The Global Startup Ecosystem report gives a snapshot of how different countries are performing as start-up environments with data from more than a million companies and 250 ecosystems analysed.
NZ is ranked 41 out of 100 top emerging start-up environments with Mumbai, Jakarta and Zurich filling the top three spots.
That puts NZ as the top performing Pacific nation with Brisbane, Australia, next best at 76. Among established start-up environments Silicon Valley, New York and London claim the top three spots.
The report scores contenders out of 10 for performance, funding, market reach and talent.
NZ falls short when it comes to market reach, scoring only two out of 10.
That contrasts to a solid scores of seven for funding and eight for talent.
Agritech NZ executive director Peter Wren-Hilton said the low score for market reach is no surprise and underscores the impact of agritech’s pastoral focus in its technology.
“If you look beyond NZ, other than Ireland and Great Britain the market opportunity for pastoral technology tends to be limited so that limits our global reach somewhat.”
However, the industry transformation plan launched earlier this year is helping lift that score, encouraging technology development that has a broader global appeal.
NZ is recognised for having the highest per-capita ratio of angel investors in the world, with 1000 for five million population.
The average seed funding for start-up investment here of US$535,000 is also above the global average of US$494,000. Access to generous dollar-for-dollar funding from the likes of the Callaghan Institute is also highlighted as a strength.
Salaries for talented staff are acknowledged to be high by global standards with software engineers here averaging US$49,000 against a global average of US$42,000.
Wren-Hilton said Bay of Plenty exhibits a well-funded sector for all stages of technology development.
“You have the likes of Quayside Holdings and Craigs Investments Pohutukawa Fund with $200m-plus under management for fund sourcing.”
The report highlights agri-tech and life sciences as strong points for NZ’s investment environment, citing the presence of 90 agri-tech start-ups and the fact NZ has been selected as the first partner state for Farm 2050.
Farm 2050 is a collective of agricultural companies and interests collaborating to push innovation and tech to address the world’s food challenge. Companies include Rabobank, DuPont, Trimble and John Deere.
The agri-tech sector’s exports made $1.4 billion in 2018 and are growing 4% a year but remain dwarfed by output from comparable countries like Israel, which exports 10 times as much as NZ.
The report highlights the risk of a mass extinction event for start-ups around the world this year.
In the tough covid-19 environment lay-offs among start-up companies are rampant globally with only 33% not laying off any staff or cutting hours.
In a survey of NZ tech companies early in the lockdown a third cited funding access as their biggest risk and 40% took the wages subsidy.
Wren-Hilton said “Globally, NZ is well regarded with a strong ecosystem, good support agencies and good angel investors.
