US Startup Leaderboard for 2024 by City

Author:

Peter Walker

Read time:

2 minutes

Published date:

January 16, 2025

Bay Area would stand alone if AI were separated as its own sector—NYC, Boston, and LA fill Tier 2 with solid performance across SaaS, Biotech, Hardware, and...

The US Startup Leaderboard for 2024.

Ranking of the top 10 US metro areas by total capital raised by startups on Carta. Location is decided by the HQ of the startup, not the investor.

Overall ranking in the left-hand column with specific boards across 6 key sectors to the right (SaaS, Biotech, Hardware, Healthtech, Fintech, Consumer).

If we had broken out AI into it's own section, Bay Area would have taken the top spot with a whopping 46% of all funding. AI really does live in the Bay.

Updated Note - the header percentages in the graphic are incorrect! See comments for a PDF version with the right header numbers, but reading down the lefthand column will give you the correct figures for the top 5 metros.

𝟭) 𝗕𝗮𝘆 𝗔𝗿𝗲𝗮

First in 4 of the 6 tracked sectors, second in the other two. The home of startups remains the mecca for entrepreneurs today.

𝟮) 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗬𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝘆

Bounce back year for NYC! At 14% of total capital raised, NYC put some good distance between itself and Boston at number three. Strong in SaaS, Fintech, Healthtech, actually most categories.

𝟯) 𝗕𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗻

Biotech powerhouse, sure - but an increasingly well-rounded ecosystem. Good showing in Hardware and Healthtech as well, not much Consumer.

𝟰) 𝗟𝗼𝘀 𝗔𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘀

Neck and neck with Boston fighting for that third spot. Strong in Hardware (new strength!) and Consumer (traditional powerhouse). No lower than fifth in any category.

𝟱) 𝗔𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻

Step down from the Big 4 but still a good year, especially in SaaS and Hardware.

Rounding out the top 10: Seattle in 6th, San Diego in 7th, Denver/Boulder in 8th, DC in 9th, and Chicago in 10th.

Celebrate (or commiserate about) your city!

If you'd like to discover insights from more than 100+ slides of data on VC in 2024, come hang out at our LinkedIn Live tomorrow morning, 10am PT: https://lnkd.in/gHpeUVsX

#startups #venturecapital #founders

Author: Peter Walker

Peter Walker runs the Insights team at Carta, focused on discovering key data and narratives across the private capital ecosystem. In a former life, he was a marketing executive for a media analytics startup and led the data visualization team at the Covid Tracking Project.

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