Top Growing Global Startup Sectors in 2023

Startup Genome and Dealroom have counted the number of startups that experienced scaling up in 2023.

The largest increase came from the biopharma sector, a combination of biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, with 1,821 scale-ups.

Financial technology (fintech) followed in second place with 1,745 scale-ups. Third was marketing with 853, and fourth was transportation with 960.

Software companies followed in fifth place with 941 scale-ups. Marketing was also listed with 853 scale-ups.

Other sectors in the top 10 with the highest number of scale-ups were energy, media, security, food, and health platforms. The number of scale-ups for each is shown in the graph.

Startup Genome notes that increases exceeding 1,100 are categorized as focusing on user impact. There was also an increase in deep tech.

"About 18% of all global scale-ups are deep tech and ~9% are impact," wrote Startup Genome.

Various definitions are used to establish the standard for a startup's scale-up. According to Startup Genome, a startup is in the scaling-up phase when it has defined and proven the scalability of its business model. Scalability is the ability of a system to handle increased load.

Startup Genome proposes a simple, practical, and objective definition for scale-up: startups with a valuation of US$50 million or more.

The reason for using the standard of investment from venture capital (VC) is that it offers advantages because it is widely reported, objective, and verified by third parties.

More than 100,000 global startup owners were surveyed for this report. Startup Genome notes that double counting in this list is possible because a scale-up may qualify for two sectors or industries, except for software companies.