VC impact across the US: Chart
An interesting chart in today’s report from the NVCA on venture capital’s impact on the U.S. economy shows the aggregate amount in venture capital–in billions– invested in the U.S. since 1970:
It’s interesting to note that — if you look all the way back to 1970, how Southern California isn’t all that far up in the list versus Boston, the Southeast, etc. I suspect if you’d weighted this chart to more recent funding (say, the last 10 years) it would show the relative growth in our area vs. other parts of the country in terms of venture activity.
The report also noted:
California perennially tops the list of venture impact regions – in part because of momentum it has built from decades of venture investing. The state’s continued strength flows from a number of factors. First, its venture community invests in companies across multiple sectors… California has developed more than one venture hub: the aforementioned Silicon Valley in the north, San Diego in the south, and a burgeoning new corridor in Orange County…
Interestingly enough, they’ve lumped Orange County and Los Angeles together here as the “Orange County” corridor, and split out San Diego. I’d actually argue you either put us all together (Santa Barbara, Ventura County, Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego) or split us into three or more areas (maybe Santa Barbara to Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego), to more accurately figure out where activity is. But, given the cross over at all of the borders (ie, the Southern most companies in Los Angeles are very close to the northern most companies in Orange County, Southern Orange County firms are really close to Carlsbad, La Jolla, etc.) it’s really better to just throw us all in together to capture the activity here.
