Company Ventures’ Post

London isn't losing its edge. It's sharpening it. Despite the headlines claiming otherwise, the reality on the ground tells a different story. Right now, 100+ founders are building in our London residency. Half relocated from outside the UK, specifically to build here. These aren't accidental entrepreneurs. They're: 🚀 Serial founders with exits under their belts 🦄 Senior leaders from tech unicorns 💡 Domain experts leaving top global companies to start from scratch 🥊 A former Team GB boxer launching a health-tech venture The UK now produces 4x more technical founders than it did five years ago. AI-specialist founders have doubled since 2022. And when founders can work anywhere in the world, they're still choosing London. Why? Because nowhere else offers the same combination of technical talent, domain expertise, and capital willing to back genuinely hard problems. Ecosystems don't rise or fall on headlines. They rise on the belief and execution of their founders. And right now, London's founders are proving the UK remains Europe's beating heart of innovation. My latest in City AM: https://lnkd.in/esVXYiQP

“But in the race to find the ‘next big thing’, diversity is all too often framed as a nice-to-have, not a commercially credible strategy. This data tells a different story. The traits that drive outsized start-up success show up in people from all manner of backgrounds. Talent isn’t cookie-cutter – it’s evenly distributed.” “Opting for familiarity isn’t a winning strategy. And it’s likely costing billions in missed opportunities, lost innovation, and leaves a pipeline of would-be unicorns unfunded simply because they weren’t ‘pattern match’ perfection.” Very important reflection for those that have worked in the area of finding great Founders through today’s technology, psychological profiling, talent markets, networks, communities and contexts. Thank you Ada Ventures.

Tampa’s tech scene is growing — but it’s still missing something crucial. 🌴💻 Unlike major cities like San Francisco, New York, or Chicago, where startup hubs seem to exist on every corner, Tampa is still finding its rhythm. The talent is here. The drive is here. But the community — that shared ecosystem where ideas and capital collide — is still catching up. Last week, I attended a local tech networking event where a VC shared his firm’s investment thesis: “Bet on Tampa.” His belief? Tampa doesn’t have a startup problem — it has a connectivity problem. There are brilliant founders, ambitious engineers, and eager investors… but they’re often moving in separate lanes. And he’s not wrong. 📊 According to the Tampa Bay Economic Development Council, tech jobs here have grown by 23% over the past five years, yet the city still ranks below the top 30 U.S. metro areas in venture capital activity. That gap represents a massive opportunity. 💡 The solution isn’t to wait for Tampa to “catch up.” It’s to create spaces where collaboration happens now.

🔍Explore the Midlands innovation ecosystem like never before. Today at #BirminghamTechWeek we are launching the new Midlands Ecosystem Platform - giving you free access to every corner of the Midlands’ entrepreneurial landscape, all in one place. How can I make my start-up more visible to top tier VCs? How many spinouts are being produced by Midlands universities? Which investors are backing early-stage start-ups in the Midlands? For anyone who has asked questions like this, this platform is for you. Powered by Dealroom.co, this free to use platform offers you game changing insights into funding rounds, valuations, market trends and so much more: 🔍 Explore nearly 6,000 Midlands start-ups, 400 spinouts and 1,000 investors ➕ Add your business to the database - for free 🤝 Use the platform as a bridge between founders and global investors 📊 Make smarter policy and resource decisions with real time data 🌱 Gain visibility for the Midlands’ next generation of unicorns Joshua Hawkins, Assistant Director of the Midlands Innovation partnership, said: “The Midlands Ecosystem Platform is already delivering valuable insights into the health of our regional innovation landscape. It’s proving to be a catalyst for collaboration—helping partners recognise the power of the data now at our fingertips and enabling more informed, connected decision-making across the ecosystem.” So what can you do? ✅ Sign up for free today >>> https://lnkd.in/e_ikBEEK ✅ Share this widely in your networks ✅ Help us strengthen the database by adding your organisation’s details - and join an ecosystem worth £31bn+ Read the full press release here ➡️ https://lnkd.in/e8TsQrxs At #BirminghamTechWeek today or tomorrow? Come and find us in Midlands House - we’d love to show you the platform in person! Forging Ahead Midlands Mindforge Invest in UK University R&D - Midlands

What have we learned from 20 years of ecosystem building? Entrepreneurs are everywhere, access to capital and programming is more of a challenge. Every market outside of the Bay Area has a chip on it's shoulder that it's not the Bay. But look which markets are behind your "home town pride" and give them credit for focussing on empowering founders to grow their business. One thing we learned from the pandemic, people are more ready to move now then they have ever been. And entrepreneurs will go to where they get support, capital, and ultimately tax favorable treatment for their job creation.

