Tampa Bay has continued positioning itself as a startup hub of not only Florida, but the southeast: top VC firms, unicorns and national tours have started to make the rest of the nation take notice.
The latest accolade comes from Startup Genome, a top innovation policy advisory and research firm. The group released its annual report detailing the top 100 emerging ecosystems and Tampa Bay has landed in the top 30.
The ecosystems were ranked on market reach, talent, funding and performance. While Tampa Bay drew in high marks for market reach and performance, ranking nine out of 10, it faltered slightly with a score of 8.
There was a deep dive in the talent category, drawing in only three points despite Tampa Bay hosting both the University of South Florida and University of Tampa in its backyard.
Tampa Bay topped other Floridian regions on the list: Orlando closely followed in the top 40's and Jacksonville ranked in the top 80's. Miami was not listed among emerging ecosystems, but listed as No. 31 on the Global Startup Ecosystem ranking.
Mumbai topped the overall list and Philadelphia was the top ranked U.S. city, coming in at No. 8 on the list.
The other top 20 U.S. cities included:
No. 10 Research Triangle in North Carolina
No. 15 Portland
No. 17 Detroit
No. 19 Minneapolis
No #21-30 (tied) Tampa Bay
