The United States boasts the largest and most dynamic startup ecosystem in the world, with major hubs like Silicon Valley, New York City, and Boston. This ecosystem is characterized by a strong venture capital presence and a supportive culture for innovation and entrepreneurship. The U.S. continues to lead globally in technological innovation and startup activity, contributing significantly to economic growth and job creation.
As of 2024, the U.S. is home to approximately 77,927 startups. The startup ecosystem is supported by substantial venture capital investments, which totaled around $162.6 billion in 2022. This robust financial backing highlights the confidence investors have in the U.S. startup market, ensuring ample funding for innovation and growth.
Key strengths of the U.S. market include a highly skilled workforce, advanced technological infrastructure, and a culture that encourages risk-taking and entrepreneurship. The presence of major tech companies like Google, Apple, and Facebook fosters a collaborative environment and provides ample opportunities for startups. Additionally, the U.S. government offers support through various grants and tax incentives, such as the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.
Silicon Valley remains the epicenter of innovation, driving advancements in AI, biotechnology, fintech, and clean energy. New York City excels in finance and media, while Boston is strong in biotechnology and education-driven startups. These regions are crucial to the U.S. startup ecosystem, offering a wealth of resources, talent, and opportunities.
Cities like Austin, Denver, and Seattle are emerging as significant tech hubs. These cities provide a favorable business climate, quality of life, and are becoming attractive locations for startups and talent. The rise of remote work has further expanded opportunities for startups to access talent from various regions, contributing to the growth of these emerging hubs.
The U.S. startup market benefits from a comprehensive support system of accelerators, incubators, and co-working spaces. Programs like Techstars and Y Combinator have been instrumental in nurturing early-stage startups, providing mentorship, resources, and funding. These support systems help startups at various stages of their journey to scale and succeed.
Despite its strengths, the U.S. startup ecosystem faces challenges such as high costs of living, regulatory hurdles, and intense competition for talent. These challenges can create barriers for new startups and require strategic navigation to ensure long-term success.
The U.S. startup market features a diverse customer base and a culture that encourages innovation and entrepreneurship. The rise of remote work has expanded opportunities, allowing startups to access talent from various regions. The future outlook remains positive with continuous growth and innovation, driven by emerging technologies such as blockchain, quantum computing, and green energy.
The U.S. startup ecosystem is characterized by its resilience and adaptability. Despite challenges, the ecosystem continues to evolve, driven by a strong culture of entrepreneurship and technological advancements. This ensures the U.S. remains at the forefront of global innovation, contributing significantly to economic growth and job creation.
Menlo Park - San Francisco Bay Area - California, U.S.A.
Software (Web Marketplace Saas..) • Media • BioTech • Businesses Solutions • Hardware (& Manufacturing) • A.I. (& Big Data) • Web Security (& Privacy) • Analytics • Developer tools
CEO at Gladly, Inc. and Partner at Greylock
Partner at Greylock. Former Entrepreneur.
Atlanta - Georgia, U.S.A.
Software (Web Marketplace Saas..) • Businesses Solutions • A.I. (& Big Data) • Developer tools • Woman Focused
Managing Partner at Tech Square Ventures
Early-stage VC
Most Interested In
Enterprise, marketplace and platform, tech enabled service, and university spinout technology startups
Not Interested In
Life sciences, Biotech
Managing Partner of Tech Square Ventures. Seed & early stage venture fund investing in innovative technology startups in the Southeast
San Francisco Bay Area - Menlo Park - California, U.S.A.
Software (Web Marketplace Saas..) • Sales (& Marketing) • A.I. (& Big Data) • Web Security (& Privacy) • Cloud Services (& Infrastructure) • Developer tools
General Partner at Battery Ventures - Supporting Cloud, DevOps, AI and Security Entrepreneurs
General Partner at Battery Ventures - Supporting Cloud, DevOps, AI and Security Entrepreneurs
New York, U.S.A.
