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Looking for venture capital? You better cruise the streets of San Francisco and the boulevards of Silicon Valley.

California remains the number one place for venture capital activity with $8.9 billion invested in the state during the fourth quarter, according to the MoneyTree report released this month by CB Insights and PwC. In fact, the San Francisco region saw a whopping $5.1 billion invested into startups, a 23 percent increase in dollars invested. Nearby Silicon Valley — home to tech giants like Apple and Google and venture capital powerhouses like Benchmark and Andreessen Horowitz — saw investment totals increase to $2.6 billion, up 18 percent.

New York state ranked second, with $2.8 billion invested in the quarter. That was followed by Massachusetts with $2 billion — up from $1.3 billion in the previous quarter.

Washington state — home to Microsoft, Amazon and Expedia — fell to ninth place in venture capital investments. In the fourth quarter, venture capitalists invested $300 million in Washington, down from $546 million in the third quarter. Washington ranked in 6th place for venture capital dollars in the first, second and third quarters of 2017. In the fourth quarter of 2015, the state fell to as low as 15th place.

In total, venture capitalists invested $18.7 billion across 1,158 deals in the fourth quarter, including 33 so-called “mega-rounds” of $100 million or more. That means more than 40 percent of all venture dollars flowed to the San Francisco Bay Area, including Silicon Valley.

The top 15 states for VC money and deals. (Source: CB Insights and PWC)
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