BizWorld Updates Monthly Draper Innovation Index U.S.
States Compete to Land in Top Ten of Best Places to Launch a Startup

• Texas and North Carolina Reclaim 3^rd and 4^th Place in DII US, Respectively
• Colorado Slips from 3^rd to 5^th
• Virginia and Georgia Fall Out of Top 10, Replaced by Nevada and Idaho
• Montana Posts Strongest Performance Across All DII Scenarios
• Massachusetts (to 24^th) and Nebraska (to 42^nd) Suffer Largest DeclinesCalifornia Drops to 16^th

Oakland, California – BizWorld announces the September 2024 update to the Draper Innovation Index U.S. (DII US), which evaluates each state’s innovation environment and entrepreneurship climate. Published monthly since 2021, the DII US provides the most well-rounded, up-to-date ranking of entrepreneurial locations, reflecting both traditional and emerging economic metrics, from taxes and regulations to venture capital investment, cryptocurrency friendliness, and blockchain investment trends.

“Several states, including Texas, Montana and Idaho, rose across all three DII US scenarios,” said BizWorld founder Tim Draper. “In all three cases, this across-the-board rise was due to a combination of multiple strengths in different areas. This points to something essential – the necessity of pursuing multiple different avenues of growth rather than depending on a single strategy. While cryptocurrency and blockchain-related investments are increasingly impactful on DII US rankings, fundamental strategies like tax policy, business-related regulations and attracting overall venture capital investment remain extremely important in driving performance in our rankings.”

Top Takeaways from the DII US September 2024 Update

• Texas rose across all three scenarios due to its strong business formation statistics and overall investment growth. It climbed from 4^th to 3^rd in the Balanced scenario, from 7^th to 5^th in Tech Innovation and from 5^th to 4^th in Regulatory and Tax. 
• North Carolina improved from 5^th to 4^th in the DII US Balanced due to a strong performance in business formation statistics. 
• Colorado fell from 3^rd to 5^th in the balanced scenario due to the rise of Texas and North Carolina as well as its comparatively weaker business formation statistics. 
• Virginia and Georgia both fell out of the top DII US top ten due to minimal cryptocurrency/blockchain-related investments and relatively weak business formation statistics.
• Nevada rose into the DII US top ten due to its strong performance across most DII US indicators. 
• Idaho climbed up the ranks of all three scenarios due to its strong overall investment growth and business formation statistics. It rose from 14^th to 10^th in the DII US
• Montana saw the largest improvement across all DII US scenarios, rising from 21^st to 13^th thanks to the single largest percentage increase in cryptocurrency/blockchain investments combined with above-average business formation performance.
• Massachusetts fell from 20^th to 24^th in the DII US due to very weak business formation statistics.
• Nebraska dropped 4 places in the DII US and 7 places in Tech Innovation due no new crypto investments and weak business formation trends.
• Despite increases in cryptocurrency and blockchain-related investments, California slipped from 15^th to 16^th in the DII Global due to weak overall venture capital investment trends.

“Montana enjoyed the biggest improvement this month,” said BizWorld Chief Economic Advisor Dr. Wallace Walrod. “It rose up the ranks across all three scenarios and is now in 13^th place in the Balanced scenario. Despite having the nation’s 44^th largest population and its 48^th largest GDP, Montana is rising rapidly when it comes to the best states for entrepreneurship. From the beginning, one of this project’s main goals was to reflect multiple aspects of what it means to be the best states for innovation and entrepreneurship, not just in traditional major economic hotspots. Montana’s rise reflects this. It also reflects how even the smallest state economies can take steps to become better environments for innovators, entrepreneurs, and investors.”

The DII US will continue to post monthly updates which can be accessed here.

About BizWorld

BizWorld.org is a global non-profit organization based in Oakland, CA, whose mission is to enable youth from all backgrounds to unlock the power of entrepreneurship to create career opportunities, inspire self-reliance, and build confidence that drives economic prosperity globally. Founded over 25 years ago by Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper, BizWorld.org programs teach students real-world 21st century skills and leadership that encourage them to become responsible leaders and entrepreneurs of tomorrow. More than 850,000 students in more than 100 countries have participated in BizWorld programs. https://www.bizworld.org/