Romania among top 40 countries in StartupBlink’s Global Startup Ecosystem Index 2022

Romania has moved up two spots in StartupBlink’s Global Startup Ecosystem Index 2022 and now ranks 39th globally.

The index ranks startup ecosystems across 1,000 cities and 100 countries worldwide. Each ecosystem receives a total score, which is the sum of three sub-scores measuring quantity, quality, and business environment.

With this year’s score, Romania is the second highest ranked country in the region of the Balkans.

Romania offers “affordable and highly talented professionals” and access to the European market. The country is mostly focused on IT and outsourcing, and has created noticeable hubs in Bucharest, Cluj, Timișoara, and Iași, the index notes. The chapter on Romania also notes the strong internet connectivity, the healthy number of accelerators and incubators, and “a network of entrepreneurs determined to put their ecosystems on the map.”

The success of UiPath, Romania’s first unicorn, proved that the country “can foster entrepreneurial spirit and expand into global markets.” This continued in 2021 with the blockchain platform Elrond.

Still, more can be done when it comes to public sector involvement, the index notes. The Romanian startup ecosystem would benefit from policies supporting startups, more entrepreneurial education and entrepreneurship programs.

When it comes to cities, Bucharest climbed three spots in the index to 108th globally. It is highest-ranked city in Romania and ranks eighth in Eastern Europe. The Romanian capital ranks in the global top 100 for three industries, overperforming in Software & Data at 48th.

All the other Romanian cities included in the index dropped in the ranking, except for the newcomer Oradea. The second highest ranked city in Romania, Cluj-Napoca, lost 80 spots to rank 330th globally. Timișoara, third nationally, and Iași, fourth nationally, have fallen to 542nd and 715th respectively. Oradea ranked 758th, while Brașov dropped 147 spots to 853rd globally. As Sibiu and Craiova fell out of the index, Romania had six cities ranked, compared to seven last year.

The United States, United Kingdom, and Israel take up the top three spots in the index, followed by Canada, Sweden, and Germany. Singapore, Australia, France, and China complete the top ten. The US has 257 cities in the top 1000 rankings, with no other country coming close. The UK has 78 cities ranked, making it the only country other than the US with more than 50 cities in the Index.

San Francisco remains the most prominent global ecosystem by a massive margin, with New York and London taking up the second and third places. The Los Angeles Area ranks fourth, followed by Boston Area, Beijing, Shanghai, Bangalore, Tel Aviv Area, and Paris at number ten.