{"slug": "california-still-dominates-technologys-nectar-venture-capital", "title": "California still dominates technology’s nectar: venture capital", "summary": "California dominates U.S. venture capital, securing 70% of all VC funding in the year ending June, driven largely by AI investments. The state's economy grew 3.7% annually over 20 years, outpacing the national average, with the information industry contributing 30% of that growth.", "body_md": "**Getting your**\n\n[Trinity Audio](//trinityaudio.ai)player ready...One reason California’s economy succeeds despite the numerous hurdles it puts in front of industry is that it’s the king of venture capital, the nectar of big-scale business breakthroughs.\n\nInvestors offered young U.S. companies a total of $589 billion in much-needed seed money in the year ended in June, according to my trusty spreadsheet’s [peek at PitchBook reports](https://pitchbook.com/news/reports/vc).\n\nDuring those 12 months, Bay Area-based companies got $411 billion of these investments, primarily to fund the battle for artificial intelligence supremacy. That’s 70% of all VC funding, which spurs immediate business activity that could produce the next corporate giant or two.\n\nMeanwhile, Southern California got $21 billion, or 4% of all venture capital investments. That may seem small, but only New York City got more: $45 billion, or 8%. Boston was No. 4 at $20 billion, or 3%.\n\nThis cash inflow seems to be a ringing endorsement from smart investors taking rather large risks: California ain’t perfect, but if you want to change the business world, it’s the place to be.\n\n#### Fast growth\n\nLook at the impact of this innovation mindset on California’s economy, as reflected in the [calculation of gross domestic product](https://www.bea.gov/data/gdp/gdp-state).\n\nCalifornia has averaged 3.7% growth in this broad measure of business output over the last 20 years. That’s the seventh-fastest jump among the states and well above the nation’s 2.1% expansion pace.\n\nThe “information” industry, an economic niche dominated by tech-savvy folks who attract all that venture capital, accounted for 30% of California’s GDP growth since 2006. Nationally, information was only 16% of U.S. GDP growth.\n\nThe information industry was more important to growth in just two other states: Connecticut, with a 45% share of its meek 0.8% historic annual expansion pace, and Washington state, with 35% of its 3.7% growth – second-fastest among the states.\n\nAnd in 2026’s first quarter, when California’s 3.7% GDP growth ranked second-best among the states, [the highest ranking since 2013](https://tinyurl.com/ca24gdp), information was tied to 36% of the Golden State’s business output.\n\n*Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com*", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/california-still-dominates-technologys-nectar-venture-capital", "canonical_source": "https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/07/17/california-still-dominates-technologys-nectar-venture-capital/", "published_at": "2026-07-17 14:42:01+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-17 14:53:09.229094+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-startups", "ai-infrastructure"], "entities": ["PitchBook", "Bay Area", "Southern California", "New York City", "Boston", "Jonathan Lansner"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/california-still-dominates-technologys-nectar-venture-capital", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/california-still-dominates-technologys-nectar-venture-capital.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/california-still-dominates-technologys-nectar-venture-capital.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/california-still-dominates-technologys-nectar-venture-capital.jsonld"}}