As the St. Louis startup scene continues to grow, People outside our city are starting to take notice and we think you should too. Though rankings aren’t really the reason we do this, we think it’s encouraging to see STL become part of the national conversation on entrepreneurship and startups. Check back here often for new mentions of St. Louis in the tech and startup sphere.

1/ US cities with Fastest-Growing Startup Scenes
Business Insider | January 2016
The first thing you might notice about this list is that New York and Silicon Valley didn’t make the cut. Surprised? Part of the reason is that both of those locations are insanely expensive to live and work in and people from the startup community are looking to put down roots in a growing market – like St. Louis.

2/ The Right Way To Build A Tech City
Forbes | December 2015
New York Times bestselling author Christopher Steiner highlights the best ways to build a tech city by referencing some of the problems the startup community in Chicago has encountered. He writes that only businesses who focus on their core strengths have the ability to own their piece of the market and gain critical mass. And St. Louis is doing that now, with startups and companies focusing on the bioscience space.

3/ 2015’s Best Cities to Found a Startup Outside Silicon Valley and New York (and How They Did It)
The DataFox Blog | December 2015
Here, St. Louis snags the no. 9 spot out of 15. DataFox reviewed numbers for over 12,000 U.S.-based, pre-Series A companies, with St. Louis beating out Seattle and Austin in terms of availability of capital, early-stage company growth, startup density and affordability. The article even cites a Kaufman Foundation study that indicates our interconnected networks are one of the founding drivers of the city’s success.

4/ Cities Seeking Tech Success Need Cooperation From Local Big Companies
Forbes | November 2015
Forbes writer Christopher Steiner argues that St. Louis, unlike Chicago, is a small enough place that big companies and small companies have a tendency to strike up relationships and interactions with less friction than in larger cities. Indeed, St. Louis has put an impressive amount of work into creating valuable, startup ecosystems that can easily converse to merge ideas and workflows with bigger organizations and corporations.

5/ How a City’s Business Culture Helps Mold Its Startup Scene
Huffpost Business | August 2015
2015 was a great year of growth for startup companies and 2016 shows no signs of slowing down. Based on analysis of over 27 million U.S. businesses, Huffpost Business cites the growing generation of entrepreneurs who are choosing startup cities not just because of growing job rates and income, but because of community engagement and resources. The author highlights LaunchCode and Arch Grants as brilliant initiatives that help foster the community, proving that St. Louis helps its startups attract and retain a technical workforce.

6/ What Makes Silicon Prairie the Friendliest Tech Hub Ever
Inc | July 2015
While the cost of living in San Francisco and Silicon Valley skyrocket, some entrepreneurs are leaving the tech mecca for more affordable rent. Networks such as ITEN, Capital Innovators, and the #1 ranked Silicon Prairie co-working space, T-REX, help nurture innovative companies and bring solutions to small businesses on the rise.

7/ The Top 100 Co-working Spaces in the U.S.
Symmetry50 | June 2015
A great work space is important. Symmetry50, a bookkeeping service that specializes in startups, named two current St. Louis workspaces in their top 100 list.

8/ The 14 Best Startup Cities In America
PopularMechanics.com | February 2015
In 2015, Popular Mechanics named St. Louis no. 1 on their list of Best Startup Cities in America, writing that “the network in St. Louis came together like lightning.” To combat rising unemployment levels, a consortium of business leaders and universities prepared a plan to create more startups, with an ecosystem that doubled in size in as little as three years.

9/ 3 Reasons Why Startups Should Consider Launching in the Midwest
Entrepeneur.com | April 2014
St. Louis gets a nod along with other Midwest cities for beating Silicon Valley and New York City as the toughest region for recruiting technology professionals. For many startups in our location, recruitment can mean turning to resources closer to home like our major universities where fresh talent is just waiting to be tapped by local companies.

10/ Can St. Louis Become the Next Tech Hub?
Fortune | April 2014
In a direct assessment, writer Erin Griffeth asks if St. Louis can muster the strength to become the Midwest version of Silicon Valley. It can take several generations of successful deals for startup ecosystems to reach the top of their peak, and the St. Louis entrepreneur culture is very young and still in the first phase, with so much potential for future growth and revenue to be created.