Bangladesh lags behind neighbouring countries in startup

Although the growth in startups is better than before, Bangladesh still lags behind neighbouring countries.

Bangladesh and Dhaka have advanced considerably in the country and city rankings, but are at the bottom of Asia and South Asia, according to the Global Startup Ecosystem Index 2024 released recently by StartupBlink, a global startup ecosystem map and research centre that works with over 100 governments, multilateral organisations and corporate startups.

In the report, Bangladesh is ranked 83 out of 100 countries, up six places from the previous year while among neighbouring countries India ranks 19th, Pakistan 71st and Sri Lanka 76th. That is, Bangladesh is at the bottom of the South Asian countries in the list.

The top five countries for startups are the US, UK, Israel, Canada, Sweden and Singapore. The top five cities are San Francisco, New York, London, Los Angeles and Boston.

According to the report, Dhaka has entered the list of the best 150 cities in the world. Among the top 1000 cities, Dhaka is at 140th position, 71 steps ahead of 2023’s ranking. Although Indian cities dominate in South Asia, Dhaka ranks eighth. Apart from this, the position of Dhaka in South Asia in agricultural technology-based startups is seventh.

Asia Pacific has 159 startup economies in 19 countries. Among these, Bangladesh is 18th and has been in the same position in Asia Pacific for four years. Bangladesh is followed only by Kyrgyzstan.

Software and data-based startups were ahead in the world this year. Then there are startups in e-commerce and retail, health, finance and education. Dhaka is among the top 100 countries in transportation-based startups.

Pathao, Shopup, Shohoz, Arogya and Ten Minute School have been mentioned in the 2024 report as the top startups in Bangladesh.

About Bangladesh, the report says, this country has strong economic potential. The startup sector needs government support to move forward. Priority should be given to infrastructure improvements including internet stability. Besides policy support, investment in corporate ventures and industrial-academic institutions to support startups should also work on improving cooperation.

Mentionable, Bangladesh received about $7 million of investment in the first three months of this year, which is 70 percent less than the fourth quarter of last year. More than 75 percent of this investment came from outside the country.

Excluding the last three months of 2024, Bangladesh's investment in quarterly investment is consistently below $10 million.

According to StartupBlink, the first quarter of 2024 saw the second lowest investment in the world after 2018. The report mentions economic recession and inflation as reasons behind the decline.