South Dakota
State · United States · Pop. 925K
Enterprise value · 2015–2025
South Dakota grew 4.6× since 2015
Combined enterprise value of every tracked startup headquartered in South Dakota that's still operating today — public and private companies combined, totalled by founding-year cohort.
Adjacent regions by EV
Startup funnel
South Dakota'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.
Academia
South Dakota's academic flywheel
Companies founded by university alumni or spun out of research, plus the institutions producing the most founders tied to South Dakota.
Vs. similarly-sized ecosystems
How South Dakota stacks up
Peers chosen from the same country (United States), sized closest to South Dakota by combined EV. The scatter plots growth × current size — outliers in the upper-right are ecosystems compounding fastest.
Top overview
United States — top regions
Top regions in United States ranked by combined EV. South Dakota's row is highlighted.
| # | Ecosystem | Combined EV | 5-yr EV growth | Unicorns | VC invested | Tracked startups |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | $21.7T | 7.7× | 976 | $180B | 36.4K |
| 2 | Western United States (Pacific, excl. Bay Area) | $4.8T | 8.1× | 279 | $29.9B | 16.3K |
| 3 | Northeastern United States | $3.5T | 4.9× | 571 | $52.8B | 30.2K |
| 4 | Washington (State) | $3.1T | 10.6× | 72 | $7.3B | 3,203 |
| 5 | Texas | $2.3T | 10.0× | 107 | $11.2B | 6,215 |
| 6 | New York State | $1.5T | 5.4× | 270 | $29.9B | 15.3K |
| 7 | Southeastern United States | $1.3T | 5.3× | 145 | $11.4B | 13.6K |
| 8 | Massachusetts | $1.2T | 4.5× | 184 | $13.5B | 5,968 |
| 9 | Florida | $729B | 9.7× | 49 | $3.9B | 4,511 |
| 10 | Midwestern United States | $654B | 3.6× | 104 | $9.2B | 10.8K |
| 11 | Western United States (Mountain) | $346B | 4.0× | 86 | $9.1B | 5,151 |
| 54 | South Dakota | $536.9M | 4.6× | 0 | $175M | 51 |
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