UpSurge’s 2024 Baltimore Tech Ecosystem Report Reveals Thriving Tech Hub; Increase in Venture Funding and Job Growth in Baltimore MSA

The State of the Baltimore Tech Ecosystem Report is a comprehensive review of data related to startups, venture funding, and workforce, which serves as a source of truth for UpSurge and key stakeholders in the region and state. The report offers an invaluable tool for understanding the current health and potential of our ecosystem

When we launched the inaugural report in 2022, it was a first of its kind report. Now in its third year, the 2024 Baltimore Tech Ecosystem Report reflects our expanding understanding of what comprises the core elements of Baltimore’s tech startup ecosystem.

Like much of our work at UpSurge, this year’s report was a collaborative effort, synthesizing the knowledge, expertise, and learnings across our ecosystem into a source of truth that stakeholders can leverage to build data-informed strategies to grow the tech ecosystem.

Within the report, there are several key data points that inform our strategy at UpSurge.

1. 496 startups in the Baltimore MSA with over 60% in Baltimore City

Since 2021, the UpSurge team has supported over 200 founders and connected them to over $50M in capital to grow their companies. Our experience bringing two nationally-recognized Techstars programs to Baltimore over the last few years and working with over 40+ Entrepreneur Support Organizations (ESOs, including accelerators, incubators, and technical support programs) has highlighted our unique role in Baltimore as architect and connector of the tech ecosystem. As a lean team, we are eager to find ways to support all 496 companies and those soon-to-be formed through a more scalable approach to startup advancement.

We call this new approach UpRise, our startup advancement strategy. Our goal is to enable more startups to move through the advancement pipeline, reducing barriers for founders and increasing the velocity of startup growth. Through UpRise, we are amplifying and enhancing the work of ESOs in the region who provide direct founder services and support resource navigation.

Baltimore Tech Connect, launched in 2022, serves as a digital front door for tech founders. A coalition of 18 ESOs have committed to further investing in the platform over the next year, in partnership with EcoMap Technologies, enabling founders to better navigate ecosystem support at each stage of their business. Read more about UpRise in our recent blog post.?

2. 90% of venture funding went to Healthcare/Life Sciences and IT companies in 2023

Our healthcare (i.e. life sciences, digital health) and IT (i.e. cybersecurity, SaaS) industries are major assets for the region that UpSurge is focused on enhancing. The Baltimore consortium’s EDA Tech Hubs process, where UpSurge served as a leading partner and expert to the Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC), created momentum for collaboration on elevating the local ecosystem for technologies at the intersection of AI and health and doing it in an equitable way.

While the designation opens the door to significant federal funding for our region, we are building on the momentum created by the consortium. We are working with ecosystem partners to ensure this strategy can be implemented quickly and to spur more private and public sector investment in these areas of excellence. Private sector contributions like the launch of Blackbird Labs through a $100 million grant from The Stephen and Renee Bisciotti Foundation (Steve Bisciotti is the owner of the Baltimore Ravens) are critical; as are commitments from Johns Hopkins University, Morgan State, and University of Maryland Baltimore to build pathways for community-based entrepreneurs to leverage university assets to grow AI and life sciences companies.

At the state level, the legislature passed the Governor's 2024 budget, unlocking $8.4M in funding for Baltimore Tech, including expanding programs that are critical to technology development and commercialization, i.e. Maryland Innovation Initiative and technical support for SBIR and STTR applications.

3. Megadeals accounted for almost 40% of 2023 venture capital funding

Megadeals do not capture the entire spectrum of startup activity in Baltimore, but they are an important signal of maturity and success for our ecosystem and for early stage founders and investors. They also contribute to brand building for Baltimore’s tech ecosystem.

At UpSurge, we call the largest tech startups in Baltimore, who are captured in some of these megadeals, Baltimore’s “Future Enterprises.” In our 2024 report, we highlighted Future Enterprises, including b.well Connected Health, Cerebro Capital, Apkudo, Blackpoint Cyber, and Haystack Oncology, who are securing funding, closing major deals, building the technologies of the future, and expanding their footprints in Baltimore. We are working with this group of companies to help them grow and stay in Baltimore, learn from their experiences so that we can help other businesses growing in Baltimore, and to advocate for Baltimore Tech at the city, state, and national levels.

One of the first lessons we learned from leaders of Baltimore's Future Enterprises is the importance of high value connections. Through UpRise, we are laser-focused on filling the gap that exists between founders, investors, and potential customers, creating pathways for startups to hit critical capital, product, and revenue milestones on the way to megadeals. We are leveraging commitments from regional investors and large enterprises, while building a national network that our startups can tap.

4. The tech job growth rate is higher in Baltimore City (6.8%) compared to the region (5.3%), state (4.1%) and country (5.7%).

Baltimore continues to be the engine for the region and state’s economic growth and competitiveness. One of the keys to continuing to drive that growth rate is unlocking the potential of groups less engaged in the tech workforce. As TEDCO highlighted in their 2023 report, improving representation of underestimated groups like women and minorities is critical to the state’s success.

Black women, for example, are the most underrepresented, large demographic group, comprising less than 10% of each tech job occupation studied, despite representing 16% of the total workforce. On the upside, their tech employment has grown significantly over the past 5 years, with annual growth rates above 5%. Importantly, Black female founders in Baltimore are some of the most important leaders of our startup ecosystem.

Optionality and pathways into tech is still a privilege in Baltimore. At UpSurge, we intentionally focus on the tech job creators - entrepreneurs - ensuring more founders regardless of background can succeed. Entrepreneurship is a critical wealth-building pathway and our 2022 data shows that underestimated founders hire more diverse workforces. Alongside our work with startups, we are also supporting workforce development strategies through important partners like Catalyte (another Future Enterprise), Last Mile Education Fund, BioBuzz, NPower, Digital Harbor Foundation, SV Academy and Diligent, Maryland’s Service Year Program and more.

The 2024 State of the Tech Ecosystem Report demonstrates that Baltimore’s Tech Ecosystem is a healthy and competitive one with growing momentum on the way to becoming an Equitech city. At UpSurge, we are taking our programmatic cues from the data.