However, Boston and Beijing have dropped out of the top five, losing two positions each, and are replaced by Los Angeles at #4 and Tel Aviv at #5. These top five account for a collective $4 trillion in Ecosystem Value, 53% of the accumulated total of the top 30 ecosystems, while the remaining 25 are collectively worth $3.6 trillion.

Silicon Valley accounts for 31% of the total value within the top 30 ecosystems. But even the established global leader has taken a hit in recent months. Since Q3 2021, the count of Series A deals has continuously dwindled each month, down to just 27% of what it was in August 2021 by February 2023. The Series B+ deal count hit a low in December 2022, at just 25% of the number in August 2021, but has since made some recovery.

London remains Europe’s leading tech startup ecosystem. The region has seen an upswing in exits over $50 million, with several high-value exits over $1 billion, including Fintech Wise ($12.2 billion), Deliveroo ($10.5 billion), and Oxford Nanopore Technologies ($4.6 billion). In addition, Europe's largest Fintech unicorn, Revolut, is based in London, boasting a valuation of $33 billion, while SumUp and Rapyd are valued at $9 billion and $8.7 billion respectively.

New York City has witnessed a 42% increase in exits above $1 billion since the GSER 2022, including Healthtech Roivant’s Q2 2021 $7.3 billion exit, and now boasts 126 unicorns, with 37 added in 2022. Digital asset exchange Gemini is the Big Apple’s highest-valued tech unicorn at $7.1 billion, contributing significantly to the 71% increase in Ecosystem Value from July 1, 2019–December 31, 2021 to July 1, 2020–December 31, 2022.

Los Angeles moved up two positions to make it into the top five, at #4. It saw a 29% increase in exits over $50 million and an impressive 110% increase in exits over $1 billion, GoodRx’s $12.7 billion valued IPO being the top exit. The number of LA unicorns has increased by 21, to 44. SpaceX is the top-valued unicorn at $100 billion, contributing to a 40% increase in Ecosystem Value.

Tel Aviv has also moved up two positions, making it a top five global ecosystems at #5. It saw a sharp increase in exits over $1 billion, with Fintech Pagaya having the highest exit in an IPO valued at $8.5 billion. Tel Aviv also saw a 33-unicorn surge, increasing the total to 57, with Blockchain company Fireblocks as the highest-valued unicorn at $8.5 billion. The overall Ecosystem Value grew to $235 billion — up 100% from July 1, 2019–December 31, 2021 to July 1, 2020–December 31, 2022.

Hot Spots & Rising Ecosystems

Singapore has entered the top 10 ecosystems for the first time, moving up an impressive 10 places from #18 last year. The ecosystem increased 100% in the count of exits over $1 billion to a total of four. Grab was the highest valued exit at $40 billion. The number of unicorns increased from 11 to 18, including Coda Payments, which raised a $690 million Series C round in April 2022. The ecosystem also experienced a 33% increase in the count of early-stage deals.

Melbourne has also seen notable progress, climbing six places from the GSER 2022 to #33. A 43% increase in Ecosystem Value comes thanks in part to increased exits over $50 million and above $1 billion. The unicorn count increased by one to three total, with Fintech Airwallex the highest valued at $5.5 billion.

In Miami, the number of $1 billion+ exits increased from two to five from the GSER 2022, and the number of $50 million+ exits from 11 to 19. In large part due to MSP Recovery’s $32 billion IPO/reverse merger, Ecosystem Value increased by 160%. The count of early-stage deals also increased by 64.3% and the number of unicorns from five to seven, all helping take Miami up an impressive 10 places from the GSER 2022, to #23.

Helping to demonstrate India’s increasing strength as a tech startup nation, Mumbai has risen five places to #31 since last year (tied with Salt Lake-Provo). Its number of exits over $50 million increased by 60%, with the highest valued online marketplace Nykaa’s 2021 IPO at $7 billion. The number of unicorns has increased from six to 15, contributing to a 57% boost in Ecosystem Value.

Zurich's recent performance has also been impressive, rising a remarkable 10 places from last year and making it to the runners-up, at #36. Exits over $50 million have grown a massive 300%, with Healthtech Pharvaris exiting at a valuation of $636 million. The unicorn count has increased from two to six, including Blockchain company Dfinity, which is valued at $9.5 billion, all contributing to a nearly 60% increase in Ecosystem Value from July 1, 2019–December 31, 2021 to July 1, 2020–December 31, 2022.

Cooling Ecosystems

Although still globally leading ecosystems, both Boston and Beijing have lost their footing at the top of the rankings, each moving down two spots from the GSER 2022. However, it’s not all bad news. Boston recorded a 55% increase in exits over $1 billion and increased its number of unicorns by an impressive 29 since last year’s ranking.

