Armenia’s capital city Yerevan is the highest ranking city in the Caucasus region, with a safe margin, according to the Global Startup Ecosystem Index 2022.

Every year StartupBlink publishes the Global Startup Ecosystem Index report, ranking the startup ecosystems of 1000 cities and 100 countries. The purpose is to provide high-quality information about developments.

“It has been a good year for Armenia which has seen a significant improvement by moving 5 spots up to be ranked at 60th globally. It continues to be 1st in the Caucasus region, the 2nd in the region, suggesting Armenia will continue to hold this position in the near future. With Yerevan as Armenia’s only ranked city, the country's ranking depends greatly on its capital city. In 2022, Yerevan entered the top 250 city ranking globally. Yerevan has seen a major jump, improving by 38 spots to 244th globally. This increase pushed Yerevan up the ladder in Eastern Europe, where it is now ranked 19th, versus 29th in 2021. Yerevan is the highest ranking city in the Caucasus region, with a safe margin”, the report says.

The report notes that “the Armenian ecosystem manages to show true resilience” despite the “restricted land access due to tensions with Turkey and Azerbaijan”.

“The Armenian government has long understood innovation is critical to the future of the country, and resources have been allocated to grow the ecosystem. In 2021, the tech sector in Armenia flourished, with new investments fueling growth.

Armenian startups are built to target the global market from inception due to the small market size of the country. Additionally, the Armenian government does a great job of supporting tech startups. To support foreign investment, Armenia established Free Economic Zones. During the past few years, Armenia made significant progress in reducing bureaucracy and corruption.

While the Armenian startup ecosystems are still in their early stages and the country has work to do to recover from its turbulent past, there is substantial untapped potential waiting to come to the surface”, the report says.

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