Singapore is APAC's most attractive startup market

World-class broadband speeds, high levels of AI readiness, and highly educated workforce lifted its rank.

Singapore is the most attractive market in Asia Pacific to set up a startup or new business, according to the Asia Startup Index Study by Intuit QuickBooks.

The study, which assessed 24 Asian economies across 17 indicators, noted Singapore’s world-class broadband speeds, high levels of AI readiness, and highly educated workforce.

Its top-ranking in talent and infrastructure continue to give Singapore a competitive edge, it added.

Singapore also emerged amongst the top for strength of business landscape. This signals that the operating environment “remains efficient, predictable and attractive to both domestic and international founders,” the study said.

Startups in Singapore were expected to go global in search of capital, customers, and talent, venture capital analysts earlier told Singapore Business Review.

“Startups will increasingly develop technologies that not only address regional needs but also hold export potential to other emerging and developed markets,” Jussi Salovaara, co-founder and managing partner at venture capitalist Antler, said earlier this year.

China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Thailand closed out the top five in that order, followed by Vietnam, Malaysia, South Korea, Georgia, and Kazakhstan.

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