Cincinnati has ranked No. 6 on a list of 10 rising cities for startups published by Forbes.
The article cites major funding deals for startups such as Everything But The House, Assurex Health and Gigabit Squared, adding that there were 133 in total deals within the past three years.
Improvement in Cincinnati's amount of VC funding was also a contributing factor to it making the list.
"There was only $15 million in VC funding for Cincinnati startups in 2010," the article explained. "This year’s final tally will soar past $100 million."
Additionally, the cost of doing business in the Queen City is 7 percent below the country's average, and area resources, like the Institute for Entrepreneurship at Miami University, are high-ranking.
To establish the list, Forbes discounted those metros with the most VC funding within the past three years (think San Francisco, Boston, Austin, Washington, D.C., etc.).
From there, Forbes examined the remaining 30 largest cities beyond the aforementioned 10. It considered 13 city metrics, obtained by PitchBook, Moody’s Analytics and the Kauffman Foundation, such as colleges, cost of living, VC investments and working-age population growth.
The result was this 10-metro list, with Columbus, Ohio, ranking No. 1 — "as the Ohio capital scored highly for its college presence, low costs (business and living), increase in VC deals and the high number of funds launched since 2013."
Other cities on the rankings include Atlanta, Denver, Baltimore and Philadelphia.
While the article notes that 76 percent of national VC funding goes to startups in New York, Boston and Silicon Valley, it adds that movers and shakers in the entrepreneurial space are working to shift startup growth to other areas, like Steve Case.
Co-Founder of both AOL and VC firm Revolution, the billionaire is also a for establishing the 2014-born Rise of the Rest seed fund, which just last year debuted a $150 million Rise of the Rest early stage fund. Also involved? Jeff Bezos, Meg Whitman and Howard Schultz, to name a few.
“The goal is to level the playing field so everybody, everywhere who has an idea has a shot at building a company and the American Dream,” Case said. “It is a great arbitrage because there is less capital focused on those places and valuations are lower. Maybe there is too much capital in Silicon Valley, maybe valuations are too high? There is not too much capital in St. Louis or Columbus.”
