Seoul rises to 8th place in world's ”best city for startups” list (South Korea)

The city of Seoul in South Korea has risen to 8th place in the world ranking of "best cities for startups," a new record high. It has moved up one place from 9th place last year, and Seoul's startup ecosystem has
The system has maintained its top 10 ranking for two consecutive years. According to Seoul City, the system has been ranked in the top 10 by Startup Genome, a US global startup ecosystem evaluation organization.
The results were revealed in the Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2025, released by the Global Startup Genome on the 12th (Paris local time).
The study covers 300 cities in 10 countries and evaluates them based on their performance over the past two and a half years in six areas: knowledge accumulation, fundraising, ecosystem activity, market entry, creative experience and talent development, and AI-centric transformation.
Seoul will enter the top 10 global startup cities for the first time in 2022, but the Korean investment market is
In 2023, the country's ranking dropped to 12th place due to the sluggish economy. However, it bounced back to 9th place last year, and this year it again reached its highest ranking ever, proving the strengthening competitiveness of the startup ecosystem.
In particular, it outperformed Singapore (9th place) and Tokyo (11th place), which are considered to be Asia's leading startup cities.
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In second place is Convalley, in third place is New York, in third place is London, in fourth place is Tel Aviv, in fifth place is Boston and Beijing, in seventh place is Los Angeles.
Looking at the details of the Global Startup Ecosystem Report, Seoul received the highest scores out of six evaluation items in "knowledge accumulation" (out of 10), "fundraising" (out of 10), and
China received high marks in five categories, including "Ecosystem Activity" (9 points), "Market Entry" (9 points), and "Creative Experience and Human Resource Development" (9 points), with scores of 9 points or higher. In particular, China ranked first in the world in the "Knowledge Accumulation" category.
In the "fundraising" category, Seoul was ranked 5th in the world and 1st in Asia, earning the city the highest level of competitiveness in the world. The city of Seoul said it has been promoting bio-A through Seoul-style R&D projects and its own fund formation.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government has been awarded the prize for its proactive investment in the I and creative industries. Over the 19 years since 2005, the city has invested a total of 906 billion won in Seoul-type R&D projects.
The company has invested 639.6 billion won (approximately 677.7 billion yen) in research and development projects and supported 4,018 research and technology development projects.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government has also set a target of 2.6 trillion won (
The company has set up a total of 5 trillion won (approximately 275.3 billion yen) by 2026, and plans to use this to invest in promising companies and revitalize the investment market.
To date, Seoul has established a number of startup ventures to promote a sustainable startup ecosystem, including biomedical/quantum (Hongneung), AI (Yangjae), fintech (Yeouido), and robotics.
The company has expanded its infrastructure by industry, such as the bot (Suseo) and the creative industry (Sangam). On top of this foundation, Startup Genome is promoting open innovation and globalization.
The report points out that proactive startup policies aimed at promoting the growth of innovative startups, such as customized support for global market entry, have been a driving force behind the growth of the ecosystem.
Meanwhile, the city of Seoul is developing and operating a startup hub to actively support startups with technological competitiveness in various industrial sectors.
Joo Yong-tae, head of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Economic Affairs Division, said, "We want to become a global star by 2030.
The city aims to be one of the top five startup cities and to foster 50 unicorn companies, focusing on startups based on innovative technologies such as AI, bio, robotics, quantum and fintech.
We will develop it point by point."