50 most funded tech startups in the United States in 2020

At TechStartups, we primarily write about the underdog tech startups that you probably have never heard of. We’re rooting for these up-and-coming startups partly because they do not have the money and resources required to get the visibility and exposure to get their names out there. The other reason is that we hope one day these startups will one day disrupt the status quo and challenge the current tech giants that have been using their monopoly power to gain dominance and influence our ways of life.

However, it is equally important that the underdog startups know who their competitors are or who they are competing against. Unlike tech giants with billions of dollars war chest, understanding the competitors is critical and fundamental to the success of the underdog startups. As such, we’re going to feature the most well-funded tech startup in every U.S. state. Hats off to the CBInsights team who has done the heavy lifting of number crunching to providing visual analytics of the 50 most funded startups in the United States in 2020.

Every year, CBInsights released its annual list of the most well-funded tech startup in every US State. This year is no different. Back in May 2019 when we first started this series, Uber topped the list with $15.7 billion in disclosed equity funding (as of 4/9/2019). Uber has since gone public and no longer on the 2020 list.

CBInsights’ map infographic shows the top tech startups in every US state, as determined by funding totals. The 2020 most funded tech startup companies include JUUL Labs, Epic Games, and Magic Leap. The data was culled using CB Insights database of startup information where they identified the most-well funded VC-backed technology startups by state based on disclosed equity funding. The data does not include funding from debt, loans, and lines of credit, and only considered tech companies that have raised at least $1M of equity funding since January 2014.

The full list of startups is included below the map.

Please click to enlarge.

KEY TAKEAWAYS 

• The most well-funded US tech startup is California-based e-cigarette company JUUL Labs, with a whopping $15B in disclosed equity funding.
• After JUUL, the most well-funded startups on our map are North Carolina-based video game developer Epic Games ($3.4B in equity funding) and Florida-based AR/VR company Magic Leap ($3B).
• Our map features 15 unicorn companies valued at $1B+, including real estate platform Compass (NY, $6.4B valuation), restaurant management system Toast (MA, $4.9B), and delivery service GoPuff (PA, $3.9B).
• Minnesota-based Arctic Wolf Networks is the most recently minted unicorn on our map: the cybersecurity company reached a $1.3B valuation following its Series E round in October 2020.
• 5 startups on the map have raised over $1B in total disclosed equity financing: JUUL Labs, Epic Games, Magic Leap, Compass, and GoPuff. All of these are valued at over $1B.
• Including the 5 startups mentioned above, 32 companies on the map have raised $100M or more in equity funding.
• 16 of the startups on our map have raised $50M or less in equity funding. The VC-backed startup with the least funding on the map is Oklahoma’s SendaRide ($1.7M).

Since our last update of the map in March 2020, 3 previously featured startups have exited:

• Georgia-based Kabbage was acquired by American Express in August 2020.
• Idaho-based Cradlepoint was acquired by Ericsson in September 2020, in a deal valued at $1.1B.
• Ohio-based Root Insurance went public via IPO in October 2020.

*Company is not VC-backed