Bangladesh static at 93 in Global Startup Ecosystem Index


SAIF UDDIN | Published: June 01, 2022 09:23:51 | Updated: June 01, 2022 20:01:07


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Bangladesh's position in the latest edition of the Global Startup Ecosystem Index remains static at 93 among one hundred countries, according to a global report.

However, the country's capital city ,Dhaka, slips by 63 positions to rank 326th globally among 1,000 cities, it said.

Israel-based international research platform StartupBlink launched the report on Tuesday.

"Bangladesh has maintained its position of 93rd, showing stability, and is ranked 4th in South Asia, slightly

behind Sri Lanka in total score," said the report.

The report mentioned that Bangladesh's startups had raised a significant amount of funds from local and global venture capitals.

"Last year we saw changes to the financial investment landscape in Bangladesh aimed at developing more opportunities for the local startup ecosystem," it said.

"Bangladeshi startups raised funds at a rate nearly four times higher than the previous year, and the majority of this funding came from global investors."

Highlighting the country's strong economic potential, the think-tank said the local ecosystem would require active support from the government.

"Top priorities should be improving infrastructure, including internet stability. The government should also work on policy support, arrangement of corporate venture capital, and improving industry-academia collaboration to support the growth of startups," the report suggested.

Government policies and projects from the country's ICT Division, such as the IDEA Project and Startup Bangladesh Limited with U$ 65 million, are helping improve the local startup ecosystem, it noted.

Terming Bangladesh's startup ecosystems a potential digital treasure in Asia, the report said it required systematic country-level branding to attract more foreign investments and generate exposure.

The global report mentioned 10 Minute School, bKash and Pathao as three notable local startups.

According to the report, Bangladesh's startup ecosystem ranked 51st position for transportation, 61 for health and 67 for ecommerce and retail worldwide.

"As the most popular industries in the country, there is a sample of 17 Transportation startups in Bangladesh, 13 Health startups in Bangladesh and 9 Ecommerce & Retail startups in Bangladesh, on the StartupBlink Map" it said.

In the last year's edition of the global report, Dhaka ranked 263rd out of thousand cities.

This year, Bangladesh only has Dhaka in the global top 1,000 this year after its seed ecosystems of Khulna and Chattogram dropped from the Index.

Khulna slid to 1,174th position from 977th last year, while Chattogram downgraded to 1,180 from 993 previously.

Bangladesh ranked 4th position in the South Asia region where India tops the list. Among other neighbours, Pakistan ranked 76 and Sri Lanka 90.

The top countries in the list are the United States, United Kingdom, Israel, Canada, Sweden, Germany, Singapore, Australia, France and China.

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