SSTI releases new data tool that summarizes investment activity by state and tech area

SSTI has released a new data tool that defines investment activity, one indicator of the vibrancy of a region’s innovation economy, in each of 18 technology areas. Comprising two interactive visuals and a downloadable data file, this tool includes the number of investment-backed companies, investment deals, and amount of capital invested by state, year (2013-June 2023), and investment stage (e.g., seed, angel, venture) for technology verticals that were selected to align with many of the key technology areas defined in the CHIPS and Science Act and included in the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) Tech Hubs program.

Image of the state-level investment data visualization.

Viewers can select the metric that the data tool’s visualizations will use to represent investment activity—number of angel, seed, early-, or late-stage investment deals, number of companies receiving investment, or amount of capital invested. Deal count may be the best single indicator, as it shows a breadth of activity without being subject to skewing from a single large investment. By clicking through to the final tier of the visualizations or by accessing the data file, users can see each of those three metrics by deal stage, year, state, and technology area.

The data tool can be a valuable instrument in determining quickly where a state’s strengths in investment activity area are. The tool may also be useful for those submitting proposals to the Tech Hubs and other funding programs.

SSTI analyzed the 59 industry verticals for which Pitchbook collects investment data, comparing them against the 10 key technology focused areas (KTFA) that have been defined by the CHIPS and Science Act and are part of EDA’s Tech Hubs notice of funding opportunity. Data was then reformatted for ease of use and built into the provided visualizations and spreadsheet.

The data used for the development of this tool comes from Pitchbook and is published by SSTI with permission. See the Methodology and Notes section of the data tool for more information.

Through SSTI’s Tech-based Economic Development (TBED) Community of Practice, supported by EDA, all organizations can access the data tool.

Contact tbedcop@ssti.org with questions or for more information.

This data tool was prepared by SSTI using Federal funds under award ED22HDQ3070129 from the Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. The statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Economic Development Administration or the U.S. Department of Commerce.