2026年美国中西部创新生态系统报告 State of the Midwest Innovation Ecosystem 2026

dealroom.co|StartMidwest

StateoftheMidwest

InnovationEcosystem2026

APRIL2026

1HavingAStrongTechSectorMatters

2RiseofMidwestTech

3EcosystemswithintheMidwest

INNOVATIONWAVES

TheUShasbeentheclearwinnerinmajortechwavesoverthelast50years

$60T

S&P500

~$59T

$50T

+Robotics+Space

$40T

$25T

+Mobile

STOXx

Europe600

$10T

+Internet

FTSE100

$0

1980

2015

2005

2025

2000

|

StartMidwest

Ddealroom.co

Source:Dealroom.co·S&P500,STOXXEurope600,FTSE100marketcapitalisation

EXECUTIVESUMMARY

TheMidwestInnovationEcosystem:

KeyFindings

TheMidwestisoneofthemostunderappreciatedinnovationecosystemsintheworld.Hometo12statesand~$4.7TinGDP,theregionwouldrankasthe4thlargesteconomyglobally-yetitcapturesjust3-5%ofU.S.venturecapitaldespitegenerating~16%ofU.S.GDP.

Thatgapisclosing.Midweststartupenterprisevaluehasgrown3.8×inadecade,reaching$660Bin2026,drivenby10,000+startups,108$1B+companies,anda14%CAGR.Ilinoisleadsinabsoluteterms($267.6BEV),whileOhioandMichiganaregrowingfastest.

StrengthsareconcentratedinFintech,Biotech&LifeSciences,andHealthTech-togetheraccountingforoverS211Binenterprisevalue—withfast-emergingsectorsincludingAl,Robotics,AviationandDefence.

World-classresearchuniversities,deepcorporatetalentnetworks(ledbytheGrouponMafia),andagrowinglocalinvestorbaseprovideastrongfoundation.

Theonlythingmissing?Thecapitaltomatchtheopportunity.

Source:Dealroom.co·StartMidwest·April2026

EnterpriseValue

108

$1B+Companies

14%

CAGR(10yr)

~3-5%

VCvs16%GDP

ID

dealroom.co

StartMidwest

MARKETCONTEXT

Techvs.Non-Tech:EarningsPowerContinuestoBifurcate

200Top10Stocks

180

160

140

120

100

Jun-21Sep-21Dec-21Mar-22Jun-22Sep-22Dec-22Mar-23Jun-23Sep-23Dec-23Mar-24Jun-24Sep-24Dec-24Mar-25Jun-25

Source:S&PGlobalIndexedearningspershare(Jun2021=100)·S&P500Top10vs.remaining490

Ddealroom.co

StartMidwest

GLOBALPERSPECTIVE

ADramaticShiftintheCenterofGravity

EastCoast

USA

Other

USA

RestofWorld

Japan

Europe

WestCoast

USA

1980

23%

60%

1990

23%

2006

23%

36%

2025

16%

67%

StartMidwest

IDdealroom.co

Source:Dealroom.co·Top-20companiesbymarketcap·Bubblesize=%share

$570K

PRODUCTIVITY

$340K

$325K

SanFranciscoproductivityis

$250K

1.8xthatofManhattan

$155K

USAverage

SanJose-Sunnyvale

Seattle-Tacoma

Manhattan

SanFrancisco-Oakland

dealroom.coStartMidwest

Source:BEA·RealGDPPerWorkerbymetroarea

|

StartMidwest

Ddealroom.co

Source:Dealroom.co·$100B+companiesfoundedsince1990·*DeepMindacquired

GLOBALCONCENTRATION

Where$100B+companiesarebeingbuilt

Seattle:1Ottawa:1

Stockholm:1

Cambridge:1

Beijing:2

BuenosAires:1

BayArea:21RestofUSA:0

Nvidia·Alphabet·Broadcom·Meta·Tesla·OpenAI·

Netflix·Palantir·Salesforce·AppLovin·Intuitive·Uber·

Anthropic·ServiceNow·Arista·Databricks·PaloAltoNetworks·CrowdStrike·Robinhood·Stripe·Equinix

