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Miami’s ecosystem regains its runner-up global ranking in Startup Genome report. Here are the top findings.

Nancy Dahlberg
Nancy Dahlberg
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By Nancy Dahlberg

 Miami has regained its ranking in the 2022 Global Startup Ecosystem Report by Startup Genome, which was launched today at London Tech Week. The GSER includes research from more than 280 entrepreneurial innovation ecosystems and 3 million startups. The report  includes a ranking of the leading 140 ecosystems, with insights about each of them. The Miami metro area  research was again supported by the  Knight Foundation.

The #GSER2022 ranks startup ecosystems on seven success factors, including performance, talent and funding. The same five ecosystems remain at the top of the ranking as in 2020 and 2021, but Beijing has dropped one place, with Boston taking its former place at #4. Silicon Valley is #1, followed by New York City and London tied at #2, Boston at #4, and Beijing at #5.

After falling off the global list in 2021, Miami again was a runner-up for the Top 30 Global Startup Ecosystem, in a five-way tie for 31st spot along with Atlanta, Copenhagen, Dallas and Helsinki.

Eleven ecosystems from the US made the top 30: (in order) Silicon Valley, New York, Boston, LA, Seattle, Washington DC, San Diego, Chicago, Denver-Boulder, Austin and Salt Lake City-Provo.

By some measures, Miami broke into the Top 30 rankings. Here are some highlights from the report:

  • Miami ranked in the Top 30 Global Ecosystem and Top 15 North American Ecosystem for its “Performance” success factor, which measures the size and performance of an ecosystem based on the accumulated tech startup value created from exits and funding.
  • Miami ranked in the Top 15 North American Ecosystem in the funding factor, which was a measure of innovation through early stage funding and investor’s activity.
  • Miami scored in the Top 20 North American Ecosystem ranking in “Talent & Experience.” This category looks at long-term trends over the most significant performance factors and the ability to generate and keep talent in the ecosystem.
  • For research and patent activity, it fell in the Top 25., and for “affordable talent” – or the ability to hire tech talent – it was in the top 30 in North America.
  • The number of $50 million+ exits in the Miami area increased from four in the 2021 GSER period to 11 this year. Miami also recorded two $1 billion+ exits.
  • Over the past three years, the median seed round was $750K and the median Series A was $4.4 million. A software engineer’s salary in 2021 was $75,000, lower than its US peers that were ranked, according to the report.
  • Higher education, low taxes, and access to venture capital are cited as reasons a startup should move to Miami. The Life Sciences and Blockchain sectors are highlighted for their density of talent, support resources, and startup activity.

“Miami’s pursuit of becoming what I call ‘the capital of capital’ is about not just financial capital, but also our rich ecosystem of human, social and cultural capital. It is clear that the confluence of these forms of capital will play a critical role in our Miami being definitive of what a competitive 21st century city can look like, where everyone is at the table of opportunity,” Mayor Miami Francis Suarez said in the report.

The GSER has been produced since 2012. Miami broke onto the Global Listing as a runner-up (tied at 36th with four other ecosystems) in 2019. In 2020, Miami moved up to 31st. In 2021, despite the momentum the ecosystem was experiencing, the ecosystem fell off the list (it ranked No. 10 on the Emerging Ecosystems list) and a researcher explained that the ecosystems in the universe that they were studying had grown so there was more competition.  In the 2022 report, Miami was again tied for 31st as a runner-up on the Global Top 30 ranking. Miami created $36 billion in “Ecosystem Value” from Jul 01, 2019 to Dec 31, 2021, according to the report.

Here are some global highlights of this year’s report:

  • Since 2012, global average Series A rounds have tripled to more than $18 million.
  • Since the pandemic, tech companies grew 2.3 times more than their non-tech counterparts.
  • In 2021, at least 540 companies secured valuations of $1 billion or more – unicorn status. In Miami, new unicorns included MoonPay, Papa and Pipe in Miami.
  • North America continues to dominate the Global Rankings, with 47% of the top 30 ecosystems. Asia comes in second with 30%.
  • Brazil experienced exponential growth both overall and in its largest city. São Paulo saw an increase in early-stage funding from $902 million in 2020 to $1.5 billion in 2021, and had an overall ecosystem value of $108 billion in 2021. Overall, the country reported $6.4 billion in venture funding from January to October 2021, tripling the amount raised in all of 2019.
  • Seoul entered the global top-10 ecosystems for the first time. Helsinki has risen more than 20 places from last year to #35, Detroit moved up 13 places to #40 and Oslo moved up 16 places to #58.

The GSER is created in partnership with the Global Entrepreneurship Network, Dealroom and Crunchbase. The 2022 Edition provides insights and guidance to public and private leaders on how to foster thriving startup communities — the #1 engine of job creation and economic growth.

 Download the report and find more details here.

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Follow Nancy Dahlberg on Twitter @ndahlberg and email her at [email protected]

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