2020 Best of The Midwest:

Startup City Rankings

Our goal is to provide an analytical, objective benchmark to help companies and individuals alike understand how micro-environments within the Midwest are performing relative to each other.

Explore the Cities

Rankings Legend

1-10

11-25

< 25

Moved up in rank

Moved down in rank

Detailed Data

How Rankings are Calculated

Startup Activity

41% Weight

A measure of how active the tech community in the city is, and the size and quality of the network available to a new startup. Factors included are the number of startups present, the number of exits, the growth in startup formation and the scale of large outcomes (both large exits and large fundraises).

Source: Pitchbook

Access To Resources

41.5% Weight

A measure of how supportive the city's environment is, and the value-add it can provide to help a startup grow. It considers factors such as the quality, quantity and loyalty of the available talent, investor activity, accelerators, universities and government support.

Source: the US Census, US Patent & Trademark Office, HumanPredictions, Fortune.com, Pitchbook, US News & World Report, the Seed Accelerator Rankings Project, The Global Accelerator Network, US Small Business Administration and individual state websites.

Business Climate

17.5% Weight

A measure of how conducive the city's economic environment is to attract and scale a business. It includes demographic and economic factors such as the cost of living, labor costs, business tax friendliness, population and GDP per capita, as well as ‘connectivity’ indicators like the quality of internet access, airport and highway infrastructure.

Source: the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the US Census, the Tax Foundation, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance and Google Flights.

Detroit’s Rivian raise another $350M, followed by an incredible $1.3B in December
Minneapolis’s Bright Health raised a whopping $635M
Duolingo became Pittsburgh’s first unicorn
Columbus’s Root Insurance closed $350M
Chicago’s VillageMD got $175M and Tempus snagged $100M
Kansas City’s C2FO raised $200M
Detroit’s StockX grabbed $110M
Cincinnati's Lightship Capital became first entirely Black GP VC firm with $50M Fund I

Key Takeaways

Annual Rankings

2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017