Bangalore tops global startup ecosystem

As of August 2021, India has produced 24 unicorns in 2021, including six in just four days in April. The city of Bengaluru and the surrounding State of Karnataka is also the world's 4th largest technology and innovation cluster and home to more than 400+ global R&D centres

London: Bangalore rose up three spots to be ranked 23rd in an annual analysis of the world's most favourable ecosystems to build a globally successful startup, according to a report released here on Wednesday that is topped by the Silicon Valley in California. Delhi held on to its 36th position in the Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2021 by Startup Genome, with Mumbai topping a parallel top emerging ecosystems ranking for the second year in a row. The Startup Genome report analyses cities around the world where early stage startups have the best shot at building global success. "Bangalore, Karnataka, at #23, improved enough in Funding, Connectedness, and Knowledge to return to the top 25 after briefly slipping out," notes the report. Bangalore's ranking was also boosted by healthy access to growth capital, demonstrated by recent large funding rounds from food delivery platform Swiggy ($1.3bn), social media company ShareChat ($502m) and edtech company Byju's ($460m).

Delhi was praised for impressive growth and Mumbai for outperforming all other emerging global hubs. "Mumbai is once again the #1 Emerging Ecosystem. It outperformed all others in performance, funding, experience, and talent & experience," the analysis notes. The research shows that Indian startups raised $12.1 billion in the first half of this year, demonstrating the rapid growth of India as a global hub for tech and innovation. As of August 2021, India has produced 24 unicorns in 2021, including six in just four days in April. The city of Bengaluru and the surrounding State of Karnataka is also the world's 4th largest technology and innovation cluster and home to more than 400+ global R&D centres. Alongside Mumbai, a number of other Indian hubs made it into the 'Top 100 Emerging Ecosystems' list, including Chennai, Pune and Hyderabad. Released to coincide with London Tech Week, the largest tech event in Europe, the report ranks the leading 140 startup ecosystems based on seven success factors including Performance, Talent and Connectedness.

The findings revealed that London is the most attractive destination to set up a tech startup outside of Silicon Valley, with an overall ecosystem value of $142.7bn. Despite Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic, London maintained its second-place ranking tied with New York for the second year in a row. "India and London have shared strengths in technology, innovation and entrepreneurship and today's report findings demonstrate the abundance of opportunities for Indian tech companies looking to London for international expansion," said Janet Coyle, Managing Director Business Growth, London & Partners.