A new ranking of top U.S. ecosystems based on early stage funding data reflects Seattle’s continued strength in software-related innovation.
Seattle was third in the software-as-a-service category among cities ranked by seed and Series A funding data, pulled from companies that use Carta’s equity management platform.
“Strong showing in SaaS for Seattle, breaking into the top 3 for the first time on a rolling 12-month basis,” Peter Walker, head of insights at Carta, wrote on LinkedIn.
Take the ranking with a grain of salt, given that it’s only based on startups using Carta.
But it’s another reminder of Seattle’s software clout, which is getting a boost from the AI boom.
The Seattle region is home to Microsoft and Amazon, which power much of the cloud computing infrastructure that supports AI development.
There is also a wealth of AI talent in Seattle. A recent report from SignalFire showed that Seattle has 23% of all AI engineers in the U.S.
GeekWire’s fundings list, which tracks all startup investments across Seattle, shows a number of AI-related companies raising significant capital over the past year. More recently, Carbon Robotics, Read AI, and Tamnoon announced funding rounds.
Some AI startups have been acquired, including OctoAI, Lexion, and BirchAI.
The Bay Area captured 43.6% of all SaaS funding from Q4 2023 to Q3 2024, according to Carta, followed by New York (12.5%) and Seattle (5.4%), which was just ahead of Boston (5.3%) and Los Angeles (5%).
Seattle ranked fifth overall for total funding, with 3.9% of all capital raised, behind the Bay Area, New York, Boston, and Los Angeles.
That’s an improvement from the past two years, when Seattle ranked No. 7 on the same list, Walker told GeekWire in a follow-up email.
Seattle ranked No. 6 for biotech funding; No. 10 for healthtech; and No. 10 for fintech over the past 12 months. It did not make the top 10 for hardware or consumer.
See Walker’s full post here, or below.
