For the third year in a row, Atlantic Canada has failed to rank among the world’s top 100 emerging startup ecosystems in The Global Startup Ecosystem Report from Startup Genome, the Silicon Valley group that assesses innovation communities.

Startup Genome each year ranks innovation ecosystems around the world according to criteria such as the performance of their startups, their success at accessing funding and their interconnectedness.

Nova Scotia venture capital Crown agency Innovacorp enrolled Atlantic Canada in the study beginning in 2019, and in 2020, the region ranked as the fourth best ecosystem globally in the “activation phase.” But the following year, Startup Genome changed its format, ranking 100 “emerging ecosystems,” and Atlantic Canada dropped off the list.

In an email, Innovacorp Vice President of Client Engagement and Communications Dawn House said Startup Genome added about 250 ecosystems into contention for its rankings 2019.

While the region has once again failed to qualify for the top 100 emerging ecosystems, Startup Genome’s report does contain two pieces of good news: Atlantic Canada ranked among the top 20 ecosystems in North America for funding performance and the top 30 for access to talent.

“Atlantic Canada … continues to demonstrate that it is a fast-growing and successful ecosystem, boasting innovation in Oceantech and several other sectors,” said Startup Genome.

“The ecosystem is home to 16 universities and many support programs that provide startups with a wealth of resources to support their growth.”

The report pegs the average salary of a software engineer at above the global average — US$47,000, or about C$60,000, for Atlantic Canada, compared to US$46,000 for the rest of the world. By comparison, Propel CEO Kathryn Lockhart told Entrevestor in April that her online startup incubator’s resident companies typically find that hiring even a junior developer can now cost in the high six figures.

Startup Genome also noted that the median size of a seed funding round in Atlantic Canada between 2019 and 2021 was significantly above the global average of US$671,000 at US$913,000, while the median Series A round was much smaller than average. Atlantic Canada's median was US$3 million while the global median was US$4.7 million.