Kirkland Named Fastest-Growing City For Startups

KIRKLAND, WA — Kirkland was the nation's fastest-growing city for startups in the second quarter of this year, despite an overall drop in investments seen in traditional tech hubs, according to a new report. Venture capital firm York IE released new research Wednesday tracking the cities where the most cash floods into startup firms, along with those that are fast becoming contenders.

According to the research, startups across the nation received $58.7 billion in funding in the second quarter, a double-digit drop from the quarter before and year-over-year. Though hubs like San Francisco and New York remain on top, they saw a slowdown in funding, while smaller cities picked up the pace.

Kirkland comfortably led the pack in growth, where Eastside startups secured nearly $300 million in eight rounds of funding, amounting to a 1,724 percent surge over the last quarter, York IE found.

"Seattle is an established tech, aerospace and startup hub, and Redmond is famously the home of
Microsoft," York IE wrote Wednesday. "Between the two cities is Kirkland, which is now making its own mark. The $135 million Series D round raised by radar manufacturer Echodyne in June helped propel the city to the top of the rankings."

After Echodyne, Kirkland newcomer Chainguard, a software supply chain security firm, picked up $50 million in Series B funding. Rain City Capital, a real estate lending firm, secured $43.4 million. Rounding out the list is Statsig, a real-time data firm founded in 2021, which raised $43 million.

Here are the top 10 fastest-growing startup cities, per York IE:

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

When it comes to the top startup cities overall, San Francisco, New York and Boston are far in the lead. Seattle landed at number seven on the list, where startups raised more than $1 billion in the second quarter. The Emerald City narrowly trailed Denver and Los Angeles, while comfortably leading Austin.

>> Read more and see the full report via York IE.