Some of California's most prominent venture capitalists are quick to slam their state, arguing that fiscal mismanagement and high taxes will cause startups to form elsewhere.
So far that doesn't seem to be happening.
For the record, I live near Boston and my mother worked on Route 128 back when that meant something. I've got no dog in this fight, but I do have data.
California startups raised a whopping 62% of all U.S. venture capital dollars in 2025, per the PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor.
That's above either 2024 (54.2%) or 2023 (46.9%), and even the decade-earlier mark of 47.2%.
Yes, a big part of that is skewed by giant raises for AI giants like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Databricks.
But California easily retans its lead when looking at the number of startups funded, regardless of round size.
The state is home to 31.5% of U.S. VC deals last year, compared to 31.7% in 2024 and 29.1% in 2023. In 2015, California's market share was 32.5%.
For context, the runner-up in 2025 was New York with 13.3%. Massachusetts was next, just ahead of Texas — both below 6%.
The bottom line: California's crown may be tarnished on social media. On spreadsheets, however, it still sparkles.
