The Top 5 Cities To Build Your Startup

There are many factors that come into play when deciding where to put down roots for your new startup. A community with a long legacy of successful startups is usually a good place to build a business, as a welcoming community and supportive government play a large role in the success or downfall of a city’s businesses.  

Government policy and support, such as visa incentives or special funding can draw potential entrepreneurs to a city, but high costs of living tend to leave innovators hesitant towards moving into these new cities. However, there are still some great options for budding new startups.

Here are some of the top 5 cities to build your startup in 2021.  

San Francisco, California 

As is to be expected, San Francisco features first on our list. It’s not only home to an abundance of startups and companies already, but Silicon Valley is also home to the most billion-dollar companies on the planet.

Companies like Lyft, Yelp, Airbnb and more call this city home, and have spent years developing long-lasting roots. This provides startups in the area with a huge variety of funding available to them, along with numerous large VC firms.

Silicon Valley is home to some of the most innovative tech startups worldwide, and the large variety of infrastructure support in the area makes it an ideal startup hub.

With universities in the area such as Berkley and Stanford, San Francisco offers fresh talent and new grads and with thousands of startups in the area, the community welcomes innovation and entrepreneurship in all forms. From Steve Jobs to Mark Zuckerberg; there’s no shortage of success stories here.

Austin, Texas 

Recently named the top city to start a new business by CNBC, Austin Texas provides entrepreneurs with a prime location for starting businesses and there is a lot of debate about whether Austin will become Silicon Valley 2.0.

Successful startups such as Vrbo and Yeti are headquartered in Austin, and each year, more and more startups are developing in the southern hub, for many reasons.

Compared to other large cities, the cost of living in Austin is relatively low, and so where people save on the cost of living, more is invested into growing companies.

Startups can get highly skilled workers for lower prices, and workers can afford to live at a much higher quality than some other budding startup cities. Austin also provides a range of high-quality universities around the city, providing a large talent pool for new businesses, and many excited fresh graduates.

The city has also been named one of the most supportive and inclusive communities and cultures for entrepreneurs and innovators, with many hubs around the city for startups.  

London UK  

Venturing over to the United Kingdom, London comes in next on the list of top cities for startups and entrepreneurs. Being the large city it is, there are plenty of funding and investor options for startups in the city, with access to a large variety of VCs and investors across many fields.

As well as being a European technology hub, London also offers entrepreneurs government incentives and community acceptance for new businesses. With programs such as the Innovator visa, startups are welcomed to live in the UK and grow their businesses. With success stories such as Deliveroo and Revolut, London is a very attractive city for many entrepreneurs.

Being one of the largest financial centres in the world, and home to numerous emerging Fintech companies, London is a perfect city for new businesses to thrive. 

Helsinki, Finland  

Helsinki not only has an incredible startup legacy with successful companies such as Nokia and Rovio but also provides a consistent, safe and well-regulated environment for startups to flourish. The community, as well as the government, are welcoming to innovation, with government support being offered to local startups. The Finnish Startup permit for example gives new entrepreneurs opportunities to develop and integrate into the economic ecosystem in Helsinki. The city also provides innovators with a perfect opportunity to save on cost but produce high-quality products.

The low cost of living in Helsinki means it attracts a large number of innovators, and startups have access to exceptional talent at low costs.  

Stockholm, Sweden 

Stockholm is becoming a budding city for innovation. With 1/5 of the entire workforce in Stockholm working in tech, it’s the highest of any European city for this field, making it a perfect city for entrepreneurs, with a large and exceptional talent pool for startups. The city also provides huge government investment in startups, and incentives such as low corporate tax to attract budding innovators to the city. Much like its European neighbour, Stockholm also boasts an impressively low cost of living, ranking lower than all the cities on this list. Startups receive huge access to funding, as the 2nd largest hub for billion-dollar companies in the world; there is plenty of opportunity for growth. 

Header Image: Austin Texas, Image via techstartups.com.