The Global Startup Ecosystem Report and Ranking 2017 concludes Singapore has surpassed Silicon Valley as a startup ecosystem in terms of talent. This is the third edition of Startup Genome’s report on startup ecosystems.
The 2017 report evaluated how cities facilitate the growth and sustainability of startup ecosystems through eight prominent factors, namely, funding, market reach, global connectedness, technical talent, startup experience, resource attraction, corporate involvement, founder ambition, and strategy.
The survey took in data from around 10,000 startup founders spanning more than 100 cities. It monitored and examined various startup ecosystems based on market reach, overall performance, funding, startup experience, and talent.
Silicon Valley, apart from talent, reigned supreme in all other categories and came off as the dominant ecosystem globally followed by New York and London. Whereas Singapore stood 16th in the category of startup performance and startup funding, 11th position for market reach and 20th rank for startup experience.
The list witnessed debuts of two Chinese cities, which resulted in Singapore slipping down two places in the overall ranking. Beijing entered the list taking the fourth position, Shanghai getting the eighth place and Singapore stepped down to 12th from 10th rank. The former two were absent from the previous reports due to lack of sufficient data.
The 150-page report attributes the success of Singapore’s startup ecosystem to its innovative policies. The talent acquisition cost and access to it, also contributed highly to make the island-nation the leader of this category.
The average software engineer salary in Singapore stands at an average of US$35K (S$49K), below the global average of US$49K, which proves to be beneficial for the firms and corporations. High salary is one of the main reasons behind the lagging of Silicon Valley in this particular categorization.
In addition, the experience levels of Singaporeans is comparatively stronger to rely on. About 80 per cent of engineering and 74 per cent of growth teams exhibit at least two years of prior startup experience exceeding the global averages of 72 per cent and 60 per cent respectively. The startup founders are youngest in the world with a median age of 28 years and early-stage funding per startup averaged to US$276K, as compared to a global average of US$252K.
The report suggests Singapore is poised for a continued startup revolution as more capital is infused, government subsidies are directed for startups and it states the performance numbers “will probably continue to rise”. Also, the island state’s geographical location makes it an easy access point to emerging markets of Southeast Asia.
