Silicon Alley Closes 2015 On Top In A Boom Year For Startups

David S. Rose
David S. Rose , Founder and CEO , GUST INC.
22 Feb 2016

For three out of four quarters in 2015, New York City’s tech ecosystem has led with more startup funding requests than any other region in the country, including California’s long reigning Silicon Valley. After a dip in Q3, New York rebounded in Q4 claiming nearly 20% of every funding application around the country. California ranked second with 17.8% of total applications, while Florida produced a healthy 13.3%. New to the top 10 states in Q4 are Georgia, which saw a 251% increase in applications over the previous quarter, and the nation’s capital region, with Virginia claiming 3.4% and Washington DC claiming 2.3%. Overall, 2015 closed out strong with a 21% jump in total funding applications over the previous quarter and a 61% increase compared to Q4 2014.

Over the last year Silicon Alley has had the benefit of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Digital.NYC platform, a centralized online hub tying together the entirety of New York City’s tech ecosystem, providing visitors with the information and resources that can help turn ideas into businesses. The City’s digital ecosystem supports more than 300,000 tech jobs and an additional 250,000 supporting jobs. By the first year anniversary of the hub in October, more than 1 million visits had been tracked from more than 785,000 unique visitors. Digital.NYC was credited by Accenture as a key reason for ranking New York City as the world’s #1 innovation region. New York City’s hub has since served as a model for Boston with Starthub, and across the pond with Tech.London.

startup funding

Despite a more than 20%  growth in startup funding applications over the first quarter, on the international level the United States reported for the first time just slightly less than 50% of total global funding applications, down from 58.9% in Q3 and 62.5% in Q2 2015. The top players continue to grow at a rapid rate, with India’s startup growth jumping 70% for a global share of 11.6%, and France jumping 94% for a global share of 4.9%. The top 5 remained the same, with Canada and Brazil coming in fourth and fifth place with 4.4% and 3.8% respectively. However, new to the top 10 and a first appearance for 2015 was Russia, with 2% of total funding applications. Spain also returned to the top 10 since Q2, doubling its percentage to 2.4% compared to the beginning of the year. The UK at 3.5%, Ukraine at 3.5%, and Australia at 1.7%, rounded out the rest of the top 10 countries.

Applications from companies already generating revenue spiked this quarter with a 40% increase after a sharp decline in Q3. Additionally, for the first time this year, funding applications from startups that are Full Product Ready beat out those In Development to claim the top spot at 44.7%. Consumer Product & Services and Internet Web Services remained the two most active industries for startups across the globe. Business Products & Services, which was nowhere to be found among the top 10 in Q3, broke into the top 5 with 7.8% of total funding applications.  Entertainment and Healthcare startups maintained a healthy presence in the top 5 with 9.9% and 8.2% respectively.

The growth in funding applications year over year points to a promising 2016 for the global early-stage ecosystem. As more startups and angel investors connect through an increasing number of funding and collaboration platforms, we can expect to see a continued increase in total funding applications.

This post originally appeared in Forbes.

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