Software (Web Marketplace Saas..) • Businesses Solutions • FinTech (& Financials services) • HealthTech (& Fitness) • Healthcare (& Wellness) • Consumer
Taylor Greene serves as Partner at Collaborative Fund. Previously, he served as a Partner at Lerer Hippeau Ventures. He was previously Director of Finance and Business Development at Altruik. His background includes finance, operating and consulting roles with software, media, internet and venture capital firms. Prior to joining Altruik, he was a Summer Associate at DFJ Gotham Ventures as well as a venture consultant for several early stage startups. Before joining DFJ Gotham, he held operating and finance roles at Time Warner and at The Synapse Group, a customer acquisition firm acquired by Time Warner. He has a B.A. in Economics from Wesleyan University and an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship from Columbia Business School.
Palo Alto - California, U.S.A.
Software (Web Marketplace Saas..) • Businesses Solutions • Hardware (& Manufacturing) • A.I. (& Big Data) • Web Security (& Privacy) • Cloud Services (& Infrastructure) • Developer tools • Mobility
Most Interested In
Fun SaaS, particularly with a defensible barrier to entry that is technical. Some infrastructure software & hardware. IoT for consumers and enterprises.
Not Interested In
We don't make consumer (B2C) or crypto investments, sorry.
Jonathan Heiliger serves as Partner at Vertex Ventures US. He is a Board Member at LaunchDarkly. Most recently, he was a General Partner with North Bridge Venture Partners, from April 2012 to November 2014. During his tenure, he started the seed practice and led investments in Lytro, Periscope.io, Quora, and Ravel Law. Prior to NBVP, Jonathan worked at Facebook, where he led global infrastructure, site architecture and internal systems as VP Infrastructure & Technical Operations, from 2007 until 2011. During that time Facebook grew from 35 million to over 800 million users. Before that, Jonathan held executive engineering roles at Wal-Mart and Danger (acquired by Microsoft). He also spent several years as Chief Operating Officer for Loudcloud (which became Opsware and was later acquired by HP). Earlier in his career, Jonathan co-founded and was CTO of GlobalCenter, and later founded Global Crossing's venture capital group. Jonathan currently serves on the board of directors of DuPont Fabros (DFT), Jive Software (JIVE), and Webmonsters. He also co-founded Coolan and served as an Advisor.
Boston - Palo Alto - Austin - Los Angeles - Seattle - New York - San Francisco Bay Area - California, U.S.A. - Japan
Software (Web Marketplace Saas..) • HealthTech (& Fitness) • Gaming (& eSports) • Developer tools • Healthcare (& Wellness) • Nanotechnology • Consumer
Investing in AR/VR/Computer Vision @ Presence Capital
Most Interested In
Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Computer Vision
Not Interested In
AdTech, Pure gaming plays, Mobile Gaming
Amitt Mahajan is a Co-Founder and serves as Chief Technology Officer at Rare Bits. He is also a Co-Founder and serves as the Managing Partner at Presence Capital. He is a Co-Founder and serves as the Chief Technology Officer at Rare Bits. He serves as an Advisor at SignalFire. He is the Founder and C.E.O of Toro. Prior to that, he served as the Director of Engineering for Zynga. Amitt was also the Co-Founder and C.T.O of MyMiniLife, Inc which was later acquired by Zynga. Mahajan is also the Co-Founder of Red Hot Labs and serves as its Chief Executive Officer. Prior to this, he was an Engineer in Zynga who helped in creating FarmVille. He briefly served as a Programmer for Epic Games. He has a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from University of Illinois.
Belmont - San Francisco Bay Area, U.S.A.
Software (Web Marketplace Saas..) • Businesses Solutions • FinTech (& Financials services) • Retail (& E-Commerce) • Entertainment (& Sports) • HealthTech (& Fitness) • Local commerce • Healthcare (& Wellness) • Online Social • Consumer • Productivity
Raj Kapoor serves as the Chief Strategy Officer at Lyft. He is also the Head of Business for Lyft's self-driving division. He is the co-founder and CEO of Mayfield portfolio company fitmob, a mobile company that is re-inventing the gym through social/local workouts. He serves as board advisor at ClassPass. He also currently serves as Venture Advisor & Managing Director to Mayfield Fund. He has been working in the internet/mobile/interactive space for 21 years. He started in interactive TV at Bell Atlantic, founded the internet club at Harvard Business School, was an early employee at @Home, and later ran e-commerce services at Excite@Home. He co-founded Snapfish in 1999 as CEO and then sold the company to Hewlett Packard for $300 million. His next venture took him to Mayfield, where he invested in 12 companies including Lyft, Qunar, Red Beacon/Home Depot, and Rubicon Project.
