Bengaluru
Bengaluru-Karnataka has ranked 15 among the top 40 global startup ecosystems as per the latest Global Startup Ecosystem Report (GSER) 2026 launched at VivaTech, Paris on June 17.
The city, which has been ranked as the top 6 startup ecosystem in Asia, has also emerged the second-best AI-native cluster in the continent after Beijing.
High in R&D and AI
Silicon Valley, New York City, and London retained the top three positions with no change in rankings from last year.
Bengaluru, which emerged in the 14th position in 2025, slipped to the 15th place, although no country has been ranked the 14th position this year in the report. Instead, Toronto-Waterloo and Paris tied for the 13th position.
The report analysed six success factors including performance (in terms of exits, ecosystem value and startup success), funding, market reach, talent and experience, AI-native cluster and R&D Engine of each ecosystem to create the rankings. Each factor was awarded a score between 1 and 10, 10 being the highest and 1 the lowest.
Bengaluru scored 9 in performance and R&D, 8 in AI-native cluster, and 7 in funding and market-reach.
Low in talent
Surprisingly, the city, whose talent pool has been its bragging point, scored only 4 under ‘talent and experience.’
In terms of quality and access of tech and life sciences talent, Bengaluru scored only 1, although it scored a 10 in terms of cost efficiency average of software engineer salaries and number of STEM students and graduates.
Global averages surpassed, salaries remain low
The city surpassed global averages on several counts such as ecosystem value, total VC funding, total early-stage funding, exit amount and exit count. With 30 active unicorns, Bengaluru is way ahead of the global average number of unicorns at 11.
The ecosystem is valued at $153 billion. The total VC funding that flowed in between 2021 and 2025 amounted to $39 billion, way higher that the global average funding of $5 billion for the corresponding period. The top funded startups include Zepto, Meesho and Udaan. The exit amount between 2021 and 2025 has also been far higher at $46 billion than the global average of $7.6 billion.
However, the salary of a software engineer in the city, as of 2025, is recorded $19.6K, much lesser than the global average of $54K and the regional(Asian) average of $27K.
Strong subsectors
“Bengaluru-headquartered startups have raised a total of approximately $79 billion in VC funding since 2010 including. The state has captured about 46% of all VC investments into Indian startups, playing a key role in a national ecosystem that has created over 140,000 technology startups during that same timeframe,” the report notes.
Terming AI and Deeptech, Aerospace, Space and Defence Tech, and Quantum Computing as the subsector strengths of the region, the report also highlights Karnataka government Startup Policy 2.0, programmes such as KATALYST and LEAP and Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM).
Ahead of Silicon Valley in R&D
“In terms of specific parameters, we have done very well in ‘performance’ and in ‘R&D’ where we are ahead of even Silicon Valley. In terms of AI readiness also we have done very well,” pointed out B V Naidu, KDEM Chairman, speaking to The Hindu.
He acknowledged that the ecosystem needs to do better in terms of market access, where Bengaluru Karnataka scored 7 out 10 in terms of global reach, but only 4 points in local access.
“We have been talking to the government to give some kind of a preferential market access to the startup,” he said.
Mr. Naidu also added that the team will look into why Bengaluru scored low on ‘talent’ and hoped to improve it in the coming days.
In 2025, Bengaluru climbed seven spots to reach the 14th place in the ranking of global startup ecosystems. Mr. Naidu expressed hopes that the ecosystem can climb further up in the coming years by working on the areas where it lost a few points this year.
Published - June 17, 2026 11:32 am IST