Our new report, Winners in the Artificial Intelligence Startup Industry, reveals the top 21 countries and 50 cities where AI startups are driving innovation and growth. The report also analyzes extensive data from sources like Semrush and Crunchbase to highlight the most promising startups, leading unicorns, and significant exits in the industry. In addition to detailed rankings of top ecosystems, we examine industry growth through metrics such as funding, unicorn growth, and AI startup team sizes. This article offers a preview of the report’s key findings. Download the full report for an in-depth analysis.
AI Startup Ecosystem Analysis
This section covers the top 10 cities and 10 countries for AI Startups, highlighting top performers, those rising since 2023. In the full report, you will be able to see an extended analysis on 50 cities and 21 countries winning in AI.
Top Countries for AI Startups
- While the United States dominates both the AI startup industry and the global startup ecosystem, the AI sector is more competitive for countries. The US’s AI score is just over twice that of Israel, compared to its 3.8 times higher score in the overall startup ecosystem rankings.
- Israel leads the UK by 30% in the AI startup industry, securing second place globally. This gap highlights Israel’s strength as an AI hub, despite the UK’s broader ecosystem dominance.
- Singapore climbed 3 spots to rank 5th, ahead of China, which holds 8th place despite having the world’s most valuable AI startup, ByteDance.
- Estonia ranks 6th in AI startups, surpassing major European countries like France and Germany.
- Switzerland joins the top 10 countries for AI by climbing 2 spots compared to 2023. Germany (7th) also climbed 3 spots since 2023, surpassing France.
- France showed a 2-spot decline, struggling to keep pace with the rapid growth of AI ecosystems in countries like Singapore and Germany, despite producing success stories like Mistral AI.
Top Cities for AI Startups
- Six out of the top ten AI cities are from the US, compared to four in the general startup ecosystem rankings, highlighting the US’s dominance in AI innovation, while European and Asia-Pacific cities are less prominent among the top positions in AI rankings.
- San Francisco’s AI score is 4 times higher than New York’s, significantly more than in the general startup ecosystem where the gap is less than 3 times, underscoring its much stronger presence in AI.
- New York’s AI industry score is about 1.25 times larger than Beijing’s; however, in overall ecosystem rankings, this difference exceeds double, highlighting Beijing’s promise in the industry.
- London is the top AI city in Europe, holding a 50.6% lead over Paris, though it still trails behind global leaders like New York and Beijing.
- The competition tightens, with cities like Los Angeles and Boston separated by only 6.9%, showing fierce rivalry among top US cities.
- Shenzhen’s position at 9th is 9 spots higher than its general startup ecosystem rankings, surpassing Shanghai, which ranks 11th in AI despite having a better overall startup ecosystem ranking.
- Despite not ranking among the top 10 in overall startup ecosystem rankings, Austin ranks 10th in AI for the second year in a row but has a total score gap of 37.3% compared to Boston, the preceding US city.
Top Artificial Intelligence Unicorns by SB Score
Below, we list the top artificial intelligence unicorns based on their SB Score, along with their valuation. This reveals that while some unicorns may have higher valuations, others may surpass them when factors like team size and website traffic are considered. You can find about the top 10 most promising startups in the full report.
- OpenAI is a research organization and company that develops advanced AI technologies, including large language models.
- Valuation: US$ 157 Billion
- SB Score: 1000
2. Bytedance is the parent company of TikTok, leveraging AI to deliver personalized content and social media experiences.
- Valuation: US$ 225 Billion
- SB Score: 807
3. Hugging Face is a company building open-source machine learning tools and models, widely used for natural language processing.
- Valuation: US$ 5 Billion
- SB Score: 741
4. ElevenLabs is an AI-powered audio platform specializing in lifelike text-to-speech, voice cloning, and dubbing.
- Valuation: US$ 1 Billion
- SB Score: 680
5. Runway is a creative suite offering AI-powered tools for video editing, image generation, and other multimedia applications.
