Detroit

How the index works

Every company and fund raising money privately in the US files a Form D notice with the SEC within 15 days of its first sale. We count each new offering once, in the quarter of its first notice, at the amount sold in its latest amendment. Startup raises are offerings by operating companies in technology, health care, energy, manufacturing, business services, and financial services (excluding banks and debt-only offerings). Venture funds are pooled funds that describe themselves as venture capital funds, excluding single-deal and series vehicles (SPVs) and feeder funds.

Offerings are placed by the issuer’s ZIP code in its combined statistical area, or its metropolitan area where there isn’t one. Addresses shared by 25 or more unrelated issuers (registered agents, fund administrators, mail drops) are left out, because they don’t say where a company works.

Development averages four measures over the whole period: the number of startup raises, the dollars they sold, the number of venture funds, and the dollars they raised. Each is scaled 0–100 on a log scale between the smallest and largest ranked area. Growth averages, for the same four measures, the change in the last two years against the two before and in the last year against the one before, as a percentile among ranked areas. Overall is 70% Development plus 30% Growth. Areas need 150 startup raises and 10 venture funds in the period to be ranked.

Form D undercounts: some issuers never file, and amounts are self-reported. Amounts sold grow as issuers amend their notices, so the latest quarters’ dollars run low until they do. Delaware and Wyoming still include companies that list a smaller registered agent’s address rather than where they work. Firms are placed in a metro by their headquarters city. Data through September 30, 2026. Sources: SEC Form D data sets; US Census Bureau 2020 ZCTA to county relationship file; OMB 2023 metropolitan area delineations (NBER county crosswalk).