If the fact that Colorado is a start-up and entrepreneurial hot-bed was a secret to anyone, it isn’t anymore. The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) has ranked the top 10 U.S. cities for start-ups, based on dollars invested in young tech companies in 2011. The Denver/Boulder corridor made the list, showing up at number nine. The article in USA Today, “Top cities for technology start-ups,” points out that both MapQuest and Photobucket, which are huge start-up success stories, were born and raised right here in Colorado. Some other interesting stats on funding in our region:

· Number of start-ups funded: 395

· Total dollar amount in funding for 2011: $584.6M in 85 companies.

The article recognizes the outstanding amount of activity and collaboration considering our smaller tech community size as compared to somewhere like a Silicon Valley. As Techstars Steve Cohen says our”activity per capita is enormous.”

Some examples of the Colorado LLCs, S Corps or C Corps receiving funding just in the last few months include:

· Door to Door Organics: This Boulder based online home grocery delivery company just received  $2 million from another Boulder company, investment firm Greenmont Capital.

· LogRhythm: This cyber threat defense, detection and response company out of Boulder raised a $15M Series D round a couple of months ago from Siemen’s Capital

So don’t be deterred by any news that funding in Colorado is down…everything is down compared to seven or eight years ago. Good companies are still worth their salt and are getting funding and financing in Colorado.

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