Top 10 Metro Areas for Investing in the Middle Market—Malartu Report

Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida leads the top ten metropolitan regions for middle-market investment, fueled by investment in health care, real estate and tourism, a new report from Malartu contends.

The North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater and Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-West Palm Beach regions also made the list, making Florida the run-away favorite for metro area middle-market investment, the study found.

By aggregating the top 25 growing metro areas from Forbes and the top 100 largest metro areas from Brookings, Malartu came up with its rankings for regions that support middle-market investing.

“High-growth, low hype,” a phrase first coined by Frontier Capital, defines these top middle market investment areas, the study said. Areas with high growth potential and an infrastructure to support growth are what investors are looking to invest in, the study notes. Finding niche markets, particularly in tech, are where an increase of investments will be made over the next few years.

While the definition of a middle-market firm varies, the National Center for the Middle Market recognizes middle-market firms as those that generate anywhere from $10 million to $1 billion in revenue annually.