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Originally Posted by marothisu
Chicago in many ways is late to the game. But in recent years it's done pretty well with growth.. The Bay Area is the Bay Area. That's not changing anytime soon no matter what you might read in the news. Yes many companies opening offices elsewhere but they're still pulling in relatively massive numbers there.. NYC and LA are both huge with this and have been for a long time. Boston has a ton of Biotech money..
More optimism would be perhaps realizing that Chicago actually led the country in growth Q1 2020 vs. Q1 2021. An average quarter for Chicago is like $600M maybe. Last year Chicago had its best year in at least 15 years. Q1 2021 was already over $2B, which I basically 3X higher than normal for the region before 2020. Also keep in mind that $2B of LA's total is for SpaceX. It counts but also some perspective.
In the 21 days of Q2 2021, Chicago area companies have already raised over $836M in some major deals. So again, that is a little behind the others but still operating at much higher brake.
From what it looks like, things are accelerating. These funding rounds will make VCs look at Chicago companies even more. Many of these companies that get funding have the opportunity of getting even more money from thr same investors in future rounds too.
I think it'll be interesting to see what the level is in 5 years. There is a possibility in 5 or 10 years it could be at LA areas level. Of course without the SpaceX rounds, it would be a little closer together.
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That certainly does put it in a better perspective, thanks. The increase is probably more important than the actual figure at this point if one is looking for a reason to be hopeful for the future.