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Editor鈥檚 note: This article is part of Something Ventured, an ongoing series by 附近上门 News examining diversity and access to capital in the venture-backed startup ecosystem. Read more about how venture dollars are spreading around the U.S. here and access the full project here.

openly admits he did not know of all the opportunities that existed when six years ago he launched , which focuses on investing in underserved and secondary markets in the country.

鈥淚 sensed it,鈥� he recalls, 鈥渂ut I didn鈥檛 know it.鈥�

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Since 2014, Rise of the Rest seed funds have been focused on investing outside of聽 the big venture capital markets 鈥� Silicon Valley, New York and Boston 鈥� looking to shine a spotlight on what lies outside the well-known coastal areas. The seed funds have invested in 181 early-stage companies throughout 33 states 鈥� plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico 鈥� and 83 cities. In total, the firm has invested in more than 200 companies.

Case, who co-founded internet provider 1 in the mid-1980s, first saw what some didn鈥檛 while working on the under former President 鈥� and while evaluating opportunities outside of the big venture markets, he is clear that is not because he believes their doom is imminent.

鈥淭he Rise of the Rest does not presume California will fall, just that there is more opportunity outside of just Silicon Valley,鈥� Case said.

Looking outside the Valley

While Case said there is no denying the Valley has been at the epicenter of innovation, transformational technology and companies can occur anywhere. That has never been more true than now, as both investors and entrepreneurs sense they can invest and work from anywhere 鈥� a sentiment only accelerated by the pandemic.

• Read More: Where Venture Investment Is Growing Fastest in The US

In fact, Case believes the current spread of venture dollars and the expanding footprint of the U.S. tech ecosystem could have strategic advantages as states and areas with institutional knowledge of certain disciplines are being enabled to sprout startups to take advantage of that.

鈥淲hat鈥檚 interesting is that companies could be better because they are not in Silicon Valley,鈥� he said. 鈥淚nstead, they can be in cities with domain expertise.鈥�

Case points to his firm鈥檚 investment in Chattanooga, Tennessee-based , a data and content forum that provides near-time analytics, as an example. With the city’s strong ties to trucking, rail and freight, there would seem to be strategic advantages for a company to be based there instead of Silicon Valley, Case said.

The same can be witnessed in healthcare and life sciences, Case points out. While Boston, New York and the Bay Area may have great medical facilities, the new surge in startups in the industry in places like Minnesota with the and Maryland around is only logical, he said.

We鈥檝e seen this before

Case reminiscences about the early days of the internet when talking about mixing up the opportunities that are out there. While many assume California and Silicon Valley were always the driving engine for 鈥渢he information superhighway,鈥� Case points out AOL鈥檚 origins are in Virginia, was founded in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was in Kansas City and was in White Plains, New York.

When people saw the opportunity to layer on top of the internet with operations and applications, Silicon Valley took off.

鈥淚 think it is just educating people to the opportunity that exists outside of Silicon Valley,鈥� said Case, adding if that occurs it could reduce the so-called 鈥渂rain drain鈥� that happens when people leave much of the middle of the country and move to the coast looking for opportunity.

鈥淵ou can make it boomerang,鈥� said Case, whose D.C.-based investment firm also includes a growth fund and an early-stage capital fund 鈥� and .

Case sees that talent migration changes and the startup and tech world become less dominated聽 by a few coastal areas as a potential healthy thing for the U.S. as a whole.

鈥淭here would be more jobs, more opportunities in more places,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his can help address this divide we have in our country.鈥�

Featured image: Steve Case outside the Rise of the Rest bus. Photo courtesy of Revolution.