The Austin Chamber of Commerce's new annual report on venture capital funding in the area shows Austin startups are booming at historic levels.
Venture capital firms invested in 124 Austin companies in 2018 to hit $1.3 billion. That's a 70 percent climb from last year. And it's the highest level of funding pouring in since the year before the dot-com bust.
A few key takeaways from the report:
- Austin had the most VC investing in Texas. In 2018, it had 61 percent of the state's investments. That's up from the 48 percent share we've had in the past five years.
- The 124 Austin deals averaged out at about $10.7 million each. That's up from $6.4 million in 2017.
- Local investments in the past five years have mostly been expansion stage company deals (38.4 percent for 2008-2017). In 2018, while investment increased over 2017 for all stages, the largest share of funding shifted from expansion stage companies to later stage companies (38.0 percent). WP Engine's $250 million raise from Silver Lake probably helped fuel that.
Now, for a few graphics the Chamber shared.
You probably won't be surprised to know San Francisco and Silicon Valley easily led the pack for funding. They were followed by New York, New England and Los Angeles. Austin as a region came in No. 12, notably behind Colorado, Washington, D.C., and San Diego.
In terms of sectors, internet companies were an easy leader, also fueled in part by the WP Engine deal, with software coming in second and mobile and telecom in third.
