Seoul Ranks 9th Globally as a Better City to Start a Business than Paris and Berlin

Leap from 12th Place in 2023
'Funding' Perfect Score..."Fundraising Overvalued"

Seoul has been ranked 9th among cities worldwide as one of the best cities to start a business. It received excellent scores in funding and ecosystem activity.

According to the "Global Startup Ecosystem Report" announced on the 10th in London by Startup Genome, a global startup ecosystem evaluation organization based in the United States, Seoul was ranked 9th out of 300 cities worldwide, its highest ranking ever. This is higher than Paris (14th) and Berlin (15th).

Previously, Seoul was ranked 10th in the global startup ecosystem in 2022 and 12th in 2023. The Seoul Metropolitan Government explained that although Seoul's startup ecosystem temporarily slowed due to the '3 highs' phenomenon and a contraction in the domestic investment market, it was evaluated at its highest rank ever this year.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon is speaking at the Seoul 2030 Startup Policy Press Briefing held on June 21 last year. Photo by Seoul City

According to the report, Seoul received near-perfect scores (10 points) in 4 out of 5 evaluation categories: ▲Funding 10 points ▲Ecosystem Activity 9 points ▲Creative Experience and Talent Development 9 points ▲Knowledge Accumulation 9 points. Additionally, the ▲Market Entry category saw a significant increase from 1 point last year to 7 points.

In particular, the funding category, which received a perfect score, was recognized as 1st in Asia and 5th globally. The city explained that its high evaluation was due to the establishment of its own funds at the city level to invest in bio, artificial intelligence, and creative industries. From 2019 to 2022, the city raised 3.6 trillion KRW through the 'Future Innovation Growth Fund' to promote corporate investment, and since 2023, it has raised 1.3 trillion KRW through the 'Seoul Vision 2030 Fund' as of March this year.

Startup Genome evaluated that Seoul's improvement in the 'Market Entry' score was largely contributed by the improved capital recovery performance of startups that succeeded in scaling up. The number of unicorn companies in Seoul increased from 17 to 20 last year, and the number of companies successfully recovering capital also rose. According to Startup Genome, Seoul's unicorn companies include Danggeun Market and Shift Up, and there were 208 cases of successful capital recovery companies such as Krafton and Modil.

Furthermore, the city has expanded industry-specific infrastructure in bio-medical (Hongneung), artificial intelligence (Yangjae), fintech (Yeouido), and creative industries (Sangam). Startup Genome assessed that based on this foundation, the city's comprehensive startup policies, including open innovation and global market entry support, have been factors promoting ecosystem growth.

The report identified the strong industry sectors in Seoul's startup ecosystem as ▲AI, Big Data, Analytics ▲Life Sciences ▲Advanced Manufacturing and Robotics. The city operates startup hubs to support startups with technological competitiveness in these fields. The Seoul AI Hub and Seoul Bio Hub Global Center opened this year, and the 'Seoul Robot Tech Center,' a comprehensive anchor facility for robot ventures, is planned to begin construction in 2026.

Meanwhile, Silicon Valley in the United States ranked first in this report. Tied for second place were New York, USA, and London, UK; tied for fourth were Los Angeles, USA, and Tel Aviv, Israel. Besides Seoul, the other Asian cities in the Top Ten are Singapore (7th), Beijing (8th), and Tokyo (10th).

Lee Hae-woo, Director of Seoul's Economic Policy Office, said, "This evaluation is the result of Seoul's continuous efforts to create an innovative startup environment and the creation of a startup ecosystem where various startup stakeholders can cooperate and grow. We aim to leap to a global Top 5 startup city by 2030 and foster a startup ecosystem that produces 50 globally recognized unicorn companies."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.