DURBAN - StartupBlink’s 3rd global startup ecosystem report, as part of Startup Blink's quest to uncover the trends of innovation throughout 1000 cities and 100 countries.
The StartupBlink 2020 Global Rankings Report is built on an algorithm developed over the last five years, resulting in the world’s most comprehensive startup ecosystem ranking.
The results are composed from a variety of sources. Our algorithm takes into account a geographic crowdsourced database of tens of thousands of startups, accelerators, and coworking spaces, among other entities. These appear on our global startup ecosystem map at www.StartupBlink.com.
The algorithm is supplemented by data received from integrations with global data partners such as CrunchBase, SEMrush, Meetup, and Coworker, each a global leader in their field.
"To our fellow startup founders, we can only tell you that a crisis provides you with the biggest opportunity to find your unique place in a new reality," said Eli David
Chief Executive of StartupBlink.
In the 2020 report, South Africa decreased by 1 to be ranked 52. On the city rankings, Cape Town, which is home to 60 percent of all South African startups, has risen up to be ranked in the top 150 at 146th, while Johannesburg skyrocketed 88 spots to 160.
Regionally in Africa, South Africa ranks 1, and Cape Town ranks 3.
Here is a table showing the 2020 national and global ranking of cities in South Africa, including a comparison to the results from the previous 2019 report.
Photo: Supplied
On a global scale South Africa ranks in at the 52nd position below Slovakia in the 51st position and above the Phillipines in the 53rd position. In comparison to 2019 ranking, South Africa drops one position on the list but still remains the highesr ranked African country for three years in a row.
According to the report, South Africa ranks at 0.33 in the Quanity Score category; 0.63 in the Quality Score category and has a Business Score of 1.93.
In the Middle East and Africa city level breakdown large African cities such as Nairobi and Lagos registered substantial decreases, but some good news arrived from South Africa with an increase in several main city rankings.
In the city level breakdown African cities Nairobi and Lagos are ahead of South African cities Johannesburg and Cape Town. Acording to the city level top 10 ranking, Cape Town ranks at number 7 and Johannesburg number 8.
Cape Town, which is home to 60 percent of all South African startups, has risen up to be ranked in the top 150 at 146th, while Johannesburg skyrocketed 88 spots to 160. Regionally, these two cities are ranked 3rd and 4th in Africa respectively. Pretoria is a new entrant that made it to the startup rankings at 501.