Singapore ranks second globally in StartupBlink business environment index

City-state tops Asia Pacific and leads on incentives and market perception.

Singapore ranked second globally in StartupBlink’s Innovators Business Environment Index 2026, placing it among the world’s strongest business environments for innovators and founders.

The firm also placed Singapore first in Asia Pacific, ahead of Japan and New Zealand.

StartupBlink said Singapore’s performance was consistent with its broader startup momentum, noting that the city-state ranked fourth worldwide in the Global Startup Ecosystem Index 2025.

Singapore was the top performer globally in market perception and business incentives, reflecting strong assessments of governance, stability, international accessibility, and fiscal and financial support conditions.

It also ranked first worldwide in regulation and governance, which the report said highlighted the strength of its legal, regulatory, and procedural frameworks.

StartupBlink added that Singapore ranked in the top quartile on about 90% of all assessed parameters, indicating broad-based strength across the index rather than reliance on a small number of advantages.

Among its strongest individual parameters were governance and law, funding per capita, and starting a business.

Although Singapore led globally on incentives and perception, its ease of operating a business pillar ranked 15th worldwide, suggesting some peers scored more strongly on day-to-day operating simplicity even as Singapore remained one of the overall top performers.