As the previous post mentions, Mark Heesen of the National Venture Capital Association was the leadoff speaker for today’s Invest Midwest venture capital conference in St. Louis. Though he wasn’t completely bullish on the industry nationwide — both the number of firms and the number of professionals working in the industry continues to decline — he did have some encouraging words about the Midwest. A few firms have opened offices in far-flung markets like China or India, but most will find that too expensive. The better opportunity lies closer to home, Heesen said:

You are going to see more and more VC’s getting on planes and flying not to China and India, but all around the United States. It means VC’s leaving the coasts and coming to the middle part of the country. … VC’s are becoming more comfortable with investing away from the coasts.

Good news for St. Louis? Perhaps, if big East and West Coast firms find their way here. But on the Invest Midwest attendee list of 300-plus people, including 40-some venture capitalists, I spotted only a couple of names from Boston and none from Silicon Valley.