Scores of tech investors and executives migrated from the Bay Area during the pandemic, criticizing San Francisco for its allegedly dysfunctional government and its relatively high cost of living. Four years later, San Francisco is once again experiencing a tech revival thanks in large measure to the advent of AI, reported the Wall Street Journal.

San Francisco’s startup community has weathered the pullback in venture capital funding better than most cities, the WSJ reported. VC investment volume in Bay Area startups slipped 12% to $63.4 billo in 2023, compared to a 70% dropoff in funding for Miami startups.

“An ecosystem such as SF’s that has been built over the last 50-plus years doesn’t just die because of a pandemic for a few years,” Mo Koyfman, founder of venture firm Shine Capital, told the WSJ. He cited the proximity of universities such as Stanford as reasons why top-tier venture firms need to maintain a presence in the Bay Area. New York City-based Shine Capital opened a San Francisco office last month.

Writing in the San Francisco Business Times, Cyrus Sanandaji, founder and managing director of real estate investment and development firm Presidio Bay Ventures, recently opined, “As with each historic boom and bust, San Francisco is set for exponential recovery and growth. Activists, business leaders and citizens who love this city have put the catalysts in place, and transformed a doom loop into a boom loop. Never bet against us.”