美国各地区按系列区分风险投资回报（英）2026

Differentiating VC Returnsby Series Across US Regions Institutional Research Group Kyle Stanford, CAIADirector, VC Researchkyle.stanford@pitchbook.com How regional dynamics impact returns expectations pbinstitutionalresearch@pitchbook.com PitchBook is a Morningstar company providing the most comprehensive, mostaccurate, and hard-to-find data for professionals doing business in the private markets. Published on March 4, 2026 Contents Key takeaways Key takeaways Introduction •The US venture market has become increasingly concentrated in AI, large investors,and large markets, specifically the Bay Area. Annualized returns suggest thisconcentration into the Bay Area and New York is not at the sacrifice of returns, Market comparison Market return drivers Pressures on VC allocation •Annualized returns across different markets converge as investments move laterinto the venture life cycle, with several markets providing higher returns than theBay Area and New York. The Mountain region delivers a return of 22.8% at Series C, •26 of the 50 largest exits of the past decade have been Bay Area-based companies.These outsized exits have compensated for the high amount of capital invested inthe market. Yet, these large exits are not the only driver of market returns. The Bay •The aforementioned concentration has led to almost 50% of US market AUM beinglocated in the Bay Area. This includes $135.8 billion in dry powder and an NAV of$506.9 billion. As the second-largest market, New York, for comparison, holds dry Introduction VC investment trends are not homogeneous across the US, though they are oftenpresented that way. Valuations in Series B deals in the Bay Area are not the same asin Seattle or even New York. Fund sizes differ, as do financing timelines and startup The US venture market has become increasingly concentrated over the past few yearsas LPs’ risk aversion has led to capital pulling back from smaller, emerging marketsand clustering in tech hubs, especially the Bay Area. Though other markets haveexpressed a desire to become the next Silicon Valley, no market has come close to the As the market has concentrated over several years of poor fundraising, the risks ofinvesting in a small market differ from those in large markets. Capital availability islikely to be much lower, adding further challenges for companies raising follow-on The Bay Area has been the focal point of the venture market because of its unique mixof talent, capital, and risk-taking. This has created a market that is faster-paced andmore competitive than the rest of the US. Competition and capital availability drive up It is worth analyzing the return differences across these markets to see whether thereis a gap in returns catalyzing the reset, or whether markets are underinvested. Our Returns by Series datasetpresents US venture market returns in aggregate. The modellooks at investments at seed through Series D+ and analyzes the returns of each on an Breaking the model into different markets shows a widely varied market and canpoint to underinvested markets, as well as uncover problematic areas that could add Market comparison A simple analysis of exits over the past decade shows that the Bay Area leads allmarkets in value generation. During that time, the Bay Area has accounted for 24.2%of all exits in the US and 35.8% of total exit value. However, those figures do not differwidely from the deal counts or value proportions the market drives. The Bay Area has However, looking at annualized Returns by Series data makes a strong case for whyLPs continue to put capital to work in tech hubs, particularly in the Bay Area and NewYork. Bay Area investments have generated 31.2% and 32.2% annualized returns atseed and Series A, respectively. New York investments have produced annualized This may not be surprising. The ability to continually attract such a large a mount ofcapital and talent must be predicated on strong returns. The return differences between these markets and the rest of the US are star k. Whenwe look outside the Bay Area, West Coast investments—largely based in LA, S an Diego,and Seattle—have produced just 14.4% returns for seed investments, w hich is half theperformance of the Bay Area. The Mid-Atlantic, excluding New York, has pr oduced More importantly, strong returns have been delivered by investments across all seriesin the Bay Area. These investments outperform the broader US at every stage, despitethe higher valuations paid, converging at Series D+ rounds to near parity. This explains Stronger returns at seed and Series A will help concentrate capital, as access to topinvestments will naturally be more difficult, favoring local capital. This is especiallytrue when megafunds continue to target seed and Series A investments. The impact The Great Lakes region, for example, has delivered strong returns for Series A andlater-stage investments, but seed returns have offered investors the lowest rewardfor th