Madison punches above its weight when it comes to VC deals, according to a new study.
Madison ranks 14th in the world and 12th in the U.S. when it comes to venture capital deals per capita, according to a report from the Center for American Entrepreneurship.
Madison startups saw 146 VC deals from 2015 to 2017, a sparse amount compared to larger tech hubs. But when factoring in population, Madison outranks cities like San Diego, Denver, Salt Lake City and more when looking at deals per one million residents.
The city fared a little worse, however, when it came to VC dollars invested per capita, ranking 40th in the world. Madison startups raised $450 million from 2015 to 2017, according to the report.
Madison's growing startup activity can be attributed to several factors. Madison was recently named by CBRE as the No. 1 city for tech talent growth (as measured by the change in tech job growth), it has the highest concentration of millennials in the country, and, of course, it has UW-Madison, which prepares thousands of technologists and entrepreneurs to launch businesses of their own.
The startup resources in Madison are also on the rise. Along with the growing tech talent and established high-growth startups like Propeller Health and EatStreet, accelerators and incubators like StartingBlock and gener8tor are helping entrepreneurs get access to the tools they need to build thriving companies.
You can read the full Center for American Entrepreneurship report here.
