Georgia

Tbilisi

Members: GITA, Georgia's Innovation and Technology Agency

Top 30

Europe Ecosystem in Affordable Talent
Our objective is to ensure that innovation becomes an integral component across all sectors, enabling technology, entrepreneurship, and research to contribute to sustainable and inclusive economic development.
Avtandil Kasradze
Avtandil Kasradze
Chairman of Georgia's Innovation and Technology Agency

Highlights

Georgia’s startup ecosystem is rapidly emerging as a dynamic regional hub for technology and entrepreneurship in the South Caucasus, supported by an evolving policy framework and expanding innovation infrastructure. In recent years, the country has placed strong emphasis on building a structured, globally-connected ecosystem, with a focus on improving access to finance, strengthening infrastructure, developing talent, and enabling startup scalability.

To accelerate this development, Georgia has introduced targeted incentives for startups and IT companies. The International Company Status offers preferential conditions, including a 5% rate on both corporate and personal income tax. The Innovative Startup Status provides a 10-year incentive scheme, featuring 0% personal and profit tax in the early years. Additionally, the Innovative SME Status supports business growth through R&D expense super deductions and offers up to 30% cashback grants for reinvestment.

Georgia’s Innovation and Technology Agency (GITA) plays a central role in ecosystem development, implementing national programs that support startups across various stages. These include grant schemes and pre-acceleration and acceleration programs, as well as international partnerships. Through collaboration with leading global accelerators such as Plug and Play, 500 Global, Founder Institute, and Startupbootcamp, more than 160 startups are supported annually with mentorship, funding opportunities, and access to global markets.

The country continues to strengthen its innovation infrastructure through a network of nine technology parks across regions, offering training, prototyping facilities, and community spaces. The upcoming Kutaisi Technology Hub is set to become the largest innovation facility in Georgia, integrating education, startup support, and technology-driven business activities.

Government-led initiatives such as StartUp in Georgia further enhance ecosystem visibility and connectivity by enabling participation in major global tech events like CES, GITEX, Web Summit, and SWITCH, positioning Georgia as an attractive destination for international startups and investors.

Ecosystem by the Numbers

ECOSYSTEM VALUE

A measure of economic impact, calculated as the value of exits and startup valuations from H2 2023–2025. Ecosystem Value includes all active unicorns.
(H2 2023 - 2025)
$273 M
GLOBAL AVG. $25 BN
REGIONAL AVG. $14.3 BN

ECOSYSTEM VALUE GROWTH

Growth is calculated based on the Ecosystem Value from H2 2018–2020 vs. H2 2023–2025.
(H2 2018 - 2020 VS. H2 2023 - 2025)
2.4%
GLOBAL GROWTH 149%
REGIONAL GROWTH 152%

AI-Native Ecosystem Value

A measure of economic impact, calculated as the value of exits and startup valuations from H2 2023–2025 for AI-Native. Ecosystem Value includes all active unicorns.
(H2 2023 - 2025)
$28 M
GLOBAL AVG. $4.4 BN
REGIONAL AVG. $1.1 BN

AI-Native Ecosystem Value Growth

Growth is calculated based on the AI-Native Ecosystem Value from H2 2021–2023 vs. H2 2023–2025.
(H2 2021 - 23 VS. H2 2023 - 25)
NA
GLOBAL GROWTH 161%
REGIONAL GROWTH 84%

EARLY-STAGE FUNDING GROWTH

Early-Stage Funding Growth is based on number of Seed and Series A rounds raised between 2022-2023 vs. 2024-2025 and calculated on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest).
(2022-23 vs. 2024-25)
6
Scale of 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest)

AI-Native Early Stage Funding Growth

AI-Native Early-Stage Funding (ESF) Count Growth Tier evaluates the growth in the number of Early-Stage Funding rounds between 2022–23 and 2024–25. Ecosystems are scored on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 represents the lowest growth and 10 represents the highest.
(2022-23 vs. 2024-25)
9
Scale of 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest)

TOTAL VC FUNDING

The Total VC funding (Seed, Series A, Series B+) in tech startups in 2021–2025.
(2021 - 2025)
$92 M
GLOBAL AVG. $5 BN
REGIONAL AVG. $4.1 BN

TOTAL EARLY–STAGE FUNDING

The total Seed and Series A funding in tech startups in H2 2023–2025.
(H2 2023 - 2025)
$52 M
GLOBAL AVG. $554 M
REGIONAL AVG. $531 M

