Q1 2023: Top 10 US Cities by Venture Capital Investment; Nashville soars to 5th

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by citywatch

That list ranks based on the overly restrictive parameters of the designated borders of county govt. To me, the only stats that are really meaningful are the ones based on a region, which include different city & county boundaries all bunched together.

It matters because it has never happened before. Of course by region the Bay Area still leads.

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by dimondpark

Except EY stands for Ernst & Young, whose list comes from Crunchbase, which is just as widely respected as NCVA, so while I am perfectly willing to entertain the idea that these sources might have different criteria, what we're not going to do is undermine the legitimacy of a list because we don't like the results.

Thanks boss. Well aware of what EY stands for. We can absolutely draw into question the legitimacy of a source or list if their information is frankly non-factual, especially relating to Phoenix. The entire state of Arizona had 26 VC deals totaling $131.5M in Q1 2023. That’s a fact. So how is EY claiming Phoenix totaled $600M in VC deals? The link EY posted as their source even shows the $131.5M number.

Philadelphia on the other hand had just under $600M in VC deals (108 deals in total). Again… fact.

Just because an otherwise reputable source posted figures doesn’t mean it’s 100% factual. It seems they’re either counting other funding outside of VC, or they’re just flat out incorrect on their sources and numbers.

[dimondpark]

Originally Posted by summersm343

Thanks boss. Well aware of what EY stands for. We can absolutely draw into question the legitimacy of a source or list if their information is frankly non-factual, especially relating to Phoenix. The entire state of Arizona had 26 VC deals totaling $131.5M in Q1 2023. That’s a fact. So how is EY claiming Phoenix totaled $600M in VC deals? The link EY posted as their source even shows the $131.5M number.

Philadelphia on the other hand had just under $600M in VC deals (108 deals in total). Again… fact.

Just because an otherwise reputable source posted figures doesn’t mean it’s 100% factual. It seems they’re either counting other funding outside of VC, or they’re just flat out incorrect on their sources and numbers.

Thanks but they both have receipts to back up their claims, as I said, I am perfectly willing to entertain that these lists might have different criteria, and NVCA is a source I have used in the pas as well, but I'm not going to accuse either of being wrong, they have different findings. But to each his own.

[summersm343]

Found the answer to why EY’s list is illegitimate. The answer was in the link:

“Source: Crunchbase as of April 4, 2023, Ernst & Young LLP. We include equity financings into VC-backed companies headquartered in the US. Sources of cash investments include, but are not limited to, VC firms, corporate investors, other private equity firms and individuals.”

So, they’re not just counting VC funding, but all funding and dollar amounts into VC-backed companies.

Therefore, EY’s list is NOT VC dollars in Q1 2023, and the list I posted from NVCA is actually the factual and correct top VC funded regions for Q1 2023.

[dimondpark]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

The Bay Area number is driven by a couple of mega investments. One of them is the Stripe Series I round from March, where they raised over $6 billion. If you look at the EY dashboard, the Bay Area's performance in Q1 23 was 3x what it was the previous quarter. The massive increase was driven by two large investments, which is mentioned in the EY write up.

Oh absolutely, the Bay Area always outperforms when it comes to the largest investments.

Top 10 global financings in Q1'23
1. Stripe — $6.5B, San Francisco, US — Fintech — Series I
2. Generate — $880.6M, San Francisco, US — Cleantech — Late-stage VC
3. Zeekr — $750M, Ningbo, China — Mobility tech — Series A
4. Zwift — $620M, Long Beach, US — Specialty retail — Late-stage VC
5. Abound — $602M, London, UK — Fintech — Early-stage VC
6. Xpansiv — $525M, San Francisco, US — Fintech — Late-stage VC
7. PhonePe — $445.6M, Bengaluru, India — Mobile/fintech — Late-stage VC
8. SolarSpace — $442M, Xuzhou, China — Cleantech — Series B
9. Netskope — $401M, Santa Clara, US — Cybersecurity — Late-stage VC
10. EcoCeres — $400M, Hong Kong — Cleantech — Series B

The only other North American funding in the top 10 was by a company in SoCal.

page 18 of this pdf: https://assets.kpmg.com/content/dam/...-23-report.pdf

[dimondpark]

Originally Posted by summersm343

Found the answer to why EY’s list is illegitimate. The answer was in the link:



So, they’re not just counting VC funding, but all funding and dollar amounts into VC-backed companies.

Therefore, EY’s list is NOT VC dollars in Q1 2023, and the list I posted from NVCA is actually the factual and correct top VC funded regions for Q1 2023.

Oh even better, I prefer EYs because it covers "all funding and dollar amounts into VC-backed companies."

Thanks for that.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by dimondpark

Oh absolutely, the Bay Area always outperforms when it comes to the largest investments.

