6 Emerging Startup Cities for 2015

Where successful startups sprout, employment typically follows.

We all know that Silicon Valley and San Francisco are undoubtedly a top hotbed for startups, but which other cities are joining in the ranks as the most booming cities for startup jobs?

Investigate these top emerging startup cities for 2015 to find out where the tech jobs are.

1. San Antonio

The founders of Rackspace, a large hosting firm in San Antonio have focused a lot of effort on fostering the startup scene there, says Michael Girdley, a tech industry veteran with The Geekdom Fund, a VC firm managed by Riverwalk Capital, LLC.

The founders of Rackspace, a large hosting firm in San Antonio have focused a lot of effort on fostering the startup scene there, says Michael Girdley, a tech industry veteran with The Geekdom Fund, a VC firm managed by Riverwalk Capital, LLC.

Geekdom, a San Antonio-based startup from Rackspace founder Graham Weston that offers collaborative workspaces for entrepreneurs has over 100 participating startups.

Not enough? As home to the NSA’s second largest facility, San Antonio is a destination for cybersecurity and related jobs.

2. Portland, Oregon

With Portland State University’s Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science, the University of Portland’s STEM Center, and startup accelerators such as Upstart Labs, Portland is attracting startups and venture investment, according to Dino Vendetti, Managing Director, Seven Peaks Ventures.

Notable startup companies growing into Portland include San Francisco-based New Relic, a software analytics company with 70+ employees in Portland and $100M+ in VC support.

PuppetLabs, the Portland startup behind Puppet software received $40M in VC funding this year. Urban Airship, a mobile marketing solutions firm received $25M in expansion funds last year.

3. Las Vegas

The Downtown Project that Tony Hsieh of Zappos initiated is the pulse of the Las Vegas startup scene, which includes the Vegas Tech Fund, a VC supporting tech startups, says Vendetti.

“A few years ago, Hsieh moved Zappos to Las Vegas and helped develop the old downtown in North Las Vegas, which had been abandoned. Now it is becoming a thriving startup center,” says Vendetti.

The Vegas Tech Fund is driving startups by offering venture capital totaling in the neighborhood of $350M+. Fund investment is dependent on startups moving to Las Vegas. Successful Las Vegas startups include Zirtual, which offers virtual assistants. Tony Hsieh is an investor in the firm.

4. Salt Lake City

Salt Lake City’s Utah Technology Council (UTC) helped create the Utah Science Technology and Research framework that with an initial $400M in funding draws talent to Salt Lake to establish new ventures.

The UTC, which supports efforts that attract startup activity boasts dozens of its own investors including Adobe, Ancestry and Overstock.

Successful Salt Lake City startups include Backcountry, an outdoor gear and clothing retailer.

5. Boulder, Colorodo

Boulder is home to Brad Feld and his Foundry Group, early stage investors who back startups. “Brad Feld and Foundry Group have been heavily involved in the growing Boulder community, its companies, and startup activity,” says Vendetti.

Boulder startups include SendGrid, a cloud-based transactional email service for companies and web apps, which has garnered $49M in investment.

6. Tucson, Arizona

Startup Tucson with its Hackathons, educational endeavors, and meetups for tech job candidates and startups is supporting a growing entrepreneurial community in this Arizona city.

Startup Tucson’s Thryve incubator invests in startups with tools that help them reach beyond their current developmental plateaus to reach new growth landmarks.

Booming Tucson area startups include Metropia, an intelligent traffic management system provider, according to Startup Tuscon CEO Justin Williams.

This article was written by David Geer, technology writer and journalist.