.png)
The Global Startup Ecosystem Index by StartupBlink has been updated annually since 2017 and currently ranks the startup ecosystems of a mammoth 1,473 Cities and 118 Countries.
With their unique data and proprietary algorithm covering and ranking a whopping:
- 370+ Corporations’ Startup Activity
- 110+ Countries’ Startup Ecosystems
- 1,400+ Cities’ Startup Ecosystems
- 200,000 + Startups, Co-working Spaces, Accelerators
The 2025 edition dropped last week, with the global Startup community on tenterhooks as to how their region ranked compared to their counterparts worldwide.
We got early access to give you the top headlines.
The US remains the top startup environment worldwide, but records the lowest ecosystem growth rate in the top 20.
It’s no surprise that the United States remains the top startup nation globally, clearly way out in front of the rest of the pack.
What may shock you is that the “home of Startups” globally has seen the lowest ecosystem growth rate among the top 10 countries at 18.2%, compared to the tier’s average growth rate of 27.6%.
Since 2020, the second placed United Kingdom has also narrowed the gap to 2nd from five times to 3.7 times.
In 2025, only 32 US cities appear in the global top 100— down from 36 in 2021 and the lowest tally in five years. Six of the 10 best-ranked US cities declined in the global
standings this year—a sharp turnabout from last year, when only two of them lost ground.
Are we finally seeing a shift to a more globally competitive Startup ecosystem? Or is this more of a commentary on the current state of the US?
Only time will tell.
FoodTech is currently the fastest growing sector worldwide
Alongside Hardware & IoT, and Energy & Environment, the future of how we create and consume Food on our planet leads the way in terms of industry vertical growth.
All of the above sectors, each expanded by over 40% in startup count.
In contrast Transportation showed the slowest positive growth, with an increase of less than 1%.
With Edtech the only industry to decline, with a negative growth rate of 2.3%.
Our guess is that the sector has hit its inflection and saturation point globally. While more pressing problems around supply chain and resources sustainability have led to funding, government incentives and attention to move to different verticals.
Mixed news for our home region of Australian and New Zealand
As an Aussie based business it’d be remiss of us not to keep track of our Ecosystems.
Even if it does make for challenging reading.
Australia placed 12th this year in the country index. Dropping a place behind Baltic state Estonia, known for its high focus on technical capability building. Meaning it drops further behind its record high of 8th place in 2023.
New Zealand also drops a place, to Eastern European Czechia, down to 31st, with a growth of 11.3% recorded, well behind the global average of 25%.
There’s better news for the region’s cities. With Sydney climbing 5 places to 31st, sandwiched between Jakarta and Atlanta. Melbourne jumped 2 places to 42nd and Adelaide scaled 15 places to 217th. With Auckland also climbing 1 place to 115th overall.
The same can’t be said for Brisbane(-9), Perth(-9) and Wellington(-22) which also dropped down the rankings.
The top 20 Countries list is as follows:
1.United States
2.United Kingdom
3.Israel
4.Singapore
5.Canada
6.Sweden
7.Germany
8.France
9.Switzerland
10.The Netherlands
11.Estonia
12.Australia
13.China
14.Spain
15.Finland
16.Ireland
17.Denmark
18.Japan
19.Lithuania
20.South Korea
With the top 20 cities rated as:
1.San Francisco Bay, United States
2.New York, United States
3.London, United Kingdom
4.Los Angeles Area, United States
5.Beijing, China
6.Boston Area, United States
7.Shanghai, China
8.Paris, France
9.Tel Aviv Area, Israel
10.Bangalore, India
11.New Delhi, India
12.Singapore City, Singapore
13.Tokyo, Japan
14.Berlin, Germany
15.Seattle, United States
16.Austin–Round Rock Area, United States
17.Shenzhen, China
18.Mumbai, India
19.Chicago, United States
20. Seoul, South Korea
StartupBlink is a global startup research platform that maps the winners of the tech economy and helps governments and corporations grow their innovation ecosystem.
Download and read their full report here
Subscribe to the Hype Man Media Newsletter for more stores like this in your inbox
