Global Startup Ecosystem Index (countries)

Editions

How the ranking works

Each ecosystem gets a total score that is the sum of three subscores: Quantity (number of startups, investors, coworking spaces, accelerators and startup meetups), Quality (accumulated private investment, startup employees, unicorns and exits above $1B, traction of startups measured through web data) and Business Environment (how supportive overall conditions are for startup growth; Makai notes that earlier editions drew on external indices such as the World Bank's Doing Business). Weights are not published.

Data come from StartupBlink's crowdsourced global startup map, supplemented by Crunchbase, Semrush, Statista and data from 100+ ecosystem partners, most of them government agencies. Scores are continuous and unbounded, so gaps between ecosystems are visible (San Francisco scored about 2.7 times New York in 2025).

Scores only: Indicator scores are published without a single overall rank. All ecosystems in StartupBlink's crowdsourced map and partner data are ranked; entities cannot apply. StartupBlink works with 100+ ecosystem partners, most of them government agencies, which supply data and appear in the report, and it sells a paid StartupBlink Pro data product. The full report is gated behind an email form.

Read the publisher’s methodology

How far to trust it

Superscout grades every ranking on six criteria, each scored 0 to 2. Global Startup Ecosystem Index (countries) scores 8 of 12, grade B.

Transparency 1/2

Subscore components are described but weights and algorithm are not published.

Independence 1/2

Ranks all mapped ecosystems, but partners with 100+ governments that supply data and are featured in the report.

Evidence 1/2

Mix of hard funding and unicorn data with crowdsourced map counts and web traffic.

Stability 1/2

Coverage and subscores have been expanded over time; no formal method breaks announced.

Coverage 2/2

Ranks 118 to 120 countries.

Track record 2/2

Seven or more annual editions since 2017.

History

StartupBlink, an Israeli startup-mapping company, published its first ecosystem ranking in 2017, followed by a 2019 report that expanded coverage to 1,000 cities and 100 countries. It has been updated annually since, branded the Global Startup Ecosystem Index by 2022. Coverage grew to 1,240 cities and 119 countries in 2024, 1,473 cities and 118 countries in 2025, and 1,556 cities and 120 countries in 2026.

StartupBlink reports year-on-year growth rates from total scores, which assumes comparable method across years.

How it is received

The index is widely quoted by governments and local media because it covers far more cities than any rival. Attila Makai (Hungarian Statistical Review, 2021) criticizes it: 'the algorithms used are not presented, nor are the weights assigned to each variable' so 'the results of the ranking cannot be verified', and he argues that importing external political and business-climate indices disadvantages some Asian ecosystems and that the ranking becomes less meaningful beyond about position 100.

Because much of the input is a crowdsourced map and web-traffic data, ranks for smaller cities can move sharply from year to year.

Open questions

Facts not verified yet. They stay visible so they are not mistaken for settled facts.

• Exact release dates for the 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2025 editions not confirmed.
• Crunchbase's 2019 summary and StartupBlink's own 2019 blog give different lists beyond the top four; only the top four and Germany are loaded.
• Countries ranked 11 to 120 for 2026 are only in the gated report.