Seattle breaks into top 3 in new ecosystem ranking for early stage software startup funding

A new ranking of top U.S. ecosystems based on early stage funding data reflects Seattle’s continued strength in software-related innovation.

Seattle was third in the software-as-a-service category among cities ranked by seed and Series A funding data pulled from companies that use Carta’s equity management platform.

“Strong showing in SaaS for Seattle, breaking into the top 3 for the first time on a rolling 12-month basis,” Peter Walker, head of insights at Carta, wrote on LinkedIn.

The AI boom could be propelling Seattle’s software clout to new heights, with presence of cloud computing giants such as Amazon and Microsoft, and a wealth of AI talent.

GeekWire’s fundings list, which tracks all startup investments across Seattle, shows a number of AI-related companies raising significant capital over the past year. More recently, Carbon Robotics, Read AI, and Tamnoon announced funding rounds.

Some AI startups have been acquired, including OctoAI, Lexion, and BirchAI.

The Bay Area captured 43.6% of all SaaS funding from Q4 2023 to Q3 2024, according to Carta, followed by New York (12.5%) and Seattle (5.4%), which was just ahead of Boston (5.3%) and Los Angeles (5%).

Seattle ranked fifth overall for total funding, with 3.9% of all capital raised, behind the Bay Area, New York, Boston, and Los Angeles.

That’s an improvement from the past two years, when Seattle ranked No. 7 on the same list, Walker told GeekWire in a follow-up email.

Seattle ranked No. 6 for biotech funding; No. 10 for healthtech; and No. 10 for fintech. It did not make the top 10 for hardware or consumer.

See Walker’s full post here, or below.