Should We Judge VC Ecosystems on Dollars or Rounds

Should we judge VC ecosystems on dollars raised or rounds completed?

Or should it be exits? Or startup jobs created? Or capital efficiency? Or number of angels?

The list goes on and on.

But typically when we see areas across the US put into a ranking for VC-backed startups, they either look at the total dollars raised by companies in that city or the total number of rounds completed.

Choose either - the Bay holds top spot.

Among US companies on Carta, 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗮𝘆 𝗔𝗿𝗲𝗮 raised 41.2% of all dollars and 39.1% of all rounds in 2024, pretty far outpacing the next few ecosystems.

𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗬𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝘆 - 13.5% of dollars / 19.8% of rounds.

(This gap in dollars and rounds probably relates to round sizes for outliers, eg far more larger AI rounds in the Bay).

𝗕𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗻 slots in at 8.7% of dollars but only 5.5% of rounds (those biotech fundraises can be quite capital intensive). 𝗟𝗼𝘀 𝗔𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘀 has a similar dynamic where dollars outpace rounds on a share basis, likely due to hardware financings that gobble up cash.

Pick any metric you want, the Bay Area remains the home of startups 🤷‍♂️

#startups #fundraising #founders #venturecapital