LONDON: London has one of the world’s most favourable ecosystems to build a globally successful startup according to latest data from Startup Genome’s The Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2020. The UK capital improved on its joint third place in 2019, to tie in second place with New York this year. Silicon Valley continues to dominate the rankings whilst Beijing and Boston came in fourth and fifth.
Access to capital, investment and global talent has fuelled London’s ascent to number two, up from number eight in 2012 when the first rankings were released. The report analyses cities around the world where early stage startups have the best shot at building global success.
The research reveals that the UK capital is amongst the top cities in the world to grow a globally leading company, with startups in London benefitting from high levels of global connectedness to other top ecosystems, and a flow of knowledge into the city which helps them to build global market reach. London-based companies can tap into global markets due to the UK’s favourable time zone, with the city acting as a launchpad to scale and grow internationally.
London also benefits from a strong talent pool and is ranked highly across the board for talent, particularly for STEM access and quality and access to tech talent. The city is the only top five ecosystem with a startup visa program which launched in spring of 2019, helping maintain its status as a global magnet for talent.
