The Rise of Global Startup Cities

Once the province of U.S. tech hubs such as California’s Silicon Valley, venture capital has gone global. In a new report from the Martin Prosperity Institute, Rise of the Global Startup City, my colleague Karen King and I use detailed data from Thomson Reuters to track worldwide venture capital investment in high-tech startups. Worldwide venture capital investment amounted to $42 billion dollars in 2012 (the most recent year these detailed data are available), and is spread across more than 150 cities and met­ro regions.

The map below shows the world’s leading centers for venture capital investment globally. The largest dots, indicating the largest levels of venture capital investment, are located in the East and West Coasts of the United States, Western Europe, and around the mega-cities of China and India. The U.S. is the world’s dominant center for venture capital, accounting for nearly 70 percent (68.6 percent) of total global venture capital, followed by Asia and Europe with roughly 14 percent each (14.4 percent for Asia and 13.5 percent for Europe).