Venture Capital investments are finding their way into areas outside of the the traditional hotbeds. And areas like the American Rustbelt are poised to benefit from that. While Buffalo isn't exactly its own state (and gets vastly overshadowed by the NYC-centric data in NY), the same phenomena as been experienced here --along with all of upstate. Investors are looking for opportunities, looking for value, and looking for companies with strong teams, strong fundamentals, and market opportunities for substantial ROI. 

A new report out by Crunchbase provides hard data that VCs are finding that value in traditionally overlooked areas.

COVID has certainly accelerated that shift as populations have migrated, workers have gone remote, and companies have adapted to a capital market that is starting to disregard boundaries. "Sure, there are geopolitical issues pushing people away, but more than that — and COVID has accelerated this — entrepreneurs are just realizing they have choices,” the Crunchbase report notes.

This bodes well for cities like Buffalo, its startups, and its investors.