Lagos has been named the world’s fastest-growing tech ecosystem for 2025, according to the newly released Global Tech Ecosystem Index 2025 by Netherlands-based research firm Dealroom.co.
The report places Lagos at the top of its ‘Rising Stars’ category — a classification that highlights emerging cities witnessing rapid growth in enterprise value and the creation of tech unicorns. Lagos beat out global contenders like Istanbul (Turkey) and Pune (India), which ranked second and third respectively.
Dealroom.co cited Lagos’s remarkable ecosystem growth — expanding its valuation by 11.6 times since 2017 — and its production of five unicorns: Interswitch, Flutterwave, Jumia, OPay, and Moniepoint. Despite operating within a relatively smaller economy, Lagos’s resilience and innovation have elevated it to global prominence.
“These ecosystems are booming, and Lagos is leading the charge,” the report noted. “It has created five unicorns and dramatically scaled its tech value.”
Other high-ranking cities in the Rising Stars category include Brazil’s Belo Horizonte and Curitiba, Mumbai in India, and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia — all showing promise in venture development relative to GDP and cost of living.
While Nigeria dominates the Rising Stars chart through Lagos, it does not yet feature in the Global Champions category — a list reserved for the most established startup ecosystems globally, ranked by metrics such as venture capital, enterprise value, and university integration. The top three in this elite group remain the U.S.-based Bay Area, New York City, and Boston.
Reacting to Lagos’s rising global profile, Tunbosun Alake, Lagos State Commissioner for Innovation, Science, and Technology, attributed the growth to a mix of strategic policy support and Lagos’s vast, entrepreneurial population.
“We’ve deliberately supported startups in frontier areas like artificial intelligence and robotics,” Alake said in a recent interview. “Beyond funding, we act as a bridge between innovators and government institutions, especially in sectors like transportation.”
With its unique mix of talent, innovation, and supportive policies, Lagos is cementing its place as a global tech hotspot — and its momentum shows no signs of slowing.
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