Charleston
Metro area · United States · Pop. 849K
Largest rounds
Largest funding rounds in Charleston
A live treemap of the largest VC rounds. Each cell is one round into Charleston-headquartered companies, grouped by Dealroom sector.
Largest rounds in Charleston - 2026
Startup funnel
Charleston's power-law funnel
From the first cheque written to a $10B+ outcome. Each arrow shows what fraction of companies at one stage graduate to the next, tracked by founding cohort.
* C→Unicorn and Unicorn→Decacorn rates are derived from current counts (no founding-cohort data); the four mid-funnel rates use Dealroom's cohort tracking.
VC investment
How much venture capital flows into Charleston
VC investment into Charleston-headquartered, VC-backed companies, broken down by round size, company location, sector and funding stage.
Notable companies
Top private companies in Charleston
Up to 20 names per tier from Dealroom's tracked dataset. Decacorns are valued $10B+, unicorns $1B+, thoroughbreds have crossed $100M in revenue.
Academia
Charleston's academic flywheel
Companies founded by university alumni or spun out of research, plus the institutions producing the most founders tied to Charleston.
Location comparison
How Charleston stacks up
Compare Charleston with peers from the same country (United States) — switch between combined EV, EV growth, and a growth × size view. Expand the table for the full ranking.
Combined enterprise value of each ecosystem.
Top cities in United States ranked by combined EV. Charleston's row is highlighted (#12).
| # | Ecosystem | Combined EV | EV growth | Unicorns | VC invested | Tracked startups |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bay Area | $20T | 8.0× | 866 | $156B | 24.5K |
| 2 | Seattle | $2.9T | 4.4× | 68 | $6.6B | 2,966 |
| 3 | Austin | $2T | 13.9× | 62 | $8.1B | 2,649 |
| 4 | New York City | $1.6T | 5.1× | 329 | $32.3B | 16.6K |
| 5 | Boston | $1.2T | 4.5× | 211 | $13.4B | 6,323 |
| 6 | Los Angeles | $1.2T | 5.7× | 158 | $16.3B | 8,592 |
| 7 | Miami | $673B | 12.8× | 40 | $2.6B | 2,865 |
| 8 | San Diego | $330B | 5.1× | 64 | $3.4B | 2,224 |
| 9 | Chicago | $266B | 3.7× | 52 | $2.2B | 2,833 |
| 10 | Washington DC | $265B | 3.3× | 55 | $3.5B | 2,343 |
| 11 | Dallas | $203B | 3.8× | 35 | $1.6B | 2,033 |
| 68 | Charleston | $4B | 2.5× | 1 | $77M | 232 |
More data
Explore Dealroom data →Get the full Charleston ecosystem on Dealroom
Live company-by-company deal flow, full cap tables, founder pedigrees, hiring signals and revenue trajectories.