Denver Ranks 10th in Fastest-Growing Startup Cities List 

Venture capital firms have tightened their purse strings this year as inflation rises and fears of a recession loom large. U.S. companies received $58.7 billion in funding in the second quarter of 2022, a 20.8% year-over-year decrease. And that trend was particularly pronounced in traditional startup hubs such as San Francisco, New York and Boston.

But that wasn’t the case in Denver, which was just named the No. 10 fastest-growing startup city in the United States. 

Inside Denver’s Startup Growth 

Denver companies raised over $1.1 billion in Q2 — more than double the city’s typical quarter, according to the report by York IE, a strategic growth and investment firm. Companies from a variety of industries, from Software as a Service to energy, helped spur Denver’s growth in Q2. 

The city’s biggest round came from employment technology company Velocity Global, which raised a $400 million Series B in May. Crusoe Energy Systems, which raised a $350 million Series C in April, was another highlight.

Perhaps more telling of Denver’s growth potential, however, was the number of companies that raised money in the quarter. Whereas many other cities on the list saw a handful of large rounds boost their numbers, Denver companies raised 27 rounds — more than any other city featured in the report.

Fastest-Growing Startup Cities 

The top 10 cities featured in the report were: 

1. Kirkland, Washington
2. Stanford, California
3. Madison, Wisconsin
4. Birmingham, Alabama
5. Wilmington, Delaware
6. Ann Arbor, Michigan
7. Cleveland, Ohio
8. Santa Barbara, California
9. Dover, Delaware
10. Denver, Colorado 

Denver’s rapid growth also propelled the city to No. 6 on York IE’s list of top-funded U.S. startup cities, ahead of stalwarts such as Los Angeles, Seattle and Austin. The firm has released three reports dating back to the third quarter of 2021, and this edition marked the first time Denver has appeared on either list.

York IE, which is based in Manchester, New Hampshire, releases the semi-annual report to show entrepreneurs that you don’t have to be in a traditional startup hub to build a successful, sustainable business. 

“If you’re not playing the Silicon Valley growth-at-all-costs game of chasing vanity metrics on a fundraising hamster wheel, you’ll be able to find there is a ton of capital available to you from many committed partners,” said CEO Kyle York. 

Colin Steele is head of content at York IE, a strategic growth and investment firm in Manchester, New Hampshire. Previously, he was a public relations and social media manager at Oracle and an editorial director at TechTarget. He began his career as a newspaper reporter in the Boston area.