TEL AVIV – Israel is the third leading start-up ecosystem in the world, according to global innovation mapping and research company StartupBlink’s annual rankings report.
StartupBlink ranks ecosystems based on the number of startups in 100 countries and 1,000 cities worldwide, using data from over 60,000 startups and 14,000 coworking spaces and measuring factors including business environment, quantity of startups and ease of investment.
Israel ranked after the U.S. and the UK, beating out Canada and climbing to third place from last year’s rankings.
However, Tel Aviv dropped a ranking in the list of leading startup cities to seventh place in the 2020 list, beaten out by Beijing.
Jerusalem climbed three places to 55. Haifa and Beersheba were also named in the top 200 global start-up ecosystem cities, in 143rd and 199th place respectively. Yokneam, Eilat and Ashdod alos joined the top 1,000 list of leading cities, with the report pointing to a range of factors including tax benefits and agro-tourism.
San Francisco Bay, New York and London remained in the top three spots of leading cities.
“Israel is known as the ‘start-up nation’ for a good reason,” the authors of the report said. “It is a relatively small country which makes a substantial impact on the global start-up ecosystem.”
To maintain its “outstanding rankings going forward,” Israel must ensure Tel Aviv remains a global innovation hub and the country should bolster Jerusalem’s rankings, the authors wrote.
The report noted the most popular industries in Israel are software and Data, social and leisure and fintech.
“There are a wide variety of verticals where Israel excels, from autonomous driving (Mobileye, Waze), advertising (Taboola), services (Fiverr), and much more,” the authors of the report said.
“One vertical that is maturing and shows substantial potential is cybersecurity, leveraging on the unique challenges Israel’s army faces.”
Israel represents a “shining example” of innovation to the rest of the world due to its success as a startup hub despite being located in a region of turmoil and facing challenging geopolitical realities.
Israel’s ecosystem has benefited massively from “the creation of the world’s biggest start-up accelerator” – the Israeli military, the report noted.
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