Emerging Ecosystems Ranking (GSER Top 100)
The second tier of Startup Genome's Global Startup Ecosystem Report: the 100 strongest startup ecosystems below the global Top 40. The top 20 get exact positions and the rest are grouped in bands of ten, with factor scores for performance, funding, talent and market reach.
- Reliability
- Grade C · 6/12
- Publisher
- Startup Genome
- Ranks
- Startup ecosystems
- Editions
- 6 since 2021
- Method
- Mixed
- How items get in
- Compiled by the publisher
- Status
- Active
Editions
How the ranking works
Uses the same data and success factors as the GSER Top 40, applied to ecosystems outside that list. Positions 1 to 20 are exact; 21 to 100 are published in bands of ten (21-30, 31-40 and so on). Each ecosystem gets 1 to 10 scores on the factors used that year (Performance, Funding, Market Reach, Talent & Experience, and from 2023 Knowledge or Connectedness; 2026 adds AI-Native Cluster and R&D Engine).
Ranked with bands: Exact positions at the top, then published bands such as 501-600. Ecosystems cannot apply; Startup Genome ranks every ecosystem outside its global Top 40 that it has data for. Startup Genome also sells advisory work to ecosystem agencies, some of which are ranked.
How far to trust it
Superscout grades every ranking on six criteria, each scored 0 to 2. Emerging Ecosystems Ranking (GSER Top 100) scores 6 of 12, grade C.
- Transparency 1/2
- Factors are published, but underlying metrics and normalization are not.
- Independence 1/2
- Ranks all ecosystems in its data, but earns revenue from ranked governments and ecosystem partners.
- Evidence 2/2
- Built on venture, exit and valuation data from commercial databases.
- Stability 0/2
- Factor set changed in 2023, 2025 and 2026.
- Coverage 1/2
- 100 ecosystems below the global Top 40.
- Track record 1/2
- Six editions since 2021.
How it is received
Strengths
- Covers 100 second-tier ecosystems that global top lists leave out.
- Publishes factor scores for every ranked ecosystem.
- Same data and method family as the GSER Top 40.
Weaknesses
- Positions below 20 are only bands of ten.
- Ecosystems move in and out as they enter or leave the Top 40, so year-on-year bands are not directly comparable.
- Publisher sells advisory services to ranked governments and agencies.
- Underlying data are not published.
Open questions
Facts not verified yet. They stay visible so they are not mistaken for settled facts.
- The 2025 table lists 101 names (11 in the 71-80 band) and prints Jakarta as "Jakarata"; both kept as published.
Superscout describes Emerging Ecosystems Ranking (GSER Top 100) independently from the publisher’s own pages and outside coverage, linked below. The rankings belong to Startup Genome.