CHARLOTTE – Despite financial technology company Robinhood pulling out of Charlotte and laying off its workers in the region, the Queen City ranked ninth globally for its startup fintech ecosystem. The Research Triangle finished ranked in the top 25.
According to the report, known as the Global Startup Ecosystem Report, Fintech Edition, released on Wednesday, Charlotte is among the top ten best ecosystems for financial technology startups in regions that have populations under 3 million people.
Austin, Texas, at fourth, and Salt Lake City and Provo, Utah, at sixth, are the only other U.S. regions that rank higher than Charlotte in the rankings of regions under three million people.
Silicon Valley, California and New York City rank first and second overall, with Los Angeles and Boston ranking eighth and ninth overall. Other U.S. cities that appear among the top 25 global cities for fintech startup ecosystems include Chicago at 14th, Atlanta at 17th, and Seattle, at 18th.
For cities under 3 million people, Hartford, Connecticut, Orlando, Florida, and Nashville, Tennessee all ranked in the top 20 ecosystems, at 13th, 17th, and 20th respectively.
Behind the ranking
Charlotte’s ecosystem scored well for its performance, notching a perfect score of 10, according to the analysis conducted by Startup Genome, the author of the report. The region was also strong in categories that measured focus and legacy, with scores of 8 of a possible 10 in those areas.
But the Queen City ranked poorly for talent, scoring a 2 of a possible 10. The region also scored a 4 for startup experience, a 5 for the funding ecosystem, and a 6 in the knowledge category.
The Triangle, however, ranked highly for talent, with a perfect score of 10, but low for focus, legacy, and performance, with scores of 2, 3, and 3, respectively. Still, the region scored a 6 for its funding environment and startup experience, and a 9 out of 10 for knowledge.
But those measures all track fintech activity through 2021. Even recently, there’s been some movement in each region’s fintech ecosystem.
For example, in Raleigh, WalletFi was acquired for an undisclosed sum by Constellation Digital Partners. And earlier this year, Charlotte-based Quartix raised $20 million in capital.
Fintech startups in Raleigh combine: Constellation buys WalletFi, doubles customer base
