
Chicago slips in world startup rankings amid global downturn
Global startup ecosystem value decreased 31% across the board.
Chicago experienced the largest ecosystem value decline among top 20 cities.
Chicago took a slight tumble on a list of the top startup ecosystems in the world.
The Windy City dropped to No. 16 in the 2025 Global Startup Ecosystem Report from Startup Genome in partnership with Global Entrepreneurship Network, which analyzed data from more than 5 million companies across more than 350 markets to determine the top 40 regions for startups. Chicago had ranked No. 15 in 2024.
GET TO KNOW YOUR CITY
Find Local Events Near You
Connect with a community of local professionals.
Explore All Events
North America's top five ecosystems in terms of value and early-stage funding included Silicon Valley in California, New York City, Los Angeles, Boston and Seattle.
Overall, ecosystem value — the sum of startup valuations plus the post-money valuation of exits in the past two-and-a-half years — dropped 31% across the globe. Among the top 20 ecosystems in the report, only three cities saw positive ecosystem growth: Beijing, Los Angeles and Tokyo.
At nearly 40%, Chicago saw the greatest decrease in ecosystem value among those top 20 cities.
This is a trend that started at the end of 2022 as funding dried up and exits began to plummet. Only 12 companies completed public listings nationally during the first quarter, according to PitchBook, as a freeze in initial public offerings seen over the past couple of years has yet to thaw.
Large exits in 2024 were still being handicapped by the inflationary valuations of 2021, concluded the study by Startup Genome, a development organization for the industry. However, there are encouraging signs that large exits are recovering in 2025 and could be back at pre-pandemic frequency by year-end.
In recent quarters, Chicago startups have started to find a new normal in terms of fundraising with dealmaking remaining relatively stable to begin the year.
Sign up for Inno's free twice-weekly newsletter to receive the latest innovation news impacting Chicago.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Bloomberg
3 days ago
- Bloomberg
Latin American VC Activity Slows to Near Pre-Pandemic Lows
Venture capital dealmaking in Latin America has hit the slowest pace in almost seven years, in part due to global economic uncertainty and a pullback from US investors in the region. In the first half of the year, there were 335 transactions totaling $2.9 billion in Latin America, according to PitchBook data released Thursday. If the current pace holds, it could reach levels as low as those in 2016, before a rise in VC activity when the region was experiencing strong economic growth that drew US investors looking for high yields in new markets, Pitchbook analyst Kyle Stanford said in an interview. There were 384 deals in all of 2016, the data shows.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
The 5 hottest startups, from robotics to AI, have gained 393% in private market value in 2025
It's not just the Nvidias (NVDA) of the world that have seen an atmospheric rise as investors piled into the AI trade over the past year. Top startups competing in key areas, from humanoid robots to AI search, have also seen their private market share prices surge. "In today's VC landscape, there's a clear split between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots,'" Emily Zheng, senior VC analyst at PitchBook, told Yahoo Finance. According to Zheng, a handful of breakout AI startups are driving the majority of valuation growth. Some are raising capital at astonishing prices while attracting intense demand from primary and secondary investors. That demand — often fueled by a mix of FOMO, conviction in AI tech, and limited liquidity options — has helped push the US VC secondary market to an estimated $60 billion in size this year, up from $50 billion in 2024, according to PitchBook. But this sharp rise doesn't mean venture is booming across the board — most of the activity is concentrated in a small, highly sought-after cohort. Among the top five private-market gainers this year, the average year-to-date share price is up a staggering 393%. Together, these startups have added over $68 billion in estimated valuation so far in 2025, per Yahoo Finance data. Here are the top 52-week gainers in private markets according to Yahoo Finance data, provided by Forge and EquityZen. Estimated valuation: $35.26B Year founded: 2022 YTD share price: +1,012% The humanoid robots startup aims to bring AI-powered robots that can work in factories and homes alike to the mass market. Enthusiasm around AI and robotics, such as Tesla's (TSLA) Optimus, has continued to rise. Figure AI recently raised $1.5 billion in a May funding round, bringing its total raise to $2.25 billion. Estimated valuation: $15.64B Year founded: 2012 YTD share price: +286.16% Ripple, the blockchain-based payments platform, has seen renewed investor enthusiasm amid broader interest in crypto infrastructure and decentralized finance. CEO Brad Garlinghouse recently announced that Ripple would drop its years-long cross-appeals with the SEC, following the agency's claim that Ripple sold its XRP token as an unregistered security. Estimated valuation: $10.99B Year founded: 2022 YTD share price: +260.16% Perplexity, the buzzy AI-powered search engine, has positioned itself as a serious challenger to Google (GOOG) by delivering real-time answers with cited sources. Backed by investors like Nvidia and Amazon (AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos, the startup has seen rapid adoption. It's reportedly in talks to raise up to $1 billion, which could push its valuation to $18 billion. Estimated valuation: $91.59B Year founded: 2023 YTD share price: +231.33% Founded by Elon Musk, the startup xAI aims to build artificial general intelligence (AGI) that competes with large language models like ChatGPT. It aims to integrate with products like Tesla and X, which it recently merged with. Its Grok chatbot has been launched across the social media platforms' premium offering. Estimated valuation: $5.99B Year founded: 2016 YTD share price: +178.65% Nuro specializes in autonomous delivery vehicles designed for last-mile logistics. The company has partnered with major brands like Kroger (KR) and Domino's (DPZ) to pilot its driverless pods in US suburbs. While the robotaxi race heats up, Nuro is carving out a niche in commercial AV delivery, which could see significant upside as urban mobility and e-commerce evolve. Francisco Velasquez is an Associate Reporter at Yahoo Finance. You can reach him via LinkedIn and X. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
The 5 hottest startups, from robotics to AI, have gained 393% on private market value in 2025
It's not just the Nvidias (NVDA) of the world that have seen an atmospheric rise as investors piled into the AI trade over the past year. Top startups competing in key areas, from humanoid robots to AI search, have also seen their private market share prices surge. "In today's VC landscape, there's a clear split between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots,'" Emily Zheng, senior VC analyst at PitchBook, told Yahoo Finance. According to Zheng, a handful of breakout AI startups are driving the majority of valuation growth. Some are raising capital at astonishing prices while attracting intense demand from primary and secondary investors. That demand — often fueled by a mix of FOMO, conviction in AI tech, and limited liquidity options — has helped push the US VC secondary market to an estimated $60 billion in size this year, up from $50 billion in 2024, according to PitchBook. But this sharp rise doesn't mean venture is booming across the board — most of the activity is concentrated in a small, highly sought-after cohort. Among the top five private-market gainers this year, the average year-to-date share price is up a staggering 393%. Together, these startups have added over $68 billion in estimated valuation so far in 2025, per Yahoo Finance data. Here are the top 52-week gainers in private markets according to Yahoo Finance data, provided by Forge and EquityZen. Estimated valuation: $35.26B Year founded: 2022 YTD share price: +1,012% The humanoid robots startup aims to bring AI-powered robots that can work in factories and homes alike to the mass market. Enthusiasm around AI and robotics, such as Tesla's (TSLA) Optimus, has continued to rise. Figure AI recently raised $1.5 billion in a May funding round, bringing its total raise to $2.25 billion. Estimated valuation: $15.64B Year founded: 2012 YTD share price: +286.16% Ripple, the blockchain-based payments platform, has seen renewed investor enthusiasm amid broader interest in crypto infrastructure and decentralized finance. CEO Brad Garlinghouse recently announced that Ripple would drop its years-long cross-appeals with the SEC, following the agency's claim that Ripple sold its XRP token as an unregistered security. Estimated valuation: $10.99B Year founded: 2022 YTD share price: +260.16% Perplexity, the buzzy AI-powered search engine, has positioned itself as a serious challenger to Google (GOOG) by delivering real-time answers with cited sources. Backed by investors like Nvidia and Amazon (AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos, the startup has seen rapid adoption. It's reportedly in talks to raise up to $1 billion, which could push its valuation to $18 billion. Estimated baluation: $91.59B Year founded: 2023 YTD share price: +231.33% Founded by Elon Musk, the startup xAI aims to build artificial general intelligence (AGI) that competes with large language models like ChatGPT. It aims to integrate with products like Tesla and X, which it recently merged with. Its Grok chatbot has been launched across the social media platforms' premium offering. Estimated valuation: $5.99B Year founded: 2016 YTD share price: +178.65% Nuro specializes in autonomous delivery vehicles designed for last-mile logistics. The company has partnered with major brands like Kroger (KR) and Domino's (DPZ) to pilot its driverless pods in US suburbs. While the robotaxi race heats up, Nuro is carving out a niche in commercial AV delivery, which could see significant upside as urban mobility and e-commerce evolve. Francisco Velasquez is an Associate Reporter at Yahoo Finance. You can reach him via LinkedIn and X. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data