Methodology
General
The 2025 Baltimore Tech Ecosystem Report is the region’s primary source for data and insights on startups and venture capital. This year’s report reflects several high-level changes from the 2024 edition.
Following UpSurge’s merger with the Greater Baltimore Committee, this report has been more closely aligned with other regional reports. As a result, the 2025 report has a narrower, more defined scope, focusing on high-level startup and venture capital data for the Baltimore Region—filling a gap for the ecosystem.
To improve accuracy and credibility, UpSurge has integrated multiple data sources to establish a “source of truth” for each data point. In doing so, we’ve adopted custom terminology to standardize definitions for industry terms such as “industry,” “sector,” and “funding stage,” which often vary across platforms. UpSurge will continue to improve the “source of truth” methodology and language to maximize accuracy and utility for its stakeholders.
Definitions
- Current: A company that is incorporated and has not exited or ceased operations.
- Baltimore Region: Defined as Baltimore City and the surrounding counties: Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Cecil, Harford, Howard, and Queen Anne’s.
- Technology Company: A business that exists only due to technological innovation. This includes companies building new technologies or using technological advancements to deliver novel products or services.
- Startup: A business founded and operated by one or more entrepreneurs, actively selling or developing a product.
Data Sources
- LinkedIn: Company and contact data, manually updated by UpSurge based on team interactions.
- PitchBook / Crunchbase / Tracxn: Company and funding data, updated quarterly through exports of Maryland-based deals.
- Public Sources: Primarily funding data collected from blogs, press releases, and news articles.
- Primary Sources: Data provided directly by Baltimore R-region founders, investors, and Entrepreneur Support Organizations (ESOs), including company, contact, and funding information.
Startups
The companies included in the Startup section are limited to those that meet UpSurge’s definition of a Current Baltimore Tech Startup.
Funding
The Funding section includes all venture capital and private equity transactions involving tech companies based in the Baltimore region. Data are presented as a moving 7-year window of time.
Case Studies
The Case Studies section includes all exits (acquisitions, mergers, IPOs) by tech companies in the Baltimore region.
Perspectives
The Perspectives section includes data from the Survey of Federal Funds for Research and Development.