GEOGRAPHICsCOPE

TheMidwestRegion

Twelvestatesspanningtheindustrialandagriculturalheartland

NorthDakota

SouthDakota

Nebraska

Kansas

Minnesota

Wisconsin

lowa

Illinois

Missouri

Michigan

OhioIndiana

MidweststatesOtherstates

|

StartMidwest

Ddealroom.co

Source:Dealroom.co·Midwestregionaldefinition

ECONOMICSCALE

IftheMidwestwereacountry,itwouldbethe4thlargesteconomyintheworld

$4.7T

$4.2T

$4.1T

$3.9T

$3.5T

$3.2T

GermanyMidwestJapanSource:BEA,IMFWorldEconomicOutlook·GDPcomparison,nominal$(2024)

India

UKFrance

Ddealroom.co|StartMidwest

California

GLOBALBENCHMARK

Midwestranks#12globallyby$1B+outputrelativetoGDP

Israel

Sweden

UnitedStates

Kingdom

83.3

78.7

68.0

United

Switzerland

33.9

Canada

30.1

Netherlands

26.8

India

24.6

China

Australia

21.6

MidwestUSA

Source:Dealroom.co,IMF·$1B+companycount/GDPin$M

Ddealroom.co

StartMidwest

THEOPPORTUNITY

TheMidwestgenerates~16%ofU.S.GDPbutcapturesjust~3-5%ofventurecapital

SHAREOFU.S.GDP

~16%

SHAREOFU.S.VENTURECAPITAL

~3-5%

→OneofthelargestcapitalallocationgapsintheU.S.economy

Source:BEA,NVCADdealroom.co|StartMidwest

1HavingAStrongTechSectorMatters

2RiseofMidwestTech

3EcosystemswithintheMidwest

COMPANYFUNNEL

MidwestStartupPipeline

10K+

Startups

1,302

Breakouts

<$15Mfunding

$15-$100M

304

Scaleups

$100M+funding

$1B+companies

$1-$10Bvaluation

$10B+companies

$10-$100Bvaluation

Ddealroom.co|StartMidwest

Source:Dealroom.co

$660B

COMBINEDENTERPRISEVALUE

$174B

Midweststartupvaluehasgrown3.8xinadecade

▲14%CAGR

2016

2026

Source:Dealroom.co.co

Ddealroom|StartMidwest

$1B+COMPANYTRACKER

Cumulative$1B+companies+intheMidwest

120108

+11%YoY

90

60

30

20002002200420062008201020122014201620182020202220242026

Source:Dealroom.co

IDdealroom.co

StartMidwest

REGIONALCOMPARISON

MidwestEV:RoomtoGrow

REGIONCOMBINEDEV(2025)

WestCoast(excl.BayArea)

NortheasternUnitedStates

SoutheasternUnitedStates$1.3T

MidwesternUnitedStates$685B

WesternUS(Mountain)$353B

Source:Dealroom.co·CombinedEnterpriseValue,2025

EVGROWTH(2017-2025)

$4.8T8.1x

$3.5T

4.9x

5.3x

3.8x

4.3x

Ddealroom.co|StartMidwest

REGIONALCOMPARISON

EnterpriseValuebyUSRegion

$5T

Pacific*$4.8T

$4T

Northeast

Southeast

Midwest

Mountain

$3.5T

$1.3T

$685B

$353B

$3T

$2T

$1T

dealroom.coStartMidwest

Source:Dealroom.co·USAregionalEVcomparison.xlsx·*BayAreaexcluded

FUNDINGPROGRESSION

GraduationRatesbyRegion

%ofstartupsthatadvancetothenextfundingstage

Pre-Seed→SeedSeed→SeriesAA→SeriesBB→SeriesC

Northeast32%Northeast35%NortheastNortheast41%

WestCoast*31%WestCoast*31%WestCoast*Midwest

Midwest28%Mountain31%Midwest34%Southeast

Southeast26%Midwest30%Southeast33%WestCoast*

Mountain20%Southeast26%Mountain33%Mountain

Source:Dealroom.co·Graduationratesbyregion·*BayAreaexcludeddealroom.co|StartMidwest