What 10 years of data tells us about growing a new startup ecosystem: 𝟭) 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝟯 It's Silicon Valley, New York, and Boston. That's the medal podium for a full decade, with the Bay Area holding the top spot in increasingly dominant fashion lately. 𝟮) 𝗔𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 Austin is a major success story in venture ecosystem terms. It was on the back half of the top 10 a decade ago, but strong investment over the prior 5 years has the city in spot number 4 for 2025. The ecosystem sits on twin pillars of SaaS and Hardware, but shows up across many sectors. 𝟯) 𝗠𝗶𝗮𝗺𝗶 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 Miami shot up to prominence (top 5!) on the back of a fintech/crypto boom in 2022-era. But as that particular bubble popped, Miami has fallen back in the ranks. Maybe the ecosystem needs more than one pillar industry? 𝟰) 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺? Chicago. Philly. Atlanta. Salt Lake. Research Triangle. Dallas. All are playing in the 10-15 spaces. Which of them can cement status in the top 10 more permanently? #seed #seriesA #founders #startups

Carta's data echoes Peter Walker's ecosystem truths: the Bay Area's unyielding dominance (a 30-45% funding share) stems from talent density and infrastructure where industrial innovation compounds rapidly. How does this align with Momenta's core bets for resilient scaling? • 2020: Edge Impulse (San Jose, CA) – Edge AI for industrial IoT; taps Bay Area's 30.7% lead for low-latency computing, boosting energy/manufacturing resilience amid supply shocks. • 2021: CrateDB (Redwood City, CA) – Real-time SQL analytics; leverages Bay Area's 29.3% dominance to break data silos, sharpening supply chain agility in turbulent trade. • 2022: Litmus (San Jose, CA) – IoT connectivity platform; aligns with Bay Area's 28.8% share for multi-protocol integration, decreasing manufacturing downtime with efficiency gains. • 2023: AMESA (Bay Area, CA) – Autonomous agents for manufacturing control; exploits Bay Area's 30.1% edge to automate processes, lowering skilled labor reliance in costly hubs. • 2024: minds.ai (Bay Area, CA) – AI for semiconductor optimization; syncs with Bay Area's 36.6% capture to fix chip shortages, increasing U.S. industrial yield and resilience. By anchoring in proven ecosystems in the U.S and globally, we deliver measurable ROI (evidenced by Edge Impulse's Qualcomm exit) while continuing to look internationally for the next riser. Explore our Industrial Impact ventures and contact us if you could see yourself on this list: https://lnkd.in/dCnFtZS6 #IndustrialImpact #MomentaPortfolio #EdgeImpulse #LitmusAutomation #Aperio #VentureCapital #StartupEcosystems #IndustrialInnovation

Under discussed in these rankings is that 3/15 cities are in Texas, and in aggregate are just behind Boston. This particular map is sector independent, but each Texas city has its own specialty as well.

In 2024, our Board asked us to raise the bar: attract the most promising early-stage startups tackling humanity’s hardest challenges. After 15 years of being industry agnostic, our 2025 results show the power of our new, sector-focused approach (Healthcare, Climate, Financial Systems, and Resiliency): Over 1,600 applications have led to 130 startups being selected for MassChallenge programs. Those participating have generated $100M in revenue + secured $269M in funding — more than 2x 2024 totals, all with 26% fewer startups than 2024. Given today’s VC environment, these funding numbers are especially impressive. At the same time, we know equity dollars are far from the full story — which is why we remain focused on driving commercial connections and non-dilutive funding opportunities that help founders scale sustainably. The numbers are shared here for comparison, but our true impact is measured in how startups enter markets, grow revenue, and change industries. Better startups → better results → greater global impact. Much more to come.

Q: Do startups still need Silicon Valley to succeed? A: Not anymore. The idea that you must be in the Valley to raise money or build credibility is quickly losing ground. Q: So if location doesn’t matter, what does? A: Execution. Investors and users don’t care where you’re based - they care how fast you deliver and how well your product works. Q: What does that look like in practice? A: Three things stand out: Product Stability → reliable, scalable products that don’t break under pressure. Release Velocity → shipping fast and iterating even faster. Strong Teams → cohesive, motivated teams, even when spread across different time zones. Q: What’s the real takeaway for founders? A: Success today isn’t about a ZIP code - it’s about speed, stability, and the partners you trust to get you there. 👉 Next month at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, this debate will take center stage. But from what we see at ASD Team, the answer is already clear. 💬 What about you - do you think geography still gives startups an edge, or is execution the only real differentiator left?