Meanwhile, Beijing experienced a decrease in exits both over $50 million and over $1 billion, as well as a drop in the number of unicorns from 45 to 36. It continues a trend of Chinese ecosystems slowing discussed in the GSER 2022. In fact, all major Chinese ecosystems have experienced drops in the global ranking, with Shanghai moving down one place to #9 and Shenzhen dropping 12 places to #35. However, Shenzhen still boasts 13 unicorns, more than doubling last year’s six. Shenzhen’s highest-valued unicorn, UBTECH Robotics, saw its value increase to $4.5 billion, contributing to a 52% boost in Ecosystem Value.

In the GSER 2022, Helsinki made a huge leap from #59 to #31, but this year has moved down four places to #35. The Finnish ecosystem experienced a 24% increase in early-stage funding deals since the GSER 2022. However, Series A rounds over the last decade have decreased by 24%, which indicates fewer experienced entrepreneurs in the ecosystem and thus impacts the Talent & Experience score.

Tokyo and Paris have each moved down three places in the ranking, landing at #15 and #18 respectively. While Tokyo's exits over $50 million and count of early-stage funding decreased, affecting overall growth, its Ecosystem Value increased by 6%. The Japanese capital is also now home to six unicorns, with 2022 seeing currency digitization platform GVE Ltd. and robotics company RT Corporation join the $1 million+ club. RT Corporation is the highest valued unicorn at $3.5 billion. Fintech Paidy was the biggest exit from Tokyo, at $2.7 billion.

Paris saw an increase in exits over $50 million but recorded no exits above $1 billion. However, the number of unicorns in the French capital increased by 16 to 30, contributing to an increase in Ecosystem Value of 62% and including online marketplace Back Market, which is valued at $5.7 billion.

Success Factor Highlights

To create the 2023 rankings, we measured six Success Factors in each ecosystem:

• Performance
  
• Funding
  
• Market Reach
• Connectedness
  
• Talent & Experience
• Knowledge

Each of these factors is assessed and awarded a score of 1 to 10, with 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest. For more information, please see the Methodology section.

Performance

The Performance Success Factor assesses:

• Exits: The number of exits over $50 million and $1 billion, as well as the growth of exits.
  
• Ecosystem Value: A measure of the economic impact of the ecosystem, calculated as the total exit valuation and startup valuations over a two-and-a-half-year time period.
  
• Startup Success: How many startups succeed in the ecosystem. Measured in early-stage success (ratio of Series B to Series A companies), late-stage success (ratio of Series C to A companies, and speed to exits (both to IPO and other exits).
  

Funding

The Funding Success Factor assesses:

• Access: A function of early-stage funding volume and growth.
  
• Quality & Activity: The number of local investors; those investors’ experience (average years investing and exit ratio); and their level of activity (percentage of investors active in 2022 and the number of new investors).
  

Market Reach

The Market Reach Success Factor assesses:

• Local Market Reach: The size of local markets, proxied as a function of country GDP.
  
• Global Leading Companies: A function of scaleups and unicorns in the ecosystem. Measured in terms of the ratio of companies valued at over $1 billion to GDP; the ratio of $1 billion exits to GDP; and the ratio of large exits to funding (exits over $50 million to Series A rounds).
  
• Quality: An indicator of how much policy encourages the commercialization of tangible IP, measured at the country level.
  

Talent & Experience

The Talent & Experience Success Factor assesses:

Tech Talent

• Quality & Access: A function of the number and density of top developers on GitHub, English proficiency, and history of exits. Quality is also a proxy for experienced scaled teams in the ecosystem.
• Cost: Cost efficiency average of software engineer salaries. (Higher salaries lead to lower scores.)

Life Sciences Talent

• STEM Access: Number of STEM students and graduates.
• LS Access: Number of Life Sciences-focused universities and degree programs.
• LS Quality: A function of Life Sciences quality of instruction and research at local universities as measured by the Shanghai Rankings.
  

Experience

• Scaling Experience: The cumulative number of significant exits (over $50 million and over $1 billion) over 10 years for startups founded in the ecosystem.
• Startup Experience: The cumulative number of early-stage companies started and funded at the Series A stage.
  

Connectedness

The Connectedness Success Factor assesses:

• Local Connectedness: A function of the number of tech meetups in the ecosystem.
  
• Global Connectedness: A calculation of international connectedness based on the ratio of international startups with secondary offices and international investors with investment in an ecosystem.
  

Knowledge

The Knowledge Success Factor assesses:

• Patents: The volume, complexity, and potential patents generated in the ecosystem.
  
• Research: Based on the H-Index, a measure of publication impact, this metric looks at the production of research at the country level.