The Bay Area has long been known as the holy grail for startups and venture capitalists. Over the years, it’s attracted a flood of founders looking for funds and investors searching for big payouts.
But while the San Francisco and Silicon Valley strongholds still attract more venture capital than almost any other part of the country, other metro areas are gaining on them. Boston, Atlanta, New York and Chicago are among the regions that have brought in billions over the last several years—and they also all experienced major jumps in VC invested from 2016 to 2017.
Below is an interactive map of the top metro areas in the US, ranked by VC investment from 2010 to 2017. Hover over any number to see total VC invested in the corresponding region during that time period, plus capital investment during 2017 and the YoY change:
To accompany the map above, we’ve also created a visual representation of the top US metro areas ranked by return for investors (calculated by PitchBook as multiple on invested capital, which is exit value/total VC raised). As you can see below, there is a correlation. The regions that produce the best returns for VC investors are almost all among those that pull in the most venture capital. The exceptions? Miami and Houston are both among the top metro areas in terms of VC invested, but not in terms of return for backers. For Boulder, CO, and Raleigh, NC, the opposite is true.
Hover over any number in the interactive map below to see the data:
To zoom in on the Bay Area, check out our post on the top cities in the San Francisco and Silicon Valley regions by total VC invested and return for backers.
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