GSER 2026: Ecosystem Leaders Must Prioritize Startup Policy or Risk Being Left Behind

The 2026 Global Startup Ecosystem Report (GSER) by Startup Genome and the Global Entrepreneurship Network launched today at VivaTech, Paris. Powered by the world's most comprehensive and quality-controlled dataset on startup ecosystems, the GSER analyzes data from 5.5 million+ companies across 350+ entrepreneurial innovation ecosystems. The report provides new insights and deep analysis on global startup trends, delivering key insights into the world's leading innovation ecosystems and highlighting the trends, capital flows, and policy approaches shaping entrepreneurial success. It ranks the Top 40 global startup ecosystems and Top 100 emerging ecosystems, alongside regional standings. This year's edition expands its AI-Native (startups for which AI is core to their products and business model from formation) factor to include emerging ecosystems, backed by over a decade of independent research and a global consortium spanning 65+ countries, equipping policymakers, ecosystem leaders, and founders with actionable strategies to drive economic growth.

This year marks a major shift in the global startup economy — the recovery has arrived, but AI is determining who benefits from it. Artificial Intelligence is no longer a horizontal tech sub-sector, but the central force reshaping where capital flows, where talent concentrates, and where startup value is created. Its impact is deeply uneven; with 86% of all late-stage funding to AI-Native startups flowing to North America, the gap between ecosystems capturing its gains and those that are not is widening rapidly. 
Startup Genome's message to ecosystem leaders is direct: the window to act is narrowing, and those who prioritize infrastructure over the creation and scaling of AI-Native companies risk absorbing the disruption of this transformation without capturing any of its economic rewards. 

Further global key findings from the #GSER2026 include:

• Global startup Ecosystem Value – the sum of exit and funding valuations over the last 2.5 years – has grown 40% in one year, reaching $ 10.9 trillion. 
• The AI-Native sub-sector is on track to become the largest share of global startup Ecosystem Value within 3 years, growing $2.1 trillion or 140% this year as compared to 15.9% for the rest of tech. 
• AI-Native Ecosystem Value has grown 969% since GSER 2021 (vs. 101% for non-AI tech), with funding up 218% from 2021 to 2025 — even as overall tech funding shrank 36% over the same period.  
• DefenseTech is the fastest-growing tech sub-sector after AI Native, with Series A value up approximately 60% over the past year.
• Silicon Valley’s Ecosystem Value has surpassed $3 trillion, nearly 3x the next largest ecosystem. North American Ecosystem Value grew 51% since GSER 2025, vs. a global increase of 33%.
• North America now accounts for 64% of global late-stage funding — up from 56% in 2021. 

Global Top 40 Ecosystem Ranking 

• Toronto-Waterloo and Seattle made impressive progress thanks to their strong AI-Native sub-sector, respectively moving up the #13 and #10 positions.
• Stockholm emerged as the standout performer among European ecosystems, jumping eight positions to #23 and tying with Amsterdam-Delta.
• Bengaluru-Karnataka ranks among the Top 15 startup ecosystems globally, cementing its position as India's leading startup hub.
• Nearly all Chinese ecosystems in the Top 40 saw a decline in their ranking. The exception was Wuxi, which climbed six positions to #36.

Top 100 Emerging Ecosystem Ranking (which follows the Global Top 40) 

• Mumbai ranked #1 Emerging Startup Ecosystem, followed by Istanbul and Madrid.
• Auckland made the most dramatic climb of any ecosystem in the Top 100 Emerging Ecosystem ranking, surging more than 75 positions to the #31-40 range, followed by Sri Lanka climbing more than 65 positions to the #71-80 range.
• Abu Dhabi’s Ecosystem Value grew an impressive $69 billion, the largest rise among Emerging Ecosystems, securing a position in the #41-50 range and #4 in MENA.
• Among the Top 100 Emerging ranking, Valencia and Porto were standout European climbers, rising 22 and 16 places respectively.
• Sub-Saharan Africa's large exits ($50 million+) in Q1 2026 alone exceeded the region's entire full-year 2025 total — a striking reversal.

“Global Ecosystem Value is up nearly 40%, but three U.S. ecosystems captured two thirds of that growth. After a decade advising forward-looking governments to develop and execute powerful innovation policies to further our mission of decentralization of tech, we are seeing a concerning re-concentration. Governments are spending their scarce budget on compute infrastructure and corporate AI adoption – importing U.S. solutions – leaving too little to fund updated policies that accelerate the building of a local AI-Native startup ecosystem that produces exports and ensures their future prosperity.” — JF Gauthier, Founder & CEO, Startup Genome

"To the policymakers, investors, and ecosystem builders reading this report, the data in these pages will tell you where ecosystems stand today; not who will lead tomorrow. That answer lies in the choices made now — whether governments treat entrepreneurs as partners, whether corporations open their doors to startups, and whether ecosystems double down on inclusion when the temptation is to retreat. The next chapter of global innovation will be written by those who make the boldest decisions." — Jonathan Ortmans, President of the Global Entrepreneurship Network

The GSER is created in partnership with the Global Entrepreneurship Network, Dealroom, Crunchbase, Pitchbook, and Strategy Tools. The 2026 edition provides actionable guidance for policymakers, ecosystem leaders, and founders to develop evidence-based strategies that strengthen startup communities - the world’s most powerful engine of job creation and economic growth. Discover how entrepreneurial ecosystems across the world stack up and view the full report here. Explore previous editions of the GSER and other insightful Startup Genome reports here. Reach out to us and let’s develop a more effective AI-Native strategy now.