Singapore, with its good strategic position in Southeast Asia, is ranked highly in various business focused surveys and studies: For example the Compass Report 2015 “Global Startup Ecosystem Ranking“ is placing this metropolis on rank 10, one after Berlin on rank 9. For this survey diverse data has been collected, from startup hubs worldwide, from surveys and public accessible sources, such as AgelList or Crunchbase. Concerning the ranking process several factors were important: performance, funding, market reach, talent and startup experience. In 2015 the World Bank ranked Singapore as worldwide best place in terms of “ease of doing business“, and the city is number 7 on the Bloomberg Global Innovation Index (2014).
According to a business article from CNBC, the startup scene is only growing on a bigger scale since the last five years. Investors recognize the potential of this financial center and the Southeast Asian market. The Singaporean startup ecosystem is well organized, mature and with a big tech startup sector. There are already a few Unicorns: Garena, an online and mobile entertainment provider (estimated value $2.5 billion, Tech in Asia, 2015) and Lazada, an online shopping and selling platform with an estimated valuation of $1.2 billion (Tech in Asia, 2015). Tech in Asia itself is also a rising startup, founded 2010 in Singapore and functioning as a media and information platform on business and startups in Asia with annual conferences in Singapore, Jakarta and Tokyo. Big international companies like Microsoft, Apple or HP established in this metropolis their central launchpad for Asia and strong startups, such as Grabtaxi (Malaysia) or Flipkart (India) expand from here further into the Southeast Asian market.
Business friendly tax plans for founders and tax incentives are attractive for both startups and investors and there are simple regulations for starting a business and a strong framework to protect rights of entrepreneurs. JFDI, for example is one of the largest accelerators in Singapore, and according to cleverism.com with a 60% success rate for investments in startups. The government is backing the startup scene with various initiatives as well, such as Spring SEEDS (Startup Enterprise Development Scheme). Universities and private bodies run entrepreneurship programs also, reaching out to students and aspiring entrepreneurs.