Business
The Startup Movement is Globalizing: New Report Proves It By Alex Lazarow.
Seemingly every day, we hear of the growth of the global startup movement. It is certainly easier than ever to become a technology entrepreneur everywhere. Cloud computing has brought down the cost of starting companies, allowing anyone to rent Google GOOGL +0.9%’s enormous computing power by the hour rather than having to purchase and maintain dedicated servers. The plunging cost of telecommunications infrastructure, combined with the advent of collaboration software, has given rise to frictionless remote work. In fintech, one of the sectors where I invest, a range of ecosystem infrastructure is being built. Global markets themselves are looking more attractive for startups. The proliferation of mobile phones provides a way to reach more than five billion users worldwide. More than two billion people have online identities and interconnect and establish digital footprints through social media. Today, there are over 480 innovation hubs globally and over 1.3 million venture backed companies. An excellent annual barometer of the state of the global innovation movement is Startup Genome’s Global Startup Ecosystem Report (https://startupgenome.com/reports/gser2020). The 2020 edition o ers exciting news for the rise of innovation ecosystems globally. I share three particularly relevant conclusions below.
1. Not only has innovation gone global, so has innovation success Globally, there are over 400 unicorns – companies valued at over a billion dollars around the world. A decade ago this was highly concentrated in Silicon Valley. No longer. Today, 84 separate
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startup ecosystems have produced a billion-dollar startup, up from 4 in 2013. Fintech continues to be a core component of global innovation success stories. Harkening back to Roger Bannister breaking the psychological 4-minute barrier, the report authors talk about the $4b ecosystem barrier – the amount of startup ecosystems that reach that level of generated ecosystem value. In the last 2 years, between 2017 and 2019, 48% more ecosystems have broken through, reaching 70 today.
2. The capital of technology is being challenged The report states “There Will Be No ‘Next Silicon Valley’. There Will Be 30.” This is certainly playing out in the numbers. See below the ranking of top hubs around the world, and how much stronger challengers are becoming. These emerging centers represent a mix of regional winners (e.g. Singapore for South East
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