RECENT RANKINGS GIVE MENTION TO AREA CITIES
The North Texas startup scene got some national recognition from both CNBC and Entrepreneur Magazine recently.
CNBC looked at the top 20 best metropolitan areas to found a startup. Dallas placed eighth on the list with Dallas Fort Worth International Airport being the biggest reason why.
Other factors cited in the rankings were the area’s growing population, affordable cost of living, and a low unemployment rate.
North Texas startups received $104.1 million in venture capital dollars in the first quarter of 2016, with local software companies getting the majority of it.
The region’s overall ranking was 840 out of 1,500 points.
Austin ranked No. 1 on the list with 926 out of 1,500 points. Houston’s lower cost of living helped snag it sixth in the rankings, just ahead of Dallas.
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Not surprisingly, Austin placed high on the list at No. 2. Taking the top spot was Boulder, Colorado, home of the University of Colorado. Having a university in town is a common theme throughout the list.
That’s certainly the case for Denton, which ranked 26th on the list. The article points out that there was almost no tech scene in Denton just five years ago. Since then, coworking spaces have blossomed and business growth is up 10 percent while employment grew 6 percent.
Much of that is attributed to the University of North Texas and its Innovation Greenhouse. The Dallas Entrepreneur Center also just opened a new coworking space in Denton called Stoke.
Fort Worth took the 35th spot with its “stellar track record for helping startups,” plentiful coworking options, and the Neeley Entrepreneurship Center at Texas Christian University.
Business growth has increased 7 percent in Fort Worth from 2011 to 2015, while employment growthwent up 3 percent, according to the rankings.
Some surprising cities that ranked ahead of Denton and Fort Worth were Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Provo, Utah,which is home to Brigham Young University.
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R E A D N E X T
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The hybrid event in August will take place in person at SMU and virtually. The seventh annual Dallas Startup Week powered by Capital One is Dallas-Fort Worth's largest event focused on driving entrepreneurial success, economic impact, and innovation in the region.
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"It’s just cool that a Texas-based AI and robotics company can help a Texas-based burrito company expand in ways we could only imagine just a few years ago," says Alex Eagle, Chief Executive Officer for Freebirds World Burrito.
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You'll find deadlines coming up for a new accelerator program; and many more opportunities.
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The Women of Innovation Summit will take place on Aug. 4 at Southern Methodist University’s McFarlin Auditorium during Dallas Startup Week, powered by Capital One. Women are encouraged to bring their whole work teams and even friends to make the most of a day of growth and development.
