Singapore has advanced to the fourth position in the 2025 global startup ecosystem rankings, improving from fifth place in 2024. The index places Singapore behind Israel, Britain, and the U.S.
Since 2020, Singapore has risen 12 spots, marking it as one of the fastest-growing startup ecosystems globally. StartupBlink highlighted Singapore’s success as a result of its business-friendly environment and robust startup support infrastructure.
Singapore excelled in key metrics, including the presence of investors, access to startup opportunities, the concentration of global tech companies and corporations, and the availability of skilled local talent. The index noted Singapore’s strategic focus on leading in deep-tech and industries like fintech, foodtech, artificial intelligence, and advanced manufacturing. It emphasized that Singapore’s universities contribute significantly by training a highly skilled workforce for research and development, fostering connections between startups and academic programs, and promoting entrepreneurship on campuses.
Singapore’s startup ecosystem advancements
The Singapore government is committed to improvement through its agency Enterprise Singapore. Emily Liew, assistant managing director of innovation at Enterprise Singapore, said, “Enterprise Singapore will continue to strengthen the ecosystem and we welcome global startups with strong science-based solutions to leverage Singapore as a launchpad to grow and scale their business in the region and beyond.”
She highlighted Singapore’s open ecosystem, which supports talent and collaboration, offering stability, growth resources, and market access despite global startup challenges.
Singapore’s ranking improvement aligns with a strong year for funding and enhanced government support. A report by Enterprise Singapore and PitchBook, released in April 2025, revealed that Singapore secured nearly 60% of ASEAN’s venture capital deal volume in 2024, with a total deal value of US$4.8 billion. In October 2024, the government committed an additional SGD440 million (US$341 million) to attract venture capital firms to invest in local deep tech startups.
This increased the scheme’s total government funding to over SGD1 billion.