EXIT AMOUNT

The total value of exits from the ecosystem.
(2021 - 2025)
$18 M
GLOBAL AVG. $7.6 BN
REGIONAL AVG. $4.3 BN

EXIT COUNT (#)

The number of exits from the ecosystem.
(2021 - 2025)
2
1
2021
0
2022
0
2023
0
2024
1
2025
GLOBAL AVG. 103
REGIONAL AVG. 136

TIME TO EXIT

The average age at the time of exit in the ecosystem in 2021–2025.
(2021 - 2025)
5 YEARS
GLOBAL AVG. 11.1 years
REGIONAL AVG. 11.7 YEARS

NUMBER OF UNICORNS 

The number of startups that meet our definition and have been valued at more than $1 billion and have not exited.
(ACTIVE UNICORNS)
NA
GLOBAL AVG. 11
REGIONAL AVG. 6

MEDIAN SEED ROUND

The median of seed rounds in tech startups in the ecosystem in H2 2023–2025.
(H2 2023 - 2025)
$330 K
GLOBAL AVG. $1 M
REGIONAL AVG. $1 M

Median Series A Round

The median of Series A rounds in tech startups in the ecosystem in H2 2023–2025.
(H2 2023 – 2025)
$39 M
GLOBAL AVG. $6.2 M
REGIONAL AVG. $6.5 M

Top Funded Startups

Top startups identified based on funding amount from July 2023 to December 2025.
(H2 2023-2025)
1: Pave Bank $39 M
2: Pave Bank $5.2 M
3: Keepz $2.6 M
4: Fashion Growth AI $2 M
5: Helio AI $1 M

SOFT. ENGINEER SALARY

Average software engineer salary informed by data from Glassdoor, Salary.com, and PayScale, as well as local sources when available.
(2025)
$45 K
GLOBAL AVG. $54 K
REGIONAL AVG. $58 K

Sub-Sector Strengths

AI
AI

Georgia’s AI sector continues to grow, with GITA expanding beyond startup support to strengthen AI talent development, applied research, and commercialization, while deepening international partnerships to integrate local companies into global innovation networks. The 2024 National AI Strategy aims to drive AI adoption, with a planned Excellence Center dedicated to driving AI innovation and commercializing R&D. The 500 Global Eurasia accelerator selected Tbilisi-based AI startups for its regional program in 2025, providing mentorship and investor access. In December 2025, Tbilisi State University expanded applied AI collaborations with local startups to support research commercialization.

Biotechnology
Biotechnology

Biotechnology in Tbilisi continues to build momentum through research collaboration and specialized Life Sciences initiatives. In October 2025, Tbilisi hosted the International Conference on Emerging Biosensors and Biotechnology, convening researchers and industry experts to explore advances in diagnostics, nanobiotechnology, and biomedical engineering, highlighting growing regional collaboration in bioscience innovation. Scientific cooperation expanded through a Georgia–Moldova biotechnology conference in October 2025, organized with support from Georgia’s Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation, focusing on biotechnology applications in climate-resilient agriculture and plant breeding.

AgriTech
AgriTech

AgriTech innovation around Tbilisi has accelerated through new investment initiatives, international partnerships, and ecosystem events connecting agriculture with emerging technologies. In September 2025, global AgriTech platform Farmway Technologies announced a partnership with the Government of Georgia to mobilize up to $100 million for technology-enabled agricultural modernization, including Blockchain-based supply chain traceability and digital farming systems. Global Tech Weekend Tbilisi 2025 spotlighted AgriTech startups alongside AI and Fintech innovators, convening founders, investors, and industry partners to explore technology solutions for agriculture and food systems.

Selected Startup Organizations

Startup Genome Members

MEMBER

Georgia’s Innovation and Technology Agency (GITA), founded in 2014 under the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, is a cornerstone of Georgia’s innovation ecosystem. GITA drives the growth of innovation by creating enabling conditions for startups, researchers, and businesses to thrive, promoting the adoption of advanced technologies across economic sectors, and strengthening national competitiveness. It delivers strategic programs, funding support, capacity-building initiatives, and partnerships to fuel sustainable, technology-led growth throughout Georgia and enhance links between public, private, and academic innovation stakeholders.

Work with us

If you are interested in working with us to drive global attention to your ecosystem, please get in touch with Marina Krizman, Director of Business Development.

This site uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic. Your IP address and user-agent are shared with Google along with performance and security metrics to ensure quality of service, generate usage statistics, and to detect and address abuse.