"Silicon Valley investors continue to increase their investment activity in Colorado, and I expect that to continue growing," said Sean Jacobsohn, a partner at Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) in San Francisco.
"There have been several big exits in the area and many companies who've gotten to significant scale," he told Xinhua Wednesday.
Jacobsohn is an expert in start-up high tech fundings, acquisitions and mergers, helping Boulder-based Rallyteam secure 8.6 million U.S. dollars in venture money two years ago - capital used to increase employee involvement with the successful start-up.
Workday, a Silicon Valley software developer that manages human resources and finances, raised 230 million U.S. dollars when it went public in 2012, acquired Rallyteam, also an HR design group, last year.
Also just last year, Software multinational titan Adobe, headquartered in San Jose, acquired Denver's Marketo, and quickly opened a 50,000 square-foot office in downtown Denver, adding 200 tech jobs to the city core overnight.
A provider of engagement marketing software and solutions, Marketo, listed as a 2017 "Built in Colorado Top-100 Digital Company," chose the state capital because, "as a top ranked place to live and the home of the vibrant technology community, Denver has a great source of talent to strengthen Marketo's already exceptional global workforce," the company said in a statement.
"(Denver's talent base) has enabled some companies to get to significant scale with mostly local talent, as well as has attracted companies headquartered outside the region to make the area it's second headquarters," Jacobsohn told Xinhua Wednesday.
Denver's total tech employment now ranks in America's top five cities, according to a Cushman-Wakefield report published last month. Tech savvy venture capitalists are taking notice.
PIPELINE
Some 2,000 kilometers east of the Bay Area, just past the spectacular Rocky Mountains, sits Denver, isolated and virtually alone in America's vast west.
But the Mile-High City's remote location has not escaped the eyes of entrepreneurs and highly-successful high-tech wizards from the west.
According to the Colorado Impact Fund, there are a number of Colorado venture firms in Colorado connecting investors and entrepreneurs today - including First Mile Ventures, Blue Note Ventures, GAN Ventures, and the Greater Colorado Venture Fund.
In just the past decade, Denver has emerged as a beacon of investment light in America's vast western desert, attracting record numbers of millennials to its climate, amenities, jobs and outdoors lifestyle.
According to a study this summer from the National Association of Realtors, out of 100 metros examined Denver "continues to rank in the top 10 for its ability to attract and retain millennials."
An article from Colorado-based KOAA-News from July noted, "Millennials Love Colorado and Colorado Springs," stating that in 2017, more than 21,000 millennials (identified by the study as those between the ages of 20 and 34) migrated to Colorado.
"The area attracts strong technical and business talent from all of the country and retains a high percentage of its university talent," Jacobsohn said.
As a result, investment in Colorado continues to climb.
Colorado venture investments jumped 23 percent from 2017 to 1.47 billion U.S. dollars in 2018 - the most landed by the state's startups since they received 1.53 billion U.S. dollars in 2001, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette this year.
INVESTMENT CENTRAL
"Even with concerns of a recession, dour outlooks for flailing tech unicorns, any decline in venture investments - more than 1 billion U.S. dollars in capital has so far been invested in Colorado companies," said a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) study released this month.
"The number of Colorado startups and companies receiving venture capital has recovered since the dot-com bubble burst in 2000," the PWC report said, that 2018 was the biggest year since 2001, and that 2019 numbers were strong despite a national downturn sparked by fears of a recession.
Jacobsohn and other venture capitalists see increasing domestic investment in the Rocky Mountain State - into the unforeseeable future.
And with the participation of multinationals companies and international investors, insiders also say future China participation has great promise.
"The best U.S. companies eventually need to figure out their China strategy, so investors in China could be great partners for us and some of our portfolio companies," Jacobsohn said.
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