BY THE NUMBERS:
STARTING UP
IN SMALLER
CITIES
TECH BUZZ || TRENDING
Can Tel Aviv,
Stockholm,
and Lagos go
head-to-head
with Silicon
Valley?
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
Metropolitan population: 2. 2 million
Ecosystem value: $15 billion
Software engineer salary: $55,000
Early-stage funding per startup: $325,000
More is more. That’s true when it comes to creat- ing an environment that fosters startup compa- nies.
According to the research firm Startup Genome, the
results of its recent survey of more than 10,000 startup
leaders in 55 cities show that the best performing places
bring together thousands of startups, billions in venture
capital funding, and talent and experience from around
the globe.
The firm’s Global Startup Ecosystem Report discloses
that startups in Silicon Valley, New York City, London, and
Beijing dominate in terms of return for venture capitalists—a good measuring stick for which companies are
the best performers.
Yet smaller cities on every continent have found a way
to nurture startups.
Take Tel Aviv, the sixth-ranked tech ecosystem according to Startup Genome. Much like the early days of Silicon
Valley, Tel Aviv used government and military investments
to nurture its startup ecosystem. Today, the city is a global
leader in cybersecurity and its roughly 2,500 tech startups
exchange talent and ideas with more than 300 multinational R&D centers attracted by Israel’s workforce.
Stockholm, ranked fourteenth, is another smaller city
with big aspirations. The Swedish capital has produced
more unicorns—the rare startup whose value reaches
$1 billion—than any European city other than London.
Because Sweden’s domestic market is so small, Stockholm’s 600 to 900 startups must grow internationally.
Intriguingly, Stockholm startups report 75 percent fewer
negative interactions with local corporations than startups in other European ecosystems.
