Over 25 years, Mass. ranks fourth in VC funding

Massachusetts ranked fourth in the nation in venture capital investment in the state's businesses from 1970-2005, according to a study conducted by Global Insight and the National Venture Capital Association.

Only California, Texas and Pennsylvania outpaced Massachusetts.

Nationwide, companies that received venture capital from 1970-2005 accounted for 10 million jobs and $2.1 trillion in revenues in 2005, according to the NVCA and Global Insight study. Global Insight is based in Waltham, Mass.

That represents nine percent of the total private sector work force and 16.5 percent of total U.S. GDP.

According to the study, venture-backed companies outpaced all businesses between 2003 and 2005 with a 4.1 percent compound annual growth rate in jobs and an 11.3 percent compound annual growth rate in sales versus total private sector growth rates of 1.3 percent and 8.5 percent, respectively.

"Since we first measured venture capital's impact on the U.S. economy in 2000, we have seen the venture-backed companies consistently outperform their non-ventured counterparts for job creation and revenue generation across all industries," said Mark Lauritano, managing director of Global Insight's Lending & Payments Practice, in a statement.