5 Best Cities Around the World to Launch a Startup

March 24, 2018

3 min read

This story originally appeared on Personal Branding Blog

When it comes to starting up a new technology business, the first place that comes to mind is Silicon Valley, which is located in San Francisco, Calif., USA. However, the rise of living costs and real estate prices is giving entrepreneurs a hard time because they already have a limited budget. For this reason, entrepreneurs should not forget that there are many alternative locations to found a new business that are much cheaper than Silicon Valley. Below you can find the five best cities, besides San Francisco, to launch a startup.

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1. Boston, Mass., USA

Boston is the east coast version of San Francisco. It has a very educated population because it hosts more than 60 universities. Also, some of the most prestigious universities such as MIT and Harvard are located in Boston and this makes to find the necessary talent easier. Also, don’t forget that both Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg began their studies in Boston.

2. Berlin, Germany

Berlin is one of the fastest growing startup ecosystems around the world. There are many startups headquartered in Berlin. Also, there are many accelerator programs and incubator centers to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses. It is in the middle of Europe and Germany has a very strong economy. Therefore, if an entrepreneur is targeting to be a business in Europe or wants to grow his/her business in Europe, Berlin is the place to be!

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3. Bangalore, India

Bangalore hosts around 4,900 active startups. It is one of India’s leading tech cities since 1970s. It has low labor costs along with great technical talent. Moreover, there are plenty of early adopters in Bangalore so startups can showcase their MVP or finished products easily and find some active users. It has a great investor potential as well.

4. Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul is the bridge between Europe and Asia. It is a very large city with a population of 15 million people and its population mostly consists of younger people. Mobile device ownership and internet penetration rates are very high. New business accelerator programs and incubator centers are opening up every year so getting into a program in order to grow your business is easier. However, it is an emerging market so one should be ready to be up against the challenges of an emerging market.

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5. Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne often competes with Sydney to be the tech city of Australia but Melbourne has lower living and real estate costs compared to Sydney. This makes Melbourne attractive for startup founders. Also, its people are open to new ideas and innovation and this makes finding early adopters easier. In addition, the business community is very diverse so startup founders from any industry can try their chances in Melbourne.