For as long as anyone covering the U.S. startup investment space can remember, there have been exhortations to spread the wealth in a more geographically diverse manner.
A handful of coastal metros, led by the San Francisco Bay Area, have long swallowed up the lion’s share of venture funding. While Austin, Denver, Chicago and other inland cities do boast sizable and diversified startup scenes, they’ve generally captured no more than a single-digit percentage of investment.
The latest data shows that’s not changing. Instead, the AI boom, as we recently documented, has contributed to California pulling in a rising share of total startup capital. Through July of this year, Golden State startups attracted more than $110 billion — close to two-thirds of all U.S. venture funding.
Standouts among the other 49
Even so, the remaining 49 states haven’t bowed out by any measure. This is particularly true for the No. 2 state, New York, with $13 billion in startup funding in the first seven months of the year. Additionally, four companies in the New York City metro area have secured rounds of $500 million or more this year: iCapital Network, Wonder, Cyera and Ramp.
Massachusetts and Texas took the No. 3 and No. 4 slots, respectively, pulling in around $6 billion and $5.2 billion each in startup funding.
For Massachusetts, known for the Boston area’s deep tech and biotech prowess, the year’s largest financings went to QuEra Computing and OpenEvidence. In Texas, meanwhile, Saronic and NinjaOne secured the largest rounds.
For a broader view of how the top states rank for venture funding, below we charted the 10 most heavily funded and compared them to 2024’s tally.
Looking like a growth year
Overall, 2025 is shaping up as a growth year for the top 10 states. The majority are on track to see funding exceed 2024 totals, should the pace of investment remain at current levels or accelerate (which of course is never a guarantee).
Once again, it’s shaping up as California’s year, with AI unicorns and early-stage companies alike scarfing super-sized financings.
But other states, particularly New York and Texas, continue to preside over large and growing startup scenes. It’ll be interesting to see, in coming quarters, if any metros or states demonstrate more traction in AI-dominated spaces where California currently enjoys its giant lead.
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Illustration: Dom Guzman
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