Paris has been named Europe’s leading tech hub, coming ahead of London for the first time in new analysis from Dealroom, with the French capital’s ecosystem booming thanks to an increase in AI talent and a new wave of repeat tech founders.

London has been ranked 6th out of 288 global tech hubs in Dealroom’s Global Tech Ecosystem Index 2025, coming two spots behind Paris, despite London having a much higher combined enterprise value, sitting at $593 billion (£442.5bn) last year compared to Paris’ $286 billion (£213.4bn).

However, from 2017 to 2024, Paris startups saw their total enterprise value grow more than fivefold, outpacing London’s 4.2x growth over the same period, according to Dealroom, with the funding rounds secured by Parisian firms having a bigger impact on valuations.

That includes the likes of Mistral AI raising €600 million (£506m) last June in a Series-B funding round that valued the then one-year-old company at €5.8 billion (£4.3bn), as well as Paris-based genAI startup Poolside raising more than $400 million (£298M) on a post-money valuation of $2 billion (£1.5bn), according to a report from TechCrunch in June.  

The momentum around Paris continued to build just this week, when UK-founded fintech unicorn Revolut announced it would make Paris its Western Europe HQ, with plans to invest over €1 billion (£841.9m) in France over the next three years, set to be the largest investment in the French financial sector in a decade.

However, Dealroom’s figures show that, in real terms, the Paris tech ecosystem still has a lot of ground to make up to match the English capital.

As of 2024, London was the home of almost 13,000 VC-backed startups, compared to just over 6,500 operating in Paris, with London-based firms having attracted around $11 billion (£8.2bn) in VC investment, versus $5.9 billion (£4.4bn) for Paris-based startups.

Despite London nearly doubling Paris in both VC-backed startups and funding, the perception of Paris as Europe’s rising tech powerhouse is unlikely to fade. 

The city only recently hosted Europe’s AI Action Summit, while Dealroom’s ranking lands just weeks before the French capital is set to host VivaTech, one of the world’s largest tech conferences.

Francois Bitouzet, managing director of VivaTech, told Reuters: “It’s not just about the competitiveness of Paris on the AI scene today, it’s also about what will happen next and how we can keep on attracting the talent, investment, and the tech activities.”  

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Away from Europe, Dealroom’s report presented some other surprising results.

For example, despite its smaller economy, the Nigerian city of Lagos was ranked as the number one ‘rising star’ tech ecosystem, having created five unicorns and grown its ecosystem valuation 11.6x since 2017, while Pune, India, was described as having a ‘dynamic startup ecosystem’, with new strengths in gaming, digital entertainment, deep tech, and sustainable innovation

Unsurprisingly, however, the US continues to dominate as the top three positions in Dealrooms’ ranking are held by American regions and cities, with the Bay Area, New York and Boston heading up the findings.

Even so, Dealroom’s report highlights some eye-catching trends, with smaller tech hubs like Boulder, Colorado, and Salt Lake City punching well above their weight, ranking among the world’s most startup-dense ecosystems relative to population.