Startups, venture capital growing in the commonwealth

(The Center Square) — Less than a month after being named America’s Top State for Business 2024 for the sixth time, celebrations of the commonwealth’s economic success continued Thursday with an announcement that more than 10,000 “high-growth,” “high-wage” startups were founded in Virginia in 2022 and 2023.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin is lauding economic growth as a victory for the state and his administration.

“On day one, I pledged to reinvigorate job growth and foster an environment for 10,000 new startups in Virginia,” said Youngkin on X. “Through our Compete to Win strategy, we’ve kept our promise and reached this incredible milestone by creating an environment where businesses can thrive.”

Virginia also placed eighth among the states in 2023 for “highest venture capital investment dollar activity,” according to a press release from the governor’s office citing data from a Richmond analytics company and the National Venture Capital Association.

This is the first time the commonwealth has ranked eighth, the first time since at least 2014 that the state has broken into the top 10 for venture capital investment, and the most startups a Virginia governor has seen during his first two years in office for 15 years, according to the governor’s office.

Youngkin attributed the achievements to Virginia's efforts to foster innovation and entrepreneurship, strengthen its talent pipeline, and provide tax breaks to its residents and the combined effect those efforts have had on the state’s business environment.

Youngkin made the announcement with the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation, which invests in “early-stage/growth startups” focused on technology and innovation and supports research, entrepreneurship and public-private partnerships in the commonwealth.