San Francisco Bay Area - Menlo Park - California, U.S.A.
Software (Web Marketplace Saas..) • Businesses Solutions • FinTech (& Financials services) • Retail (& E-Commerce) • Consumer
Charles Moldow serves as General Partner at Foundation Capital. He serves as Member of Board of Directors at LendingHome, States Title and CoverWallet. He served as Board Member & Advisor at BTCJam. He has a background in general management, sales, marketing, product management, and business development. Before coming to Foundation Capital, he was part of two teams that successfully built companies from early start-up through greater than $100 million in sales and exits near or above a billion dollars. Charles has made fourteen investments since joining Foundation, of which five have been acquired: PowerSet to Microsoft; Xoopit to Yahoo!; Adwhirl to Google; Weblistic to Spot Runner and Therative to Phillips. Charles' current portfolio includes: BancBox, CloudOn, Copious, Everyday Health, Fanhood, Utah Street Labs, HomeRun, Adroll, Motif Investing, Revel Touch, and SunRun. Prior to Foundation, Charles spent five years with Tellme Networks and was a member of the founding executive team. While there, he led Tellme in raising one of the largest private financing rounds in the country post-Internet bubble, adding $125 million in cash to the company balance sheet during tough market conditions in August, 2000. Tellme was acquired by Microsoft in 2007 for $760 million. Prior to Tellme, Charles was a member of the founding team of Internet access provider Home Network. In 1996, he established the @Media division and over the ensuing three years helped establish Media as the leading broadband media provider. In 1997 the company went public. A year later, Charles assisted in the $7 billion acquisition of Excite Network. Prior to that, Charles spent three years in the Mergers and Acquisitions practice at Merrill Lynch. Charles holds a BS degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and received his MBA from Harvard University. He serves as an Advisor at VSL Partners. He also serves as a Board member at Grabr.
Raleigh - Durham / Southeast - Chicago - Austin - New York - Boston - Atlanta - San Francisco Bay Area - Jacksonville - Georgia, U.S.A. - Israel
Software (Web Marketplace Saas..) • Businesses Solutions • Hardware (& Manufacturing) • Logistics (& Distribution) • Robotics • DeepTech • Mobility • Woman Focused
Most Interested In
B2B Platforms and Marketplaces, Logistics & Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Enterprise Software, Connected HW & Robotics, HardTech / DeepTech.
Not Interested In
Consumer apps, marketing & sales automation, games, bio, genomics.
San Francisco Bay Area - Boston / New - Chicago - Atlanta - Salt Lake City - Seattle / Portland - Austin - Palo Alto - California, U.S.A. - Canada
Software (Web Marketplace Saas..) • Hardware (& Manufacturing) • IoT (& Wearables) • A.I. (& Big Data) • HealthTech (& Fitness) • Cloud Services (& Infrastructure) • Developer tools • Woman Focused
Most Interested In
Saas/B2B/Enterprise Software, Connected Devices (consumer and industrial), B2B/B2C Marketplaces,... and then what other people consider crazy in frontier tech: AI, AR/VR, SpaceTech, Robotics, Autonomous infrastructure,..
Not Interested In
Pureplay consumer apps that may never build a business, gaming, e-commerce, travel, crypto
Los Angeles - California, U.S.A.
Software (Web Marketplace Saas..) • Retail (& E-Commerce) • CleanTech • A.I. (& Big Data) • Future Of Work • Human Resources • Music • Consumer • Woman Focused
Most Interested In
-B2B marketplaces - solving unsold inventory - future of work, disintermediating education, consumer fintech, digital health - environmental security: climate tech - retail experience innovation - social impact
Not Interested In
Biotech; hardware; cannabis; martech
Lithuania, U.S.A.
Software (Web Marketplace Saas..) • Businesses Solutions • Hardware (& Manufacturing) • Energy • IoT (& Wearables) • CleanTech • A.I. (& Big Data) • Analytics • Impact • Logistics (& Distribution) • Woman Focused
Most Interested In energy tech and e-mobility in general. -batteries, storage and DR -recycling of Li-on batteries -new b-models -AI and Automation -digital utilities Not Interested In anything outside energy tech and e-mobility + beyond Series B or small TAM.