The overall scores compiled by Pitchbook place the United States firmly in first place, well ahead of China, which is second in the rankings, with India completing the top three. The top two have retained their positions from last year, whilst India has risen from sixth place in 2025 to third in 2026, at the expense of the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan, which have each dropped one place.
Venture capital’s top ranking comes as no surprise, given that San Francisco continues to dominate the rankings. New York remains in second place, whilst Los Angeles has dropped from third place last year to fourth this year. Boston has risen to third place, Beijing has moved up from sixth to fifth, and London has fallen from fifth to eighth.
It is clear that global venture capital flows are increasingly shifting towards the United States. The United Kingdom tops the European rankings for development, with Germany in second place, whilst China leads the way in Asia and is the continent’s main venture capital hub, followed by India.
The substantial funding rounds in the AI sector over recent quarters and the high-value exits expected in 2026 have propelled the United States to the top of the growth rankings, capping off a strong performance this year. Turning to individual cities, Austin tops the growth rankings for 2026, climbing two places compared with 2025. The value of transactions in the United States has reached unprecedented levels, thanks to the increased concentration of venture capital. Investment is concentrated in a select group of large, market-leading companies, most of which operate in the AI sector.
When looking at per capita figures, one clear winner emerges: Singapore. Other top performers in per capita terms are the United States – despite its large population – Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland and Sweden. By contrast, countries with larger populations, such as China, India, Brazil, Japan and Spain, performed less well on per capita metrics.
In summary, these are the figures from the PitchBook Global VC Ecosystem Rankings, which provide a measure of the development and growth of venture capital across different countries and geographical areas. The framework combines thousands of proprietary data points collected over several years to determine which venture capital hubs rank at the top internationally. The rankings are used by investors, industry professionals, start-ups and government bodies to identify how the venture capital landscape is evolving. This report incorporates the most recent dataset to highlight changes in the most developed and fastest-growing venture capital hubs compared with last year’s edition.
Among the new entrants to the top 10 are Canada in eighth place and France in tenth, whilst Switzerland and the Netherlands have dropped out of the rankings. The overall score combines development and growth scores, and the United States leads in all three, striking a balance between scale and maturity, as well as business growth, whilst China, the United Kingdom and Germany have shown weak growth scores, but their development scores have remained high. Over the past six years, India has also demonstrated a solid balance between development and growth. The UK has a higher development score than India (67.4 versus 62.6), but its weak growth score (44.8) has dragged down its overall score. The same can be said of Canada and South Korea, as their development scores were higher than Japan’s, but their growth was weaker, resulting in a lower overall score.
Development scores reflect scale and maturity; consequently, ecosystems with the highest levels of activity rank at the top. A closer analysis of our top 20 development scores by country reveals just how concentrated venture capital is becoming. With a development score of 98.5, the United States leads the way, followed by China with 87.4. The figures underpinning US dominance are clear: $1,800 billion invested in start-ups, $4,400 billion in exits and $814.9 billion raised by funds between the third quarter of 2020 and the second quarter of 2026. This is the result of the cumulative, multi-year effect of capital injected into the ecosystem, bolstered by the post-COVID-19 years and, more recently, the AI boom years. In the first half of 2026, SpaceX’s extraordinary IPO with a valuation of 1,700 billion dollars and the acquisition of xAI for 250 billion dollars were events of enormous significance.
In second place, China has posted excellent results, thanks in part to a $3 billion investment from ByteDance, which led to a valuation of $370 billion in the first half of 2026. The overall figures for China over the last six years were: $534 billion invested in companies, $990.3 billion in divestments and $494.8 billion raised by funds. Although these figures are significantly lower than those of the United States, they are considerably higher than those of the United Kingdom, which ranks third.
In Europe, the UK ranks ahead of Germany in terms of development scores. A key factor in the UK’s development has been the rise of Revolut, the company with the highest valuation among those backed by venture capital in Europe. Among European countries, France ranked eighth, whilst Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain and Belgium made it into the top 20. Seven Asian countries, including China, made it into the top 20 for development scores. In summary, the current global venture capital ecosystem is heavily skewed towards the United States, with China and the UK leading the way on their respective continents.