OUTCOMERATES

FromFundedtoBreakoutOutcomes

%offundedstartupsreachingmilestonestages

Funded→MegaFunded→Mega+Funded→$1B+company

Northeast4.0%Northeast2.0%Northeast2.0%

WestCoast*4.0%WestCoast*2.0%WestCoast*2.0%

Mountain3.0%Mountain2.0%Mountain2.0%

Midwest3.0%Southeast1.0%Midwest1.0%

Southeast3.0%Midwest1.0%Southeast1.0%

Source:Dealroom.co·Outcomeratesbyregion·*BayAreaexcluded

Funded→$10B+company

Northeast

0.21%

WestCoast*

0.19%

Mountain

0.14%

Southeast

0.14%

Midwest

0.12%

IDdealroom.co|StartMidwest

MidwestbySector

SECTORSTARTUPSBREAKOUTSSCALE-UPS$1B+COMPANIES

$10B+

COMPANIES

ENTERPRISEVALUE

Biotech

0

0

442

0

0

Food0

0

50

00

0

159382

Source:Dealroom.co

ID

dealroom.co

StartMidwest

SECTORCONVERSION

Breakoutconversionbysector

20%

eCommerce&Marketplaces

Biotech&LifeSciences

Space

HealthTech&Medtech

35.0%

28.7%

28.6%

28.0%

23.9%

23.3%

22.4%

21.2%

18.3%

17.9%

17.3%

Robotics

ConsumerServices

Food

Aviation

Semiconductors

二二二

Edtech

RealEstate&Property

Other

10.4%

ProfessionalServices&HR

Consumer&Lifestyle

Defence

15.8%

15.7%

15.5%

15.4%

14.1%

13.6%

12.2%

10.5%

9.5%

Source:Dealroom.co·Simplified

sector/%Breakouts+[TBD]

|

Ddealroom.co

StartMidwest

BeyondFintech,Health&LifeSciences

THEESTABLISHEDBASE

Fintech,HealthTech&Biotech

$84.6B

Fintech·EnterpriseValue

$79.4B

Biotech&LifeSciences·EV

$47.9B

HealthTech&Medtech·EV

Source:Dealroom.co·VCrounds2022-2023vs

WHAT'SEMERGING

Aviation+419%

Breakout-stage·2rounds$68.0M

+121%

76rounds

Early+121%·Breakout+49%

DefenceNew

1startups·$767.8MEV$69.8Mraised

2024-2025·Cumulativefundingthresholds:Early<$15M,Breakout$15-100M

Space

Breakout-stage·2rounds

Robotics

Breakout-stage·7rounds

Energy

Breakout+12%·27rounds

Ddealroom.co

+308%

$31.0M

$203.4M

$433.5M

|StartMidwest

1HavingAStrongTechSectorMatters

2RiseofMidwestTech

3EcosystemswithintheMidwest

STATE-LEVELBREAKDOWN

IllinoisLeads,Ohio&MichiganGrowingFastest

Illinois$267.6B

$250B

$200B

$150B

$100B

Michigan

$98.1B

Minnesota

$70.9B

$50B

Wisconsin

Missouri

Indiana

Kansas

lowa

$35.6B

$30.5B

$24.6B

$23.6B

$21.6B

|

StartMidwest

dealroom.co

Source:Dealroom.co·CombinedEnterpriseValuebystate

NATIONALBENCHMARK

ChicagoisHittingitsStride

Vcpercapita·brokeny-axis

15K

10K

CHICAGO

5K

HITTINGSTRIDE

$2K-$5K

BREAKOUT

$5K-$10K

POWERHOUSE

$10K+

BUILDINGMOMENTUM

$1K-$2K

Source:Dealroom.co·Midwest2026pres.xlsx(VCpercapita)

Ddealroom.coStartMidwest

REGIONALECOSYSTEMS

MidwestStartupEcosystems

Minneapolis-St.Paul

●Health&MedTech

·Cybersecurity

●LifeSciences

AnnArbor

·Cybersecurity

●Defence

·Semiconductors

Detroit

●Transportation

●Robotics

●ClimateTech

Columbus

Chicago

●Fintech

●Health&Med

·Cybersecurity

St.Louis

●Health&MedTech

·Cybersecurity

●Food

·Crypto

Indianapolis

●LifeSciences

●Food

●Health&MedTech

Cincinnati

●Health&MedTech

Source:Dealroom.co·Midweststartupecosystemsbycity

Ddealroom.co|StartMidwest

MIDWESTUNICORNS

Top$1B+CompaniesbyState

Minnesota

●Celcuity·$5.3B

●ArcticWolf·$4.3B

●HistoSonics·$3B

Wisconsin

●ExactSciences·$21.6B

●FetchRewards·$2.5B

●AccuLynx·$2.4B

lowa

●Workiva·$3.3B

●SummitCarbon·$1.1B

Missouri

●EquipmentShare·$7.2B

●Lumeris·$1.3B

IIlinois

●OakStreetHealth·$10.4B

●Tempus·$9B

●SteelSeries·$8B

Source:Dealroom.co·Midwest$1B+companiesbystate

Michigan

●Acrisure·$32B

●Lineage·$19B

·OneStream·$3.9B

Ohio

●WorldPay·$24.2B

Indiana

●ExactTarget·$2.5B

●Endocyte·$2.1B

●SoteraHealth·$6.2B

●Erebor·$4.4B

Ddealroom.co|StartMidwest

Source:Dealroom.co·Midweststartupecosystemvaluechain

ECOSYSTEMMARKETMAP

Knowledge→Formation→Capital→Scale

COMPANYFORMATION

KNOWLEDGE&TALENT

RESEARCHUNIVERSITIES

MichiganNorthwestern

UofChicagoUIUCPurdue

OhioStateUW-Madison

UofMinnesotaWashUNotreDame

COMMERCIALIZATION

PolskyCenterPurdueFoundry

WARF

ACCELERATORS&INCUBATORS

1871mHUBMATTERTechstarsPlugandPlaygener8tor

TheBranderyTechTownNewlab

lowaStartupAccel.NMotion

CaseWestern

INFRASTRUCTURE

UniversitytechtransferVentureoffices

CAPITALSTACK

ANGELS

RESEARCHSTRENGTHS

EngineeringBiotechMaterials

ManufacturinaHealthSciences

SCALE-UPINFRA

PRE-SEED&SEED

HydeParkVPM25

ChicagoVenturesOriginVentures

SerraVenturesLudlowVentures

STATEPROGRAMS

JobsOhioMEDC

WEDC

LaunchMN

QueenCityAngels

RegionalangelnetworksMichiganCapitalNetwork

SERIESA+/MULTI-STAGEPUBLIC/NON-DILUTIVE

P&G

DriveCapitalLightbankStateseedfundsOhioThirdFrontier

JumpCapitalDundeeVC

AllosVentures

INNOVATIONDISTRICTS

CortexSt.LouisCintrifuse

Cincinnati

PROGRAMS

StartupstudiosBuilderprograms

ECOSYSTEMCONNECTORS

CortexDistrictCintrifuseBioSTL

VentureCaféMIVentureCapitalAssoc.

INDUSTRYCHANNELS

Healthcaresystems

ManufacturingpartnersIndustrialbuyers

CAPITAL&INVESTORS

LocalRoots,GlobalReach—WhoBacksMidwest$1B+Companies

GlobalinvestorOTHERLOCALEARLYSTAGE

NEA

InsightPartners TigerGlobalSiliconValleyBankTCV

GeneralAtlanticGoldmanSachs

Lightbank

SoftBank

VisionFundPritzkerGroupVC HydeParkVPBatteryVentures

ChicagoVentures

10

10

8

8

7

7

6

6

5

5

5

4

PRE-SEED&SEED

M25

OriginVenturesSerraVentures

LudlowVentures

ANGELS&NETWORKS

QueenCityAngels

MichiganCapitalNet.

DriveCapitalJumpCapitalDundeeVC

AllosVentures

DILUTIVE

OhioThirdFrontierSBIR/STTR

Source:Dealroom.co·thoroughbreds.dealroom.co·$1B+and$10B+companyinvestmentcoverage

TALENTPIPELINE

WhereMidwestStartupFoundersWorkedBefore

▲BIGTECHALUMNI

Microsoft45

Google39

Apple24

Amazon

14

SAP10

Salesforce19

PayPal

8

Uber

Linkedln

8

Meta5·Tesla5·Yahoo5·X5

VMIDWEST-NATIVEALUMNI

Groupon

Chicago

ExactTarget

23

Indianapolis

Angie'sList

Orbitz

ClimateCorp.

Uptake

Grubhub

EnovaIntl

SproutSocial·Relativity·Barracuda·Lyft·

+400more

Source:Dealroom.co·Previousemployersof841Midwest

startup

founders

Ddealroom.co

StartMidwest

FOUNDERNETWORKS

MidwestStartupMafias

Groupon

30

MuSigma

6

Tempus

5

Angie'sList

5

Uptake

4

ExactTarget

3

Root

3

CoverMyMeds

3

NIC

2

ShipBob

2

WorldPay

2

Envestnet

2

Project44

2

CitadelSec.

2

KinInsurance

2

=1alumnistartup(VC-backedcompanyfoundedbyex-employee)

Source:Dealroom.co·$1B+company/$10B+companyalumnifoundernetworks·Companiesthatraisedatleast$1MDdealroom.co|StartMidwest

FOUNDERNETWORKS

TheGrouponMafia

$3.4B

3B

100+companies·$15B+combinedvalue·6continents

StartMidwest

Ddealroom.co

Source:Dealroom.co·Grouponalumnifoundernetwork·Chicago-born,nowspanning6continents

CAPITAL&DEALS

Top10BiggestRoundsintheMidwest-2025

$2.1B

$500M

$415M

$355M

$350M

$283M

$250M

$175M

$175M

$175M

Michigan

1Acrisure

Illinois

2Nerdio

Nebraska

3CompanyCam

Kansas

FirstDue

Ohio

Ilinois

Pathos

HistoSonics

84CMedical

Indiana

9SurfInternet

SouthDakota

10SABBiotherapeutics

|StartMidwest

Ddealroom.co

Source:Dealroom.co·Top10roundsintheMidwest,2025

TALENT&DIVERSITY

Originof$1B+CompanyFounders

USA

121

70.8%

Europe14

India

11

China

frica

Canada

2

Ukraine2

Uzbekistan2

Russia

2

RG

BUL

DNK

Sweden

Germany

=Poland

France

Israel

Mexico

Source:Dealroom.co·Countryoforiginof$1B+company/$10B+companyfounders

IDdealroom.co

StartMidwest

EDUCATION&TALENTPIPELINE

Where$1B+CompanyFoundersStudied

Michigan

13

Harvard

11

Stanford

米Oxford

3

米Cambridge2

Northwestern

9

+ETH·■INSEAD·London·一Amsterdam·+38more

Minnesota

8

MIT

7

Chicago

7

Wisconsin

UPenn

6

◎IT·Birla·=NUS·+25more

Miami

OhioSt.

Illi