The 20 Best Places for Tech Startups

You can start a tech company in your parents’ basement but whether it will do well depends very much on where that basement is located. For their latest Global Startup Ecosystem Report, Startup Genome studied 10,000 tech companies around the world and ranked cities according to how conducive they were to the success of tech startups. The San Francisco-based organization used categories such as performance, funding, market reach, talent and startup experience to determine the rankings.

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20. Bangalore, India

The Silicon Valley of India is ranked 11th for performance but lags behind especially in terms of funding and startup experience.

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19. Amsterdam, Netherlands

Amsterdam is ranked just ahead of Bangalore overall and in the performance category. However, the Dutch capital is ranked 19th for talent.

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18. Chicago, Illinois

Chicago ranks in the lower teens in most categories but its 20th-place ranking for market reach has pulled the Windy City into 18th place overall.

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17. Sydney, Australia

Sydney’s best ranking was 10th for funding. However, the only Southern Hemisphere city in the top 20 came in 20th for performance.

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16. Toronto, Ontario

Toronto is ranked 5th for market reach and 12th for funding but 18th for performance and startup experience. The city also seems to struggle in attracting talent, coming in 20th in this category.

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15. Vancouver, BC

The highest ranking Canadian city on the list, Vancouver’s strength is in its market reach, where it ranks in 7th place. It came in 15th for both talent and startup experience and 19th for performance and funding.

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14. Stockholm, Sweden

Stockholm does well in terms of market reach, coming in 8th place in this category. However, the Swedish capital ranks 20th for funding.

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13. Austin, Texas

Austin’s highest ranking is 6th for talent and also comes in 9th for startup experience. The Texas city’s lowest ranking, however, is 18th for market reach.

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12. Singapore

Tiny Singapore may not have much startup experience, ranking 20th in this category. However, the South East Asian city-state ranks 1st for access to talent, surpassing even Silicon Valley.

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11. Paris, France

The French capital ranks 8th for startup experience and 9th for market reach. Its lowest ranking is 16th for talent.

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10. Seattle, Washington

The home of tech giants like Microsoft and Amazon is ranked 3rd for talent and 6th for startup experience. Its lowest ranking is 14th, for market reach.

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9. Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles does well in terms of performance and funding, coming in 5th and 7th place respectively in these categories. The city’s lowest ranking is 15th for market reach.

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8. Shanghai, China

Shanghai is ranked 3rd for funding. Its lowest ranking is 13th, for startup experience.

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7. Berlin, Germany

The German capital has performed well in most categories, with its highest ranking 5th for talent. Its lowest ranking was 10th for startup experience.

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6. Tel Aviv, Israel

Tel Aviv’s highest ranking was 4th, for market reach. The Israeli capital’s lowest ranking, however, was 11th for talent.

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5. Boston, Massachusetts

Boston has done well in most categories, particularly in startup experience, where it is ranked 3rd, and talent, where it is ranked 4th. The drawback of starting a tech company in Boston is the city’s market reach, a category in which it is ranked 12th.

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4. Beijing, China

The Chinese capital is rated highly in most categories and is ranked 2nd for performance and startup experience. However, it still lags far behind in market reach, coming in 19th place in this category.

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3. London, UK

Of the cities outside the United States, London is ranked the highest. The British capital is ranked 2nd for market reach, 4th for performance and funding and 5th for startup experience but 10th for talent.

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2. New York, New York

The Big Apple is the second best place for a tech startup, coming in 2nd for funding, 3rd for performance and market reach, 4th for startup experience and 7th for talent.

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1. Silicon Valley, California

Silicon Valley is still the capital of the tech startup. It is ranked 1st in every category except talent, where it now comes in 2nd after Singapore, partly because of the high cost of living.