Tbilisi’s startup scene

Georgia's tech scene grew fast after 2022, and Tbilisi is where most of it happens. The state's innovation agency funds a large share of early-stage programmes, international accelerators run their cohorts here, and there's a steady calendar of meetups, hackathons and demo days. This is a map of it as of autumn 2026, with the date of every figure, since programmes and rounds change from year to year.

Public money: GITA

Most public support comes from GITA, Georgia's Innovation and Technology Agency under the Ministry of Economy.

The 2026 acceleration programme

Since January 2026 GITA fully funds an acceleration programme run by four international accelerators: Plug and Play, Startupbootcamp, 500 Global and Founder Institute (the last with 2080 Ventures), each taking up to 20 startups. A cycle lasts a year: two months of training, then four months building a product with a 50,000 GEL grant, then six months of tailored support with a 150,000 GEL grant for the startups that get through. Startupbootcamp, for example, chose its ten best startups for the third phase in July 2026.

Tech parks and grants

GITA runs ten tech parks around the country (September 2026). The Tbilisi Tech Park is at 7 Innovation Street in Okrokana, open 9:00 to 22:00, with coworking desks that anyone can book online, a fab lab and event space. A new technology hub opened in Kutaisi in July 2026.

Its 25,000 GEL innovation grants currently run region by region outside Tbilisi (30 winning projects in eight regions by September 2026), with a free four-week pre-acceleration course to prepare applicants. Its earlier 150,000 GEL matching grants funded 195 startups in their first ten rounds; the latest round we found named its winners in June 2024.

Skills

GITA's "5000 IT specialists" programme pays for courses in programming, design, management and AI. Its fourth intake drew more than 31,000 applications for 1,000 fully funded places (April 2026).

Accelerators and investors

• 500 Global in Eurasia: a 12-week accelerator run in Georgia since 2022 by 500 Global with GITA and Bank of Georgia. The tenth cohort had its demo day in Tbilisi in June 2026; the eleventh started in September 2026.
• Axel: Georgia's first and largest angel investor club, with about 100 members, 30 closed deals and more than $1.3 million invested (August 2025). It also runs an academy for new angel investors.
• The EU's Ready4EIC programme opened to Georgian startups and small companies in August 2026, to prepare them for European funding.

Recent rounds, as reported

• Pave Bank, a "programmable" bank operating in Georgia since 2024, raised $39 million from investors including Accel, Tether Investments, Quona Capital and Wintermute (October 2025).
• Edumentors, a British-Georgian tutoring platform, raised $2 million to build an AI tutor (August 2025).
• Helio AI, an AI recruiting tool from 500 Global in Eurasia's sixth cohort, raised $1 million (November 2025).
• Optio raised $1 million to move to a SaaS model and new markets (September 2026).

Communities and events

• Global Tech Weekend Tbilisi started in June 2025 (organisers reported more than 10,000 attendees) and returned on 20 June 2026.
• Startup Grind Tbilisi has run regular talks and workshops with Bank of Georgia; the latest we found was in June 2025.
• Startup Büro organises community events: Fuckup Nights Tbilisi, NASA Space Apps Challenge Tbilisi and, in July 2026, the first Game Jam Georgia Cup with more than 250 participants.
• UG Startup Factory, the University of Georgia's innovation centre, runs free pre-acceleration for UG students and pupils aged 16 and up, funding five teams a semester with 10,000 GEL each, plus hackathons and a demo day each semester.

Where founders work

Most early teams start at a hot desk and move to a private office when they hire. Besides GITA's tech park, there's Fabrika Co-Work inside Fabrika, the converted Soviet sewing factory in Chugureti, and 24 spaces in our directory with private offices.

Photos soon

Sololaki■ Coworking

Regus Freedom Square

CoworkingCoworkingDay passPrivate office

from ₾251/month

Private office

from $15/person/day

Day pass24/7

Photos soon

Chugureti■ Coworking

Terminal Roses Garden

CoworkingCoworkingDay passPrivate office

from ₾500/month

Private office

from ₾2,200/month

Day pass24/7

Photos soon

Vera■ Coworking

D Block at Stamba

CoworkingCoworkingDay passPrivate office

from ₾500/month

Private office

On request

Day pass24/7

Show more

Tell us your team size and we'll send matching offices within a day: find an office for your team. Prices and what to check are in our coworking guide.

The IT sector in numbers

The latest sector-wide figures we found are for 2023, from Galt & Taggart (published May 2024):

• About 30,200 people worked in IT, with an average salary of 6,940 GEL.
• IT revenue was 2.4 billion GEL, 2.1 billion of it from exporting services, and IT exports reached $892 million. The biggest markets: the US (26%), the UK (15%) and Malta (11%).
• There were 24,117 IT companies, only 72 of them medium or large: most are foreign individual entrepreneurs.

Tax breaks and the arrival of international companies and specialists after 2022 drove much of that growth. How the 1% status and International Company status work: taxes for freelancers and IT companies in Georgia. Setting up: opening a company in Georgia.