I suspect your assertion of funding being one of the key points is very relevant. Having been involved with two Seattle startups in the past 4 years, in both cases we sought funding from Silicon Valley, when the majority of the company was in Seattle. We would nominally say our headquarters was in Silicon Valley and maintain and office or address there, but it was Seattle talent driving product design, engineering, and execution.

I think if you widen the scope of your lens to encompass non-VC funded startups, you’ll see significantly more in the Seattle area, the the startups here (somewhat by necessity) are getting more creative in how they fund and get companies rolling, focusing significantly more on bootstrapping and lean, taking a slower growth ramp, but with far more value in their own pockets.