How Singapore’s startup ecosystem compares to the rest of the world

Image credit: Startup Genome

Singapore is the world’s top eight startup ecosystem, according to The Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2023 by Startup Genome.

The report, based on research into 3.5 million startups across the world, placed Singapore behind only Beijing in the Asia Pacific in its overall rankings. The city-state was ranked first in the continent for funding.

The section of the report on Singapore features several statistics that help place the local ecosystem in context with the rest of the world. For example, the average time to exit in the country – at 7.1 to nine years – is significantly shorter than that of other ecosystems.

In addition, total VC funding in Singapore from 2018 to 2022 hit US$22 billion, far above the average of US$6.6 billion.

The country’s average software engineer salary was also very similar to the average in the rest of the world, with the city-state’s figure at US$47,000 compared to US$46,000 for the global number.