Bengaluru ranked second-best AI-native cluster in Asia, top 15th startup ecosystem globally

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Thr Peenya elevated flyover on National Highway-4, in Bengaluru. The city was ranked 14th in 2025, and has slipped one place to 15th rank this year in the Top 40 start-up ecosystems. | Photo Credit: SUDHAKARA JAIN

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.

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.

Bengaluru scored 9 in performance and R&D, 8 in AI-native cluster, and 7 in funding and market-reach.

Surprisingly, the city, whose talent pool has been its bragging point, scored only 4 under ‘talent and experience.’

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.

“Bengaluru-headquartered startups have raised a total of approximately $79 billion in VC