As a city defined by its entertainment industry, Los Angeles understands the importance of reaching an audience. After all, it’s within the city’s studios and writers’ rooms that dreams are either made or laid to rest.
Yet, it isn’t only entertainers that have an audience to win over. In the tech community consumerism is a hot topic, and it’s one that defines the ethos of many of LA’s tech companies. Spanning a wide range of industries, these companies are searching for new ways to reach their target audiences, whether that be through engaging mobile apps or whimsical VR experiences.
In Los Angeles, the tech community is hard at work connecting people and industries in as many ways as possible. Many of these savvy companies are located in the heart of Silicon Beach, LA’s stretch of seaside tech paradise. For instance, Santa Monica-based Edmunds has been reinventing the connection between consumers and the automotive industry since its inception in 1995. Healthtech startup PatientPop, also based in Santa Monica, is redefining the relationship between the medical