Top 10 global financings in Q1'23
1. Stripe — $6.5B, San Francisco, US — Fintech — Series I
2. Generate — $880.6M, San Francisco, US — Cleantech — Late-stage VC
3. Zeekr — $750M, Ningbo, China — Mobility tech — Series A
4. Zwift — $620M, Long Beach, US — Specialty retail — Late-stage VC
5. Abound — $602M, London, UK — Fintech — Early-stage VC
6. Xpansiv — $525M, San Francisco, US — Fintech — Late-stage VC
7. PhonePe — $445.6M, Bengaluru, India — Mobile/fintech — Late-stage VC
8. SolarSpace — $442M, Xuzhou, China — Cleantech — Series B
9. Netskope — $401M, Santa Clara, US — Cybersecurity — Late-stage VC
10. EcoCeres — $400M, Hong Kong — Cleantech — Series B

The only other North American funding in the top 10 was by a company in SoCal.

page 18 of this pdf: https://assets.kpmg.com/content/dam/...-23-report.pdf

That's... not necessarily a good thing. Stripe should have IPO'd a long time ago. VC capital shouldn't really be used to keep a company as large and mature as Stripe afloat.

There must be an investment missing, though. The EY writeup mentions two big checks being written that inflated the Bay Area figures.

[UrbanRevival]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

In the previous quarter, the Bay Area was just a little under 2x NYC, which is probably what it will settle back down to in after this quarter is done. Nashville's jump is also based on just one investment in solar panels or something. Expect it to slide back down next quarter.

EY VC dashboard

This is exactly why it's also not very conclusive-- and frankly, misleading--to deduce broader trends from quarterly reports. There can be a lot of "noise" based on single investments, or lower than average activity, over the course of just 3 months.

Annual performance seems to be a lot more instructive and not prone to much more common fluctuations that occur in a matter of a few months.

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by dimondpark

Oh even better, I prefer EYs because it covers "all funding and dollar amounts into VC-backed companies."

Thanks for that.

Which is fine, but it means EY’s list is therefore not a top-10 list of VC funded companies in Q1 2023. Furthermore, it doesn’t make EY’s list any more legitimate as it’s still highly suspect.

For instance, let’s use Philadelphia as an example. We know companies in the Philadelphia region received just shy of $600M in VC funding in 2023… soooo, all VC backed companies in the region received NO OTHER forms of financing then in Q1 2023? Seems improbable. I mean, let’s let our common sense prevail here.

I believe the EY list is severely undercounting some cities. Chicago, DC and Miami are among the others being undercounted.

[dimondpark]

Originally Posted by summersm343

Which is fine.

Yes, it is definitely fine.

I believe the EY list is severely undercounting some cities. Chicago, DC and Miami are among the others being undercounted.

Okay, well I have no reason to argue with anyone about their beliefs.

[dimondpark]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

That's... not necessarily a good thing. Stripe should have IPO'd a long time ago. VC capital shouldn't really be used to keep a company as large and mature as Stripe afloat.

Well, they have their reasons.
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/stripe-ipo/

There must be an investment missing, though. The EY writeup mentions two big checks being written that inflated the Bay Area figures.

Right but that notwithstanding, this isn't really a close race at the moment, is it?

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by dimondpark

Yes, it is definitely fine.


Okay, well I have no reason to argue with anyone about their beliefs.

Sorry, let me rephrase that then:

After further looking into the information and sources provided by EY, we can conclude that their “rankings” and numbers are merely fabricated with cherry picked information, and these “rankings” should be taken when a grain of salt as they in no way represent a factual picture of reality.

It’s simply misleading and untruthful information meant to paint whatever picture EY is looking to paint.

[dimondpark]

Originally Posted by summersm343

Sorry, let me rephrase that then:

No need to rephrase anything. What you've stated thus far is quite clear and it doesn't really change anything.

these rankings should be taken when a grain of salt.

Yes, absolutely, this applies to all rankings.

[twinpeaks]

Originally Posted by dimondpark

No need to rephrase anything. What you've stated thus far is quite clear and it doesn't really change anything.



Yes, absolutely, this applies to all rankings.

Diamondpark - you have wealth of knowledge on various topics and very good debater. what's your career background?

[e40]

Originally Posted by dimondpark

No need to rephrase anything. What you've stated thus far is quite clear and it doesn't really change anything.



Yes, absolutely, this applies to all rankings.

[UrbanRevival]

Take a deep breath, folks. The Bay Area still has more money than God, so I'm not sure where the defensiveness comes from as to the comparison of two lists where Silicon Valley, as per usual, siphons an absurd amount of the nation's investment capacity.

We get it; you're rich no matter how you slice it. Relax.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by dimondpark

Well, they have their reasons.
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/stripe-ipo/


Right but that notwithstanding, this isn't really a close race at the moment, is it?

Depends on your definition of close. There was one quarter with extraordinary amounts of capital pumped into a couple of companies in the Bay Area, but that seems more like a five alarm fire than a healthy VC ecosystem.

[e40]

Originally Posted by UrbanRevival

Take a deep breath, folks. The Bay Area still has more money than God, so I'm not sure where the defensiveness comes from as to the comparison of two lists where Silicon Valley, as per usual, siphons an absurd amount of the nation's investment capacity.

We get it; you're rich no matter how you slice it. Relax.

I pray for the day some other area takes our spot. I would like to afford a house here one day.

[JManc]

The Bay Area lacks decent beer though so there's a trade off to all that VC cash....

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by e40

That was a great series. Sorry Phillies fans!