The analytics and business intelligence software market grew by 11.7% to $21.6 billion in 2018 in current USD. Modern business intelligence platforms continue to be the fastest growing segment at 22.3%, followed by data science platforms with 19% growth (Gartner Research).
Austin, Texas is an ideal city in which to grow this type of business, given the strong startup and entrepreneurial community. Young businesses are the likeliest to be “data science native”, and use technologies, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, in the delivery of their product or service. They are also likely to need significant outside assistance in scoping, developing, and deploying data science products and services.
Austin is also an ideal city in which to locate for talent reasons – there is a significant number of capable technology workers in the city as well as a large university community from which talent can be drawn.
According to a ranking produced by commercial real estate platform CommercialCafé, Austin appears at No. 1 among the country’s 20 best cities for startups and entrepreneurs, ahead of key markets like Washington, D.C. (No. 2); Seattle (No. 3); Denver (No. 4); and San Francisco (No. 5). Austin is first in startup density and non-employer growth, third in tech job market expansion, and fourth in millennial population growth, according to the report.
CommercialCafé’s analysis looked at the 50 most populous cities in the U.S. For each city, CommercialCafé examined these data points: growth rate for solo businesses, startup survival rate, startup density, startup growth rate, success of Kickstarter fundraising campaigns, education levels, growth in tech employment, wage growth, rent-to-income ratio, coworking costs, and presence of millennials.
“[T]he Austin startup community had one of its best years in 2018,” CommercialCafé declares. “According to PWC research, over $1.3 billion was invested, a local record in the two decades since the dot-com boom. The increased diversity of the local tech scene — which now includes e-commerce platforms, legal tech firms, tech-enabled services, health tech companies, food tech companies, and more — is slated to keep Austin in the lead of fertile startup cities for quite a while.”
Among the factors in Austin’s favor were its tech employment growth (37 percent), millennials’ share of the population (31 percent), success of Kickstarter fundraising campaigns (26 percent), low rent-to-income ratio (19 percent), startup density (17.9 percent), and growth of solo businesses (3.9 percent).
Furthermore, the City of Austin has clear focus on drawing innovation to the city. Innovate Austin is an initiative from the Austin Chamber of Commerce which focuses on drawing innovation- and technology-based businesses to the region and maintaining them. According to the initiative, 6,500 high-tech businesses, and 90 incubators, accelerators, and maker and coworking spaces call Austin home.