- The Driver's Seat
- Posts
- 🏞 Venture Growth in the Heartland
Welcome to the 46th edition:
Last week, we partnered with Chicago Blend and SVB to host a meet and greet for active fellows. 👇🏽
I also visited Indiana University in Bloomington to learn about IU’s $111m semiconductor investment, their Luddy Center for AI, and two of the city’s new coworking spaces for founders.
📍 Today’s Lineup:
🏞 Venture Growth in the Heartland
đź“Š Chart of the Week
đź—ş 6 Events Around the City
🔙 Previous Editions of the Driver’s Seat
🏞 Venture Growth in the Heartland
More Investment
VC investment in the heartland surged by nearly 400% from $15B in 2009-11 to $55B in 2019-21.
Chicago and Austin rank among the nation’s leading non-coastal startup ecosystems.
Some heartland metros' startup ecosystems are comparable in size to leading tech hubs of the mid-1990s, with levels of VC investment similar to those of Silicon Valley, Boston, and Washington, D.C. back then.
Educational Influence
The heartland’s largest startup hubs are all homes to major research universities: The University of Texas at Austin, University of Chicago and Northwestern University, Ohio State University, University of Minnesota, and Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
The heartland is home to 38.8% of the nation’s leading-edge research universities (40 of 103 institutions).
Heartland-based universities conducted more than $30B in higher education R&D in 2021, more than a third (33.7%) of the nation’s total.
Summary
The spread of VC to new regions promotes wider economic growth and innovation.
Investments in heartland startup ecosystems help reduce economic disparities between regions.
The presence of research universities in these ecosystems emphasizes the importance of education in driving entrepreneurship.
đź“ŠÂ Chart of the Week
This chart shows data center vacancy in Chicago. In 2022, it reached one of its lowest levels at 5.5%.
Majority of recent activity we’re seeing can be attributed to hyper-scalers:
Microsoft Azure is expanding with new facilities.
NTT is constructing a new phase in Itasca.
Prime Data Centers has begun a large project in Elk Grove.
CloudHQ is developing a campus at the old United Airlines site.
Read more about Chicago data centers here.
🗺️ 6 Events Around The City
AI Tinkerers Chicago #5
Hosted by AI Tinkerers and Drive Capital
Tuesday
Chicago VC Happy Hour
Hosted by Chicago Blend
Wednesday
Chicago Climate Connect
Hosted by CCC
Thursday
Decoding the Black Consumer LandscapeÂ
Hosted by Pepper Miller and AMA
Thursday
The Semiconductor Chips Revolution
Hosted by UIUC
Friday
EdTech Coffee Meetup
Hosted by Peter Pellizzari
Friday
đź‘‹ See you next week!
Follow me on Twitter and Instagram for even more Chicago startup news and photos of my favorite restaurants in the city.
The coasts had their moment.
The sunbelt got plenty of attention.
It’s our time now.
#MIDWESTSTRONG
— Michael Antonelli (@BullandBaird)
Jan 29, 2024