🏦 VC FOMO

👋 Hey — Egemen here.

Here’s the thing: The early-stage market isn’t cooling down.

It’s getting louder, tighter, and more uneven.

Fresh data shows that the top seed valuations are happening in just two cities in the US.

Things are brewing up more than ever.

Here’s a snapshot of what’s on the menu today:

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Seed valuations are climbing again, but the rise isn’t spread evenly.

Almost all of the action is concentrated in San Francisco and New York. Recent data shows that two out of every three startups with top-tier seed valuations are based in those two cities. San Francisco alone holds close to half of all rounds in the top decile.

This isn’t a coincidence. Most of the capital still sits there, the strongest founder networks are there, and investors are clustering around the same ideas. AI is the current driver, but the pattern isn’t new. The Bay Area has always priced startups ahead of the rest of the country, and the gap is widening again.

The rest of the U.S. is seeing slower, steadier growth in seed funding.

Valuations outside SF and NY haven’t moved up at the same rate, even when traction and metrics look similar. That suggests the premium is more about geography than fundamentals.

In practical terms, this creates two separate markets:

Investors are responding to the same excitement but applying different risk models depending on where the company is based.

If this continues, early-stage venture funding will become even more polarized. Capital will keep concentrating in a few cities while the rest of the ecosystem operates on a different tempo.

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Here’s what Nexos does: