Seoul ranks 9th in global startup ecosystem: report

Moving up one spot from 2022, Seoul ranked 9th in the 2024 Global Startup Ecosystem Report released Monday by Startup Genome at The London Tech Week.

GSER 2024, informed by data across 300 global ecosystems in 100 countries, includes a top 100 ranking of global startup ecosystems. Seoul ranked ninth out of 300 cities worldwide, its highest ranking ever. Seoul was previously ranked 10th in 2022 and 12th in 2023.

Four Asian cities are included in the top 10 ranking of global startup ecosystems, including Singapore at seventh, Beijing at eighth, and Tokyo at 10th.

"This ranking is higher than other global cities, such as Paris (14) and Berlin (15)," an official from the Seoul Metropolitan government said.

Meanwhile, in the top 10 ranking of global startup ecosystems, Silicon Valley in the US took first place; London, UK, and New York, US, tied for second place; Los Angeles, US, and Tel Aviv, Israel, tied for fourth place; and Boston took sixth place.

GSER shows that Seoul created $237 billion in ecosystem value from July 2021 through December 2023, calculated as the value of exits and startup valuations. This figure is more than five times higher than the ecosystem value that Seoul created in 2021.

Specifically, across the five categories, Seoul scored 10 points out of 10 for funding, 9 points for ecosystem activity, 9 points for creative experience and talent development, nine for knowledge accumulation and 7 points for market access.

“Seoul ranks first in Asia and fifth globally for funding,” said an official from the Seoul Metropolitan Government. “Seoul was highly praised for creating its own fund at the city level and aggressively investing in bio, artificial intelligence and creative industries,” the official added.

"Aiming to become one of the top five global cities with startup ecosystems by 2030, the city will focus on fostering innovative technology-based companies and strengthen domestic and international exchanges and cooperation."