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The Fastest-Growing Regions For Startups

St. Louis isn’t called “The Gateway City” for nothing. Lewis and Clark launched their epic journey through the American northwest from Mound City. Fortune seekers would stop over in St. Louis on their way to the California gold rush. And the legendary Route 66 – once dubbed “The Main Street of America” – cuts through St. Louis on its way to the Pacific Ocean.

Now, St. Louis has become the port of entry for something else entirely: Entrepreneurs. That was a recent finding from Mattermark, a data collection house that helps investors track startups worldwide. From 2014-2015, investment activity in St. Louis increased by 54.5% — higher than Seattle, Boston, New York, and the Bay Area. Perfectly situated – the city is a four hour drive from Chicago, Kansas City, Memphis, and Indianapolis – the city is famed for launching acclaimed startups like Answers.com and Lockerdome. In 2014 alone, it attracted $155 million dollars in VC investment.

And that wasn’t by accident according to Datafox, a sales and marketing intelligence service, which ranked the St. Louis region above average in its four key metrics: availability of capital, early stage company growth, startup density and affordability – adding that it had developed one of the most integrated and supportive startup ecosystems. The city also boasted a strong corporate backbone, being home to 19 Fortune 1000 companies including Monsanto and Express Scripts Holdings.

In fact, Missouri has become a startup destination these days (thanks to low corporate and property taxes). Despite St. Louis’ amazing story, its growth actually pales in comparison to Kansas City, whose investment activity spiked by 200% from 2014-2015 (though it only attracted roughly half the Series A and B capital as St. Louis did).

However, if you’re looking for heavy and steady growth, Raleigh tops all comers. Its investment activity grew by 150% over the past year, while also boasting the highest average annual rate of growth at 15.497%. Centered within driving distance of top educational programs like the University of North Carolina and Duke, Raleigh is ground zero for startups like SAS and Red Hat. Here, tech is the ticket – no surprise considering it has an IBM campus and Research Triangle Park. As a result, Raleigh has been creeping up on mainstays like Austin and Nashville in terms of investment.

Overall, the Bay Area remains the place to be for launching ventures, developing synergy with partners, and wheeling-and-dealing with potential investors. However, such sentiments come with a caveat, as its investment activity decreased by 1.335% over the past year among the top 17 cities for startups. That number is especially glaring when the average is 18.987% — nearly the same result posted by New York City (20.07%). Even, more the Bay Area ranked 10th among these 17 metros in average annual rate of growth of 2.186%. That was less than half of the growth produced by New York City (5.408%) and far below more robust totals posted by Salt Lake City (15.497%), Austin (14.614%), and even Washington, D.C. (9.422%).

In terms of the number of Series and B deals done from 2012-2015, however, the Bay Area nearly triples New York City. Dollar-wise, however, the difference between the Bay Area and New York City is much closer. However, despite ceding some ground to the upstarts, the Silicon Valley region still dominates all comers. Consider this: The Bay Area still generates 10 times the dollar investment as either Chicago or Los Angeles according to Mattermark.

While names like Austin, Boulder, Salt Lake City, and Raleigh conjure images of lean bootstrappers beating the big boys, the reality is that comparing these markets, investment-wise, to the Bay Area  would be like contrasting a Great Dane with a Terrier. These metros’ actual book of business lags that far behind.

For additional tables and to see how your favorite cities fare, check out the Mattermark tables below.

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Source: Mattermark