46 states and Washington D.C. had at least one tech exit in 2014. California retained the number one spot with more than 520 private company tech exits, which was more than the next 5 states combined. New York came in at a distant second with over 150 exits including OnDeck Capital and Varonis Systems. Massachussets was the only other state with more than 100 tech exits, beating out Texas which fell to rank 4 and below the 100 tech exit threshhold.
Somewhat surprisingly, Florida beat out the tech hubs of Washington and Illinois with the exits of Prolexic Technologies and BlueKite. Maine, Arkansas, and Kentucky entered the rankings in 2014 after being shut out in 2013.
Other notable ranking changes between 2013 and 2014 included:
- Indiana, which was previously ranked at 43, jumped to rank 25 in 2014. Exits included CSInet and Fifth Gear.
- Idaho, which was also previously ranked at 43, jumped to 31 in 2014 with exits such as BookLamp and Agilefront
- Nevada dropped 7 ranks, previously being ranked at number 18 in 2013 falling to 25.
- At the bottom of the table, Louisiana, New Mexico, and South Dakota all fell by more than 10 spots.
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