- Valuation: US$ 2 Billion
- SB Score: 670
Top AI Startup Exits based on Exit Amount
Below, we list the top artificial intelligence exits around the world, based on their Exit Amount. You can find about the top 10 startup exits in the full report.
- Kuaishou Technology is an AI-powered video-sharing platform specializing in short-form content and live streaming.
- Exit Amount: US$ 150.0 billion
2. UiPath is a leading AI-driven robotic process automation (RPA) company transforming business processes.
- Exit Amount: US$ 35.0 billion
3. SentinelOne is an AI-powered Cybersecurity company focused on autonomous endpoint protection.
- Exit Amount: US$ 10.0 billion
4. Intellifusion is a company specializing in AI-driven machine vision and smart city technologies.
- Exit Amount: US$ 4.8 billion
5. Darktrace is an AI-based Cybersecurity company known for its autonomous response technology.
- Exit Amount: US$ 2.2 billion
Top Artificial Intelligence Startups based on SB Score
Below, we list the top artificial intelligence startups around the world, ranked by their SB score, which takes into account investment, employee size, and website traffic. You can find about the top 10 most promising startups in the full report.
1. Glance is an AI-powered content discovery platform that delivers personalized news, games, and entertainment directly to smartphone lock screens.
- SB Score: 769
2. Gupy is a Brazilian AI-driven platform streamlining recruitment and hiring processes through automated tools.
- SB Score: 754
3. JusBrasil is a legal information platform in Brazil that uses AI to provide access to legal documents and resources.
- SB Score: 745
4. Inspur Cloud is a leading cloud computing provider in China, offering AI-driven cloud infrastructure and services.
- SB Score: 742
5. Perplexity AI is a conversational AI platform designed to provide accurate and concise answers to complex queries.
- SB Score: 735
Startup Funding in Artificial Intelligence
Below, we present some key findings from the report’s Growth Analysis section. In the full report, you will find additional insights into the industry’s growth, using metrics such as funding, number of unicorns, exits, and startup team sizes.
AI funding in 2024 is projected to be much lower, reaching only 26.6% of 2023’s total by mid-year, indicating a sharp slowdown.
The major boom occurred from 2021 to 2023, when half of the industry’s 15-year funding was concentrated.
Pre-seed (21.91%) and seed (33.07%) rounds dominate, making up over half of all investment rounds and showing strong interest in early-stage AI startups.
North America leads with 58.62% of total funding, underscoring its central role in AI and tech investment.
A large funding round, like OpenAI’s, can significantly impact the overall funding trend, boosting investor confidence even in slower years like 2024.
Notably, AI funding is nearly 4.5 times greater than that for cloud and cybersecurity combined, highlighting the sector’s strong funding dominance.
What awaits you in the full report?
The insights in this article are just a preview of those in the full report, “Winners in the Artificial Intelligence Startup Industry.” Download the report today to access:
- Rankings of startup ecosystems in 50 cities and 21 countries in AI.
- Top startups, unicorns, and exits in the industry, sorted by SB Score.
- Analysis of industry growth, including data on funding, unicorns, exits, and team size in AI.
Introducing IBM for Startups
This report is a joint initiative of StartupBlink and IBM for Startups, a no-cost, equity-free program that empowers startups with
- Pitch your solution to global enterprises and investors
- Establishing partnerships with IBM and its customers
- Free cloud credits to test integrations with IBM AI, like IBM watsonx.
- Access to technical expertise through online sessions and 1-on-1 advisory.
About Our Data Partners
Crunchbase
Crunchbase is a prospecting platform powered by best-in-class proprietary data. It helps over 75 million dealmakers discover, qualify, track, and engage with the right opportunities so they can search less and close more.
Semrush
Semrush is a trusted data provider whose data on search volume, correlations, website traffic, and digital trends is used by media outlets around the world. Comprising over 50 products, tools, and add-ons related to online visibility management, and collecting search data for 140 countries.
