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The Twin Cities has made the "Top 10 Rising Cites" for startup-business climate, outside the capital-attracting tech hubs of the east-and-west coasts, as well as Austin,Tex., and Chicago.

According to Forbes and Steve Case's "Rise of the Rest" venture organization, the Twin Cities attracted $1.7 billion in venture capital to young companies, and finished ninth, behind Philadelphia, but ahead of Charlotte, N.C., in terms of a good environment to launch business.

Forbes, the business publisher, named Columbus, Ohio, the best among the second-tier "emerging cities for startups that are poised to thrive in the decades ahead."

The Ohio capital scored highly for its college presence, low cost of living and doing business. VC deal values topped $250 million in Columbus for the first nine months of the year, which is already more than triple the total value for the 12 months in 2016, according to PitchBook.

Atlanta and Denver were the only two municipalities on the list of 10 to bring in more venture capital over the last three years than the Twin Cities.

Forbes compared the 30 largest metro areas, outside of the Big 10 venture hubs that get most of the venture capital, on 13 factors, including cost-of-living-and-business, education levels, college presence, entrepreneurship rates, working-age population growth and venture capital investments. Data was provided by PitchBook, Moody's Analytics and the Kauffman Foundation.

Randall Lane, Forbes' chief content officer and Steve Case, the co-founder of Rise of the Rest,, revealed the first-ever Top Rising Cities for Startups list onstage Monday at Forbes entrepreneurial summit in Boston that claimed "7,000 entrepreneurs, game changers, and visionaries from around the world."
Case, billionaire co-founder of AOL, also has started a venture capital firm. In 2014, Revolution launched the Rise of the Rest platform to focus on startups in heartland cities between the coasts. Last year Revolution launched the $150 million Rise of the Rest Seed Fund.

Case has invested in several Twin Cities companies in recent years.