Greater Baltimore startups raised $559.8 million in 2025, but fewer dollars

Greater Baltimore startups raised $559.8 million across 77 venture deals last year, a 28 percent jump in deal count from 60 rounds in 2024 — yet total capital fell roughly 16 percent from $664.7 million the prior year. The figures come from UpSurge Baltimore, the technology ecosystem builder integrated under the Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC), which has tracked the region's startups since January 2025 and now monitors nearly 670 companies across 24 industries.

Rimjhim Khandelwal, director of venture advancement for the UpSurge team at GBC, calls the region's startup ecosystem "nascent," with venture activity concentrated heavily in life sciences.

"We've had a few successes but only in a certain industry," said Khandelwal. "Most of our deals come from life sciences because of our research institutions and the expertise and assets we have in our region."

Which industries anchor the region?

Life sciences is a designated "lighthouse" industry for Greater Baltimore, tied to existing strengths in hospitals and higher education. Defense and aerospace qualify as lighthouse industries too, supported by the region's proximity to federal agencies.

Baltimore City remains the center of startup activity, but Howard County has become a significant player. The county attracted nearly $208 million of the region's $559.8 million in 2025 venture capital.

"While we used to be 'eds, meds and feds,' we are slowly but surely moving into different industries," said Khandelwal. "There's a lot of activity happening in Howard County, and there's a whole host of cyber companies that have raised a significant amount of venture funding."

The region is also expanding into fintech, e-commerce and cybersecurity.

Why did capital fall while deals rose?

Quarterly figures show how volatile the numbers have become. In the first quarter of 2026, Greater Baltimore companies raised roughly $100 million across 22 rounds. In the second quarter, rounds increased to 26, but total capital fell to $70.6 million.

Khandelwal attributes the pattern to a national venture market where investment is increasingly concentrated in fewer, larger deals. Rising capital costs and more cautious investment decisions have made it harder for startups to secure funding.

Artificial intelligence compounds the challenge. AI companies accounted for more than 80 percent of national venture capital in the second quarter, Khandelwal said, with much of it concentrated in Silicon Valley and New York. AI and AI-related companies represented just 16 percent of Greater Baltimore's venture deals.

The region's opening, in her view, is applied AI in fields where it already has expertise: health care, cybersecurity and national security. She also cited the area's technical workforce — STEM graduates and former federal employees with specialized skills — as an asset for developing and commercializing technology.

"The areas for improvement would be funding and the ability to actually gain customers," said Khandelwal. "Our corporates could be a lot more engaged, and that is something we are actively working toward."

What does building a startup look like on the ground?

Velma Funebe, 21, is balancing her senior year at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) with building iBraid, a startup developing an augmented reality app that helps people braid their own hair. The idea grew from her own work as a braider while managing classes and clients. Her first app is expected to launch this fall.

"We're also pursuing customer discovery around ways we can use our machine learning and augmented reality system, which we're currently in the process of getting patented to support men's at-home barbering," said Funebe. "Our long-term vision is to build a database with all of these use cases that can be used to support textured hair education in cosmetology schools."

She spent about two months searching for a co-founder and said student founders are often not taken seriously.

"When I meet people and I disclose that I'm a student, they try to take on a mentorship role even if they don't know much about the business," said Funebe.

Her team now includes a marketing lead and a software engineering lead. Support came from UMBC's Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, the Pava Marie LaPere Center for Entrepreneurship, TEDCO's BRIDGE Program for disadvantaged entrepreneurs and very small businesses, and a $50,000 Johns Hopkins innovation award.

"More customer discovery, launching our first application and raising money through angel investment and venture capital are the goals for the rest of the year," said Funebe.

Where can founders find support?

Charlotte Clark, director of ecosystem engagement for the UpSurge team at GBC, says the problem is connection, not creation — the state already has organizations offering low- or no-cost advising to seed and pre-seed startups, but founders struggle to find them. Series A companies need more specialized help.

"A lot of the work that we've been doing and a lot of the partners we're working with tend to sit in the early stage space," said Clark. "But we're hoping to start pulling in more service providers, talent and fractional workers to help ensure founders who are coming into Series A have people who can jump in and do the highly technical work and help them raise those funds."

Resources she highlighted:

• TechStars AI Health Baltimore — invests in AI-driven health care startups; mentorship, industry connections and commercialization support
• TEDCO — funding, business resources and connections for early-stage technology and life sciences companies
• Novella Center for Entrepreneurship — training for early-stage and underrepresented founders building social-impact businesses
• Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures — helps researchers commercialize innovations through startup resources, mentorship and fundraising support
• Baltipreneurs Accelerator at Loyola University Maryland — mentorship, business training, technical assistance and funding
• Innovation Works — business development resources, access to capital and market connections for Baltimore social entrepreneurs
• Baltimore Means Business Entrepreneur Growth Program at Morgan State University — practical training, advising and individualized growth plans for small-business owners
• Pava Marie La Pere Center for Entrepreneurship at Johns Hopkins — mentorship, accelerator programs and funding for students, alumni and community entrepreneurs
• DataTribe — invests in cybersecurity startups with operational support, industry expertise and customer and investor connections

Whether Greater Baltimore converts its research assets and technical workforce into broader deal flow — beyond life sciences and beyond 16 percent AI exposure — will decide if the ecosystem moves from nascent to established.