Definitive leaderboard of best US locations for startups by industry.
And by "definitive", I mean: rankings based on total amount raised by startups using Carta in Seed, Series A, or Series B rounds in H1 2023. So, you know, completely correct 😁
I wondered: if we split the data by vertical, do we get more intriguing answers than “Bay Area wins”?
Turns out, not really. Bay Area took the top spot for capital invested (across Seed, Series A, and Series B rounds) in 7 of the 10 listed verticals.
It may be that Carta’s client base is weighted more heavily towards Silicon Valley than startups as a whole - but overall I think the data is fairly indicative of the continued primacy of SV. And hey, sometimes it's just fun to make a list!
Interesting tidbits:
Boston has a very healthy lead in biotech, more than doubling the Bay in second place. Add in a strong showing in medical devices and it’s clear where lifescience startups find their home.
Interesting to see Austin break into the top 3 in both energy and fintech.
Healthtech seems to be the most evenly dispersed of the major verticals with 9 cities accruing over $50M invested.
Shoutout LA for landing tops in gaming and 3rd in consumer more generally.
The two cities that lag in terms of importance to VC vs their overall population are Dallas/Fort Worth and Chicago.
If you ran the same analysis based on number of rounds instead of total capital, a few of the surprising results drop out (no Salinas in energy, no Pittsburgh in edtech, etc). But generally speaking capital invested is a decent proxy for activity in a given metro area.
Feel free to spark fights in the comments, support your city!
#cartadata #startups #seed #SeriesA #SeriesB #fundraising
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