Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh is still lagging behind in start-ups comparing to the neighboring countries in South Asia region, according to the Global Startup Ecosystem Index 2024.
The Index released by StartupBlink, a global ecosystem map and research center that work over 100 government and multilateral organisations and corporate startups.
In the report, Bangladesh ranked 83 among the 100 countries. While, neighboring India has ranked 19th, Pakistan 71st, and Sri Lanka has secured ranked 76th in the list.
The report showed, Bangladesh is the bottom in the list in South Asian countries.
There are some 159 startup economies in the 19th countries of Asia Pacific.
Bangladesh is the 18th in the list of the 19 countries. Bangladesh is only ahead of Kyrgyzstan.
Software and data based startups are ruling the sector this year followed by startups based on ecommerce and retail, health, finance and education respectively, the report said.
As per the report, Dhaka is among the top 150 cities in terms of start-up initiatives. Dhaka has been ranked 140th among the 1000 cities in the list.
While the neighboring Indian cities dominate the list in the south Asian region, Dhaka ranked eighth among them. Besides, Dhaka is in the eighth place in the list of cities with the most agriculture based start-ups.
The report cited pathao, ShopUp, Shohoz, Arogga and the 10 Minutes School as the top startups in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is a country with a vast population in South Asia that borders India and Myanmar. The population size provides an innate advantage, giving the country a large internal consumer market.
The country also boasts a young tech-savvy population, and ICT technology in areas such as digital commerce, education, and healthcare.
Bangladesh’s national startup ecosystem is a potential digital treasure in Asia that requires systematic country-level branding to attract more foreign investments and generate exposure, the report said.
Meanwhile, the report said, the ecological system is not without its challenges.
It said also that the access to high-speed internet outside of major cities, limited access to funding, complex regulations, and limited global exposure are blockages to the ecosystem achieving its full potential.
Though the report said that Bangladesh has strong economic potential, but it will require more support from the government to materialize.
It suggested the government to work on improving internet infrastructure, arranging corporate venture capital, establishing startup-friendly policies and regulations, and improving industry-academia collaboration to support the growth of startups.
Experts said that most investment in South Asia goes to India, and Pakistan enjoys Middle East-based investments while Bangladesh enjoys no privileges of these region-based forums, and in that case, more local investment assistance is necessary.
The experts, however, said that updated information from Bangladesh might not be reached to those organisations properly and there are also weaknesses in startups based in Bangladesh to present themselves with proper data.
LightCastle Partners, a constancy firm, releases reviews and reports regularly on the startup sector of Bangladesh.
It said in a report that startups in Bangladesh received about $7 million in investment in the first quarter of this year – a 70 per cent drop from the fourth quarter of last year, while 75 per cent of the funding in 2024 was raised from foreign countries.
According to StartupBlink, global startup funding experienced its second-lowest level since early 2018 in the first quarter of 2024 because of the economic downturn and inflation.
Global startup funding has continued to decline since 2021, Investment levels hit a five-year low in 2023, and this downward trend showed no signs of reversing in Q1 of 2024.
“With the worsening economic parameters, global decline in startup funding and the rise of AI, we saw an increased trend of layoffs in IT and startup sectors,” StartupBlink said.
More than 75,000 people were laid off in the IT sector in the first 4.5 months of 2024. In addition to a tough economic environment, global tech giants such as Google, Meta, and Microsoft continue their workforce reductions by integrating AI into their work processes.