- Seattle ranked 6th in 2025 for seed-to-Series C capital raised on Carta, with nearly US$2B (2.9% share), matching its No. 6 rank in 2024.
- The Bay Area captured about 39% of all Carta-tracked funding, far ahead of New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and Austin.
- Seattle’s strongest sector showing was SaaS (4th nationally), while it placed roughly 6th–8th in AI, hardware, and fintech.
- Big local rounds skewed toward deep tech and climate/energy plays, including TerraPower, Stoke Space, Helion Energy, and Truveta.
Read More
The Carta data, as reported by GeekWire, confirms that Seattle’s position in the startup funding landscape remained stable yet distinctly distant from the top-tier markets in 2025. With nearly US$ 2 billion raised (2.9% share), its repeat appearance at No. 6 mirrors its 2024 performance, when it raised slightly more—US$ 2.1 billion—but shared the same rank.
The dominance of the San Francisco Bay Area, which collected nearly 39% of all Carta-tracked seed-through-Series C capital in 2025, underscores the extreme concentration of early- and mid-stage venture funding in a few metro areas. This leaves cities like Seattle in a position where growth is possible but capped by competitive disadvantages in attracting large rounds.
Sector breakdowns reveal relative strengths and gaps. Seattle’s 4th place finish in SaaS shows a competitive base in enterprise software. However, its poorer showings in AI, hardware, and fintech suggest that while the region has excellence in certain deep tech and climate tech plays (e.g. energy, biotech), it may be losing ground in the most capital-hungry, high-visibility sectors driving investor sentiment and where mega-rounds are more common.
The large funding rounds led by Seattle region companies—TerraPower (US$ 650 million), Stoke Space (US$ 510 million), Helion Energy (US$ 425 million), etc.—reflect a tilt toward deep tech, advanced energy, and space/clean tech, sectors with higher technical risk, longer development cycles, but potentially outsized returns. This suggests Seattle’s ecosystem is leaning into areas with significant capital requirements and strategic importance but also longer gestation periods.
Strategically, Seattle faces both opportunity and challenge. On one hand, its stable position suggests a resilient ecosystem with access to major rounds. On the other, unless efforts are made to break into AI, fintech, or similar sectors more aggressively, it risks falling further behind in terms of raw capital share and investor mindshare. Open questions include: What barriers prevent Seattle startups from accessing more capital in AI and fintech? How much of Seattle’s capital comes via local vs. external investors? What role do state or local incentives, infrastructure, and policy play in shaping sectoral strengths?
Supporting Notes
- Seattle raised nearly US$ 2 billion in 2025 through seed to Series C rounds on Carta’s platform, amounting to 2.9% of the total capital tracked; in 2024, Seattle raised US$ 2.1 billion and also placed 6th.
- The Bay Area claimed almost 39% of all capital in 2025; New York was second at 13.2%; Los Angeles third at 8.1%; Boston fourth at 7.9%; Austin fifth at 5%.
- Sector rankings for Seattle: 4th in SaaS; ranked 6th-8th in AI, hardware, and fintech.
- Some of Seattle’s largest 2025 startup funding rounds include: TerraPower (US$ 650 million), Stoke Space (US$ 510 million), Helion Energy (US$ 425 million), Truveta (US$ 320 million), Group14 (US$ 400 million), Chainguard (US$ 356 million), Temporal (US$ 146 million), Tidal Vision (US$ 140 million).
- Carta’s platform serves startups in managing their cap tables and tracks funding from seed through Series C.