StartupBlink has released its Global Startup Ecosystem Index (GSEI) 2026, ranking 1,556 cities and 100 countries around the world. The picture it paints is one of a startup world growing steadily on average — but with wildly uneven fortunes underneath that average, as new hubs surge and some long-time European heavyweights lose ground.
Here’s what the 457-page report actually tells us, distilled into the numbers that matter.
The headline: 10.3% global growth, but the map is shifting
StartupBlink calculates real ecosystem growth by summing the total scores of every ranked city and comparing that sum year over year. For 2026, the answer is 10.3% average global growth. But that average hides a much more interesting regional story.
- Middle East & Africa led every region with +20.2% growth, roughly double the global average — driven in large part by Riyadh’s extraordinary +117.6% jump, making it the fastest-growing city in the entire global top 100.
- Latin America & Caribbean grew +14.9%, powered by Medellín (+31.1%), Montevideo (+30.2%), Rio de Janeiro (+19.8%), and Santiago (+17.6%).
- North America grew +12.9%, with broad gains led by Miami (+41.8%), Austin (+25.6%), and Atlanta (+22.1%).
- Europe grew just +7.3%, below the global average, weighed down by negative growth in two of its flagship capitals: Paris (−3.2%) and Berlin (−2.6%).
- Asia Pacific grew only +5.6%, roughly half the global average, dragged down by steep declines in Beijing (−21.4%) and Shanghai (−19.9%) — even as Singapore (+26.7%) and Taipei (+55.7%) surged.
At the sub-regional level, the fastest mover anywhere was Central Asia at +81.0%, fueled by Tashkent (+155.7%) and Almaty (+70.1%). The only sub-region to shrink was East Asia, at −10.3%, entirely because of China’s major urban centers.
Top countries: the US pulls further ahead
The United States retains the number one spot with a total score of 314.096 and +23.6% growth — nearly quadruple the score of second-placed United Kingdom (80.114 points, +13.2% growth). The rest of the top 10:
| Rank | Country | Total Score | Annual Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 314.096 | +23.6% |
| 2 | United Kingdom | 80.114 | +13.2% |
| 3 | Israel | 71.462 | +15.0% |
| 4 | Singapore | 68.043 | +24.4% |
| 5 | Canada | 49.534 | +9.0% |
| 6 | Sweden | 40.781 | +15.5% |
| 7 | Germany | 37.644 | +13.5% |
| 8 | Switzerland | 36.108 | +13.7% |
| 9 | Australia | 35.438 | +22.9% |
| 10 | The Netherlands | 34.514 | +11.8% |
The only real reshuffle inside the top 10 is France dropping out, falling from 8th to 11th place after growing just 4.7% — the second-lowest growth rate in the entire top 20. Switzerland and Australia climbed into the spots France vacated.
A pointed observation from the report: with no EU member country in the global top five, the European Union continues to show limited presence at the very top of the Index, even as individual EU ecosystems perform well further down the table.
The mid-table is where the real action is
The 21–50 tier is, in StartupBlink’s words, “the most dynamic part of the Index,” averaging 21.7% growth — faster than both the top 10 and the 11–20 tier. Standouts here include:
- Saudi Arabia (28th, +10 places, +97.0% growth) — the highest growth rate in the top 70, overtaking the UAE as the leading Gulf ecosystem.
- Italy (25th, +3 places, +25.4% growth) — its highest ranking since 2020, and the best-climbing G7 country this year.
- Cyprus (34th, +6 places, +62.7% growth) — its fourth straight year of gains, and the highest growth among EU startup ecosystems for three years running.
- Poland (33rd, +29.0% growth) — holding position but posting one of Europe’s strongest growth rates.
- A cluster of Balkan economies moving up together: Türkiye (38th, +31.9%), Bulgaria (40th, +25.4%), and Romania (44th, +32.9%).
Meanwhile, the UAE fell nine places to 30th (−27.5%) and Russia dropped eight places to 42nd (−15.3%) — two of the sharper reversals in this year’s Index.
Further down, the 51–100 tier shows the widest spread of growth rates anywhere in the report: Uzbekistan posted 227% growth, Moldova 92%, and Georgia 78%. Three countries entered or re-entered the top 100 this year — El Salvador (new), Mauritius (returning), and Trinidad and Tobago (returning).
Top cities: San Francisco pulls away, Singapore breaks into the top 10
At the city level, San Francisco Bay Area remains untouchable, scoring 2.7 times higher than New York — up from less than twice as high in 2023, a gap StartupBlink attributes largely to San Francisco’s continued dominance in artificial intelligence.
| Rank | City | Country | Total Score | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Francisco Bay Area | United States | 935.325 | +9.7% |
| 2 | New York | United States | 352.159 | +11.6% |
| 3 | London | United Kingdom | 197.557 | +5.4% |
| 4 | Los Angeles Area | United States | 152.371 | +9.5% |
| 5 | Boston Area | United States | 127.119 | −1.1% |
| 6 | Beijing | China | 107.678 | −21.4% |
| 7 | Tel Aviv Area | Israel | 86.714 | +9.8% |
| 8 | Shanghai | China | 81.430 | −20.0% |
| 9 | Paris | France | 79.215 | −3.2% |
| 10 | Singapore City | Singapore | 78.854 | +26.7% |
Singapore City’s entry into the global top 10 for the first time — with the highest growth rate of any top-20 city — is one of the report’s clearest signals of where momentum is heading. New York, meanwhile, is quietly becoming a stronger and stronger number two, growing faster than San Francisco and widening its lead over London.
China’s two biggest hubs tell the opposite story: Beijing (−21.4%) and Shanghai (−20.0%) posted the steepest declines of any city in the global top 100, with Shanghai falling out of the top seven for the first time since 2020.
The European city picture
Beyond Paris’s slide (9th, −3.2%) and Berlin’s continued fall (15th, −2.6%, its third decline in four years), the report notes that the seven European cities in the 21–50 tier averaged just 5.1% growth — well below the pace being set elsewhere. Munich (−2.1%) and Moscow (−10.7%) posted outright declines, while Istanbul re-entered the top 50 with +28.2% growth.
Further down the rankings, a few European stories stand out:
- Vilnius (66th globally, +19.7% growth) was a bright spot in an otherwise sluggish tier.
- Brussels (−11 places, −4.3%), Cambridge (−14 places, −5.1%), and Oslo (−11 places) all moved down.
- Cyprus now has four cities in the global top 1,000, with Nicosia jumping 71 places on 82.8% growth and Limassol entering the top 200 for the first time — making Cyprus one of the more interesting under-the-radar growth stories in Europe this year.
- Warsaw climbed to 88th globally (+14.4% growth), and Prague held 83rd (+11.7%).
The bigger structural story: growth is moving away from the very top
Perhaps the most important finding in the entire report isn’t about any single city or country — it’s about where growth is actually concentrated. The 201–1,000 tier of cities averaged 40.0% growth, with 193 cities growing more than 50% and 74 growing more than 100%. That’s roughly four times the growth rate seen in the global top 10.
StartupBlink frames this as evidence that startup activity is decentralizing: countries like Saudi Arabia, India, Brazil, and South Korea are building multiple ecosystems rather than concentrating everything in one flagship city. Saudi Arabia alone now has seven cities in the global top 1,000 outside Riyadh, including Jeddah, Dammam, and Mecca. India has eleven cities in the top 200. South Korea has 16 cities in the top 1,000, with secondary hubs like Daegu and Gwangju posting triple-digit growth.
What it means
Three takeaways stand out for anyone tracking where to build, invest, or relocate:
- The US is separating from the pack, both at the country level (a widening lead over the UK) and the city level (San Francisco’s 2.7x gap over New York). AI is the clear driver.
- Europe’s growth is real but comparatively slow, and concentrated outside its traditional flagship capitals. Paris and Berlin losing ground while Cyprus, Poland, Romania, and the Balkans accelerate suggests the center of gravity within European tech is shifting eastward and southward.
- The next wave of ecosystems is forming below the top 100. Central Asia, the Western Balkans, and secondary cities in Saudi Arabia, India, and Brazil are where the fastest growth in the entire Index is actually happening — a trend worth watching well before these places show up in anyone’s top-10 list.
Data and rankings in this article are sourced from StartupBlink’s Global Startup Ecosystem Index 2026.
