According to the 2023 Global Startup Ecosystem Report (GSER) unveiled on Wednesday by the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC), Smart Capital, the World Bank, and Startup Genome, Tunisia has risen among the top 15 global ecosystems in terms of talent accessibility.

The Tunisian ecosystem generated an economic value of $120.3 million between July 1st and December 31st, 2022, marking an annual growth of 17.3%.

Indeed, Tunisia has moved up 3 positions in 2023 compared to the GSER 2022. Looking at its long-term growth from the GSER ranking in 2020 to 2023, the ecosystem has gained an impressive 10 places in just three years.

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The MENA region, on the whole, maintained stability from 2021 to 2022, with only a slight 5% decrease in initial funding, a 19% decrease in series B+ transaction amounts, and a 14% decline in total venture capital funding. Despite this slowdown, the region still retained higher funding levels than in 2020.

In the ranking of emerging ecosystems in the MENA region, Tunisia ranked fourth, preceded by Amman, Sharjah, Casablanca, and Beirut, highlighting its growing role as a leader in innovation and entrepreneurship in the region.

On this occasion, the CEO of CDC, Ms. Nejia Gharbi, emphasized that this report provides insights into Tunisia’s position compared to other ecosystems and its ranking within the MENA region. She first introduced the Startup Act program for innovative SMEs, launched by the World Bank, aiming to provide funding solutions to all startups in the Tunisian ecosystem.

She also added that the achieved ranking is primarily the result of this favorable climate, reinforced by the Startup Act, as well as all the funding programs put in place to support both support structures and startups. The goal is to energize the ecosystem and attract global investors’ attention.

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The top 5 global ecosystems have remained unchanged since 2020, with Silicon Valley in the first position, followed by New York City and London tied for second place. However, Boston and Beijing have lost their places in the top 5, each falling two positions.

They have been replaced by Los Angeles in the fourth position and Tel Aviv in the fifth position. These five ecosystems together represent an economic value of $4 trillion, accounting for 53% of the total of the top 30 ecosystems.

Based on data about 3.5 million startups in over 290 global ecosystems, this report provides new insights and in-depth knowledge about startup trends worldwide. It ranks the top 30 global ecosystems and the next 10, and offers a ranking of the top 100 emerging ecosystems.

ANAVA invests 5 million euros in Tunisian startups

As part of the startup support project jointly funded by the World Bank, CDC, and KFW, the ANAVA fund has announced its commitment to invest 5 million euros in a brand-new fund, Titan Seed Fund I, managed by the Medin Fund Management Company.

With an initial target size of 100 million euros, of which 40 million euros come from a World Bank loan subscribed by CDC, and 20 million euros subscribed by KFW, the fund of funds aims to provide the necessary means for addressing the financing and internationalization challenges of Tunisian startups.

Titan Seed Fund aims to reach a size of 10 million dollars to invest in 280 Tunisian startups. It is the first early-stage Deeptech-focused fund in North Africa. The fund plans to invest an average of between 300 and 650 thousand dollars to prepare them for a “Series A” fundraising.

ANAVA represents the very first fund of funds in Tunisia, denominated in euros. Managed by Smart Capital, it plays a central role in the national “StartUp Tunisia” initiative, aiming to make Tunisia an innovation and startup hub at the crossroads of the Mediterranean, the MENA region, and Africa.

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Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert. 
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard