Dublin and Belfast rank highly for tech start-up FDI projects

Lithuanian capital Vilinius is top for projects on a per capita basis, the data shows

Dublin attracted the seventh highest number of tech start-up foreign direct investment projects globally between 2016 and 2018, new figures show.

The Lithuanian capital Vilinius received the highest number of greenfield FDI projects per capita from start-ups in the software and IT services sector during the two-year period under review, according to new research by FDI Intelligence.

Vilnius attracted 1.006 FDI projects per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by London (0.875), Amsterdam (0.802), Helsinki (0.797) and Singapore (0.731).

Dublin ranked in seventh place behind the Hague with 0.646 projects per 100,000 inhabitants with Belfast in eighth spot with 0.633 projects. Dubai and Dusseldorf round out the top ten cities for tech start-up FDI projects.

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According to FDI Intelligence, which is part of the Financial Times group, Europe is the most attractive region for tech start-up investments. It is home to eight out of the top 10 cities and more than half of the top 30.

Greenfield investment by tech start-ups has been on the rise in terms of both projects and capital expenditure, rising from $2.43 billion invested in 335 projects in 2017 to $3.68 billion invested in 470 projects last year.

Dubai was the only city to make it into the top ten cities from the Middle East while Nairobi was the only city in Africa to make the top 30. No cities from either Latin America of the Caribbean made this year's rankings.

Charlie Taylor

Charlie Taylor

Charlie Taylor is a former Irish Times business journalist