Growth scores assess the rate at which an ecosystem is developing, taking into account changes in activity levels over different time periods within our six-year historical data set. As in previous editions of our rankings, there have been several changes at the top.
The exceptional funding rounds in the AI sector over the past two years and the massive exits in 2026 have seen the United States take top spot in our growth rankings, capping off a string of successes across all rankings this year. The value of transactions has been unprecedented and, as noted by the PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor for the second quarter of 2026, the value of venture capital deals in the United States in the first half of 2026 has already exceeded the figure for the whole of 2025 by almost 30 per cent. Capital invested is heavily concentrated in a select group of large, market-leading companies, most of which are linked to AI.
Greece and the Czech Republic ranked second and third respectively in our growth scores. Both countries have relatively small venture capital ecosystems, and their high rankings highlight how growth rates can be significantly influenced by smaller bases. The second-largest ecosystem is India’s, in fourth place, with $122.9 billion invested, $125.5 billion exited and $26.8 billion raised by venture capital funds.
As is the case every year, there have been many changes in the ranking of the 20 countries with the highest growth scores. Australia, Italy, Egypt and Hong Kong have entered the ranking for the first time. Other countries that have recorded more significant growth than their competitors include India, which has risen by 11 places; Taiwan, which has risen by nine places; and Turkey, which has gained five places.
Conversely, Saudi Arabia, Portugal, Finland, Norway, Austria and Argentina have dropped out of the top 20. Meanwhile, the following countries have remained in the top 20 despite falling down the rankings: Switzerland (down 13 places), the United Kingdom (down 6), Belgium (down 5), the United Arab Emirates (down 4) and the Netherlands (down three).
It is worth noting that growth can vary from year to year and, as the reference period considered here extends to the first half of 2026, this suggests that these ecosystems are not growing as strongly as in previous years. However, ranking within the top 20 still represents high growth within our sample of 50 countries. In terms of regions, Europe accounted for nine of the top 20 countries; five were from Asia, two each from the Middle East and Oceania, as well as Egypt and the United States. By way of comparison, the breakdown in 2025 was as follows: 11 European countries, three Asian countries, two from the Middle East, the United States, New Zealand, Egypt and Argentina. The high growth scores are distributed globally, and whilst the drop in rankings of several European countries is perhaps noteworthy, it is not significant given the large number of countries from the continent still at the top of the rankings.
Austin tops the growth rankings for 2026, climbing two places compared with 2025. Meanwhile, Nashville, which topped the rankings last year, has dropped out of the top 20 entirely. Austin narrowly edged out San Francisco to take first place, and the fact that San Francisco is so close to the top is impressive, given the size of its ecosystem. This points to strong growth from a broad base, but it remains to be seen whether it will be sustainable.
However, there are no signs of a slowdown in venture capital investment, as capital is being channelled into artificial intelligence start-ups at a record pace. US cities recorded the four highest growth scores for 2026, with Cincinnati and Philadelphia rounding off the ranking. Eleven US cities feature in the top 20; by way of comparison, in 2025, as many as 14 out of 20 were in the United States. A smaller number of US cities in the top 20 might suggest slower growth on the surface, but the reality is that US ecosystems, particularly San Francisco, currently dominate the venture capital markets.
Outside the United States, four locations were in India, compared with two in 2025. Hyderabad jumped from 18th place last year to 7th this year, and Bengaluru, India’s largest venture capital ecosystem, rose from 14th to 12th place. The highest-ranked Asian city was Suzhou, in fifth place, with six locations in the top 20. There were no locations in the Middle East in the ranking of the top 20 locations by geographical location, due to ongoing tensions in the region. Among the 11 new entrants to the top 20 were Cincinnati, Suzhou, Melbourne, Auckland and Prague, amongst others. There was only one European location, confirming the view that European venture capital may be experiencing a more challenging period of growth compared with other regions. In 2024, seven European locations were in the top 20, but last year that number fell to two.
The full report is available here
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