Tunisia’s startup ecosystem is expected to grow by 36.6% annually through 2026, nearly twice the North African average and ahead of Morocco, according to an analysis of StartupBlink’s 2026 Global Startup Ecosystem Index.
The projected growth rate is the highest among African countries and places Tunisia among the world’s top 100 ecosystems. Tunisia has climbed to sixth in Africa, overtaking Ghana, although its global ranking fell by two places as other ecosystems expanded faster.
The country ranks 87th in the index’s business environment category for innovators, suggesting a relatively balanced performance between entrepreneurial conditions and startup activity. It also ranks eighth in the Arab world and sixth for ecosystem functional value, a measure of the financial value generated by innovation-related activity.
Tunis remains North Africa’s third-largest city ecosystem, despite dropping three global places to 330th. Its ecosystem grew 22.8%, above both regional and global averages, but it continues to trail faster-growing startup hubs.
Tunisia’s support network includes government-backed fund manager Smart Capital, the CDC, Flat6Labs Tunisia and AfricInvest. Key milestones cited in the analysis include the adoption of Tunisia’s startup law in 2018, a $75M World Bank loan for the ANAVA fund, BioNTech’s approximately $682M acquisition of InstaDeep in 2023, and the launch of Tunisia’s first AI center in Sousse in 2024.
Source: Mosaique FM
