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Top 100 US Cities for Tech Acquisitions

The top 20 US cities accounted for 41% of all private company tech acquisitions since 2012.
  • October 4, 2014
  • October 4, 2014

While venture capital returns follow a power law, tech acquisitions, while concentrated, are a bit more scattered geographically. According to CB Insights data, San Francisco has accounted for 9% of all US private company tech acquisitions since 2012, while the top 20 cities account for a 41% share.  Note: This is all private tech company exits irrespective of prior financing.  This is not VC-backed exit only although they are a subset of the total.

When looking at larger metropolitan areas, Silicon Valley as a whole has accounted for nearly 23% of all US tech acquisitions since 2012, over twice the share as the second largest geographic region, SoCal,  which saw a 9% US tech acquisition share since 2012. Overall, the US’ four biggest VC markets, Silicon Valley, New York, Boston, and SoCal, have accounted for nearly 46% of all US tech acquisitions in the time period.

top 100 us tech cities acquisitions v2

Not surprisingly San Francisco and New York topped the list for most acquisitions, and were followed by somewhat less-hyped cities like Seattle, Austin, and Chicago rounded out the top 5 and beat out Boston and Los Angeles. See below for the complete ranking of cities by number of acquisitions.

The Top 100 Ranked US Geos for Tech Acquisitions since 2012
Rank City State # of Acquisitions
1 San Francisco CA 335
2 New York NY 282
3 Seattle WA 76
3 Austin TX 76
5 Chicago IL 65
6 Palo Alto CA 59
7 Boston MA 57
8 Los Angeles CA 56
9 Mountain View CA 55
10 Santa Clara CA 49
10 Atlanta GA 49
12 San Jose CA 46
13 San Diego CA 45
14 Portland OR 40
15 San Mateo CA 38
15 Houston TX 38
17 Cambridge MA 34
18 Irvine CA 33
18 Dallas TX 33
20 Sunnyvale CA 32
20 Boulder CO 32
22 Redwood City CA 24
22 Minneapolis MN 24
22 Denver CO 24
25 Las Vegas NV 23
26 Pittsburgh PA 20
27 Santa Monica CA 19
27 Miami FL 19
29 Menlo Park CA 18
29 Bellevue WA 18
31 Emeryville CA 17
31 Columbus OH 17
33 Scottsdale AZ 16
33 Washington DC 16
33 Philadelphia PA 16
33 Orlando FL 16
33 Charlotte NC 16
33 Burlington MA 16
33 Carlsbad CA 16
40 Salt Lake City UT 15
40 Columbia MD 15
42 Alpharetta GA 14
43 Sacramento CA 13
43 Reston VA 13
43 Irving TX 13
46 Waltham MA 12
46 Stamford CT 12
46 Phoenix AZ 12
46 Herndon VA 12
46 Arlington VA 12
51 Raleigh NC 11
51 Fort Lauderdale FL 11
51 Baltimore MD 11
51 Birmingham AL 11
55 Tampa FL 10
55 Rochester NY 10
55 Plano TX 10
55 Milwaukee WI 10
55 Berkeley CA 10
55 Costa Mesa CA 10
61 Norcross GA 9
61 Kansas City MO 9
61 Hollywood CA 9
61 Manchester NH 9
61 Bedford NH 9
61 Campbell CA 9
67 Jersey City NJ 8
67 Indianapolis IN 8
67 Louisville KY 8
67 Burlingame CA 8
67 Englewood CO 8
67 Fremont CA 8
73 Rockville MD 7
73 Redmond WA 7
73 Wilmington NC 7
73 Saint Paul MN 7
73 Venice CA 7
73 Richardson TX 7
73 Spring TX 7
73 Omaha NE 7
73 Littleton CO 7
73 Milpitas CA 7
73 Pasadena CA 7
73 Oakland CA 7
73 Lexington MA 7
73 Los Altos CA 7
73 Marlborough MA 7
73 Hudson NH 7
73 Newport Beach CA 7
73 Madison WI 7
73 Fairfax VA 7
73 Alexandria VA 7
73 Cleveland OH 7
73 Colorado Springs CO 7
73 Concord MA 7
96 Sterling VA 6
96 Tempe AZ 6
96 Saint Louis MO 6
96 Shawnee Mission KS 6
96 Woburn MA 6
96 Pleasanton CA 6
96 Nashville TN 6
96 Morrisville NC 6
96 Overland Park KS 6
96 McLean VA 6
96 Evanston IL 6
96 Bloomington IN 6
96 Durham NC 6
96 Aliso Viejo CA 6
96 Bethesda MD 6
96 Dayton OH 6
96 Buffalo NY 6
96 Duluth GA 6
96 Beaverton OR 6
96 Cupertino CA 6

For more data surrounding tech M&A activity by sector, stage or geography, create a free trial account below for access to CB Insights venture capital database.

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