Lagos is now the 99th most developed startup city in the world, and the Rwandan ecosystem is one of the fastest growing globally, according to new research.
This is according to StartupBlink, a global startup ecosystem map with tens of thousands of registered startups, co-working spaces and accelerators, which has just released its Startup Ecosystem Rankings 2019 April report, ranking the startup ecosystems of 1,000 cities and 100 countries.
The results are powered by global research companies such as CrunchBase and SimilarWeb, and based on measures of quantity, quality and business environment in different ecosystems. Globally, the top five startup countries were the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK), Canada, Israel and Australia, while the top five cities were San Francisco, New York, London, Los Angeles and Boston.
Africa had a mixed bag of results, with no country from the continent making it into the top 50 this time round, after South Africa dropped 13 places to rank 51st. Kenya (52nd), Nigeria (56th) and Egypt (60th) all maintained their places in the top 60, while Rwanda climbed swiftly up the rankings to 64th. Other African cities in the top 100 were Morocco (65), Tunisia (74), Ghana (75), Uganda (81), Cameroon (84), Botswana (90), Zambia (92), Algeria (99) and Ethiopia (100).
From a city perspective, Lagos became the first African city to climb into the top 100, ranking at 99th. Other African cities in the top quartile globally were Nairobi (105), Cape Town (157), Cairo (177), Tunis (223), Kigali (232), Accra (244) and Johannesburg (248).
“Our rankings are not bulletproof, but they do provide a reliable estimate, and we are constantly improving them with the help of our incredible startup ecosystem partners. Our vision is to work with one organisation in each city to promote and develop the ecosystem together,” said Eli David, chief executive officer (CEO) of StartupBlink.
“Our partners get it, and they know how important startups ecosystems are. They understand that developing an ecosystem is critical. They also understand perceptions can’t be ignored, and that the global and local promotion of their ecosystem is critical to its success.”
