For the second consecutive year, Colorado has been named the "Best State for Women-Led Startups" by a national report.
Data compiled by Merchant Maverick ranked Colorado at the top of its annual list, with the state leading the charge in a record year of funding for women-led companies. Colorado beat out Texas, Florida, Washington and Maryland to retain the top spot.
Female-only founded startups nationally shattered previous funding records in 2021, with Pitchbook reporting that those U.S. companies raised $6.4 billion in venture funding, up nearly $2.7 billion from the previous record set in 2019.
In compiling the list, Merchant Maverick used data from Pitchbook, the U.S. Census, the Bureau of Labor and other sources to identify five key focus areas.
It looked at total venture capital in the past five years invested into women-led startups, the percent of employer firms led by women, the percent of employees at women-led firms, the percent of women self-employed in their own business and the average income of women self-employed in their own business.
The Centennial State shined due to its percentage of women that are self-employed in their own incorporated business, the analysis said, at 2.37% which is second only to Montana.
“Colorado easily maintained its top spot from last year, despite changes to the economic landscape that caused a shift in the rest of the top 10,” Merchant Maverick noted. “Most notably, Colorado is the only state to rank in the top 10 for all five gender-specific metrics we measured — a slight improvement even over last year.”
Due to its high placement in all five categories, Colorado’s final score as tabulated by Merchant Maverick was 75.2, which was more than 10 points higher than Texas. That state was in second place.
The data also showed that 29.2% of Colorado’s employer firms are led by women and female business owners earned an average income of $75,768.
On the venture side, Pitchbook found that female-only-led startups in Colorado raised $421 million in venture capital from 180 deals since 2008. More than half of that deal flow for those startups came in the angel or seed stage, with 105 deals totaling $69 million in investment.
In 2021, woman-only-led startups in Colorado raised a record $91 million in outside investment from 23 deals. That topped the previous record, set in 2020, of $80 million, according to Pitchbook.
Colorado is performing better than its regional counterparts according to Merchant Maverick, with Utah far down its list at No. 46 and the entire Midwest excluded from the top 10. Arizona is Colorado’s closest neighbor in the top 10, coming in at No. 9.
Learn more at The Denver Business Journal.
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