REPORT | South Africa and Mauritius Lead Africa in Ranking of Top 100 Startup Countries, Reveals Global Startup Ecosystem Index

A new report by StartupBlink shows South Africa, at number 53 globally, and Mauritius (61) as the top startup ecosystems from Africa.

The Global Startup Ecosystem Index ranks the United States as the leading ecosystem in the world, which is said to have maintained a massive lead over the rest, with almost 4 times the rating of that of the UK in second position.

“To ensure that the rankings are as accurate as possible, we have based our algorithm on objective, quantifiable data that can be comparatively measured across regions, countries, and cities. We refrained from using subjective tools such as surveys and interviews, and instead utilized data that was either accumulated directly from the StartupBlink map or has arrived from integration with a reliable global data partner.” – StartupBlink

Below is the full list of top 100 startup countries according to the analysis by StartupBlink:


When it comes to African countries, it is not until number 53 when we first see South Africa, and the rest of African countries in the list:

• South Africa – 53
• Mauritius – 61
• Kenya – 62
• Nigeria -64
• Egypt – 67
• Ghana – 77
• Cape Verde 78
• Senegal – 82
• Namibia – 88
• Tunisia – 91
• Morocco – 93
• Rwanda – 95
• Uganda – 96
• Angola – 97
• Somalia – 98

The index has also produced a ranking of top cities for startups with San Francisco leading followed by New York and London.

In Africa, at the city level, Lagos is still the first and only African city in the global top 100. The report says Lagos is solidifying its status as the leading regional hub of Africa.


The report also highlights the decline in the Web3 industry, revealing that the drop in funding for Web3 in 2022 was significantly steeper than the decline across all startup industries.

Generally, the biggest industry for startups continues to be Software & Data, accounting for 31.95% of the world’s startups.

“We define a startup as any business that applies an innovative technology-enabled solution that has the potential to achieve scalability,” Startup Blink.

For yet another year:

• Software and Data is the industry with the most unicorns, representing 39.4% of all unicorns
• Fintech is second, as it was in 2022, with 20.6% of the unicorns
• Ecommerce & retail is the 3rd industry with the most unicorns boasting 12.1% of unicorns


Although only 2.7% of curated startups operate in this industry:

• 6.7% of the world’s unicorns operate in the transportation industry, demonstrating that startups in this industry are successful in operationalizing scalable solutions and finding the required investments.
• The second best industry in terms of scalability is Fintech (10.4% of startups, and 20.6% of unicorns)
• Followed by Ecommerce & Retail and Software & Data.

Download / Read the full report here.