Minneapolis is the second best Midwest city for startups, according ot an annual list of 59 cities from Chicago's M25, a venture firm that focuses on early-stage technology companies based in the Midwest.
The list considers 27 variables that measure startup activity, access to resources and overall business climate.
On this year's list, Minneapolis scored highly for number of active startups, momentum, which is how many startups have been founded since 2016; and big outcomes, which is the number of exits and raises over $50 million.
Minneapolis' stature was buoyed by Bright Health's $10 billion valuation, Preventice Solutions nearly $1 billion acquisition by Boston Scientific, and massive funding rounds by DevotedHealth, Revol Greens and Arctic Wolf.
The top five cities in M25's list this year are unchanged from 2020's rankings: Chicago, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis and St. Louis stand as the top Midwest cities again this year. Columbus and Detroit were the risers this year. Columbus climbed one spot from last year to No. 6, while the Motor City moved up two spots to earn the No. 7 ranking.
Meanwhile, North Dakota made waves on the rankings with Fargo (No. 21) moving up four spots and Grand Forks (No. 37) jumping five places.
Here are the top 20 Midwest cities for startups, according to M25.
- Chicago, IL
- Minneapolis, MN
- Pittsburgh, PA
- Indianpolis, IN
- St. Louis, MO
- Columbus, OH
- Detroit, MI
- Ann Arbor, MI
- Madison, WI
- Cincinnati, OH
- Cleveland, OH
- Kansas City, MO
- Milwaukee, WI
- Louisville, KY
- Lafayette, IN
- Bloomington, IN
- Omaha, NE
- Champaign, IL
- Lincoln, NE
- Des Moines, IA
You can see the entire M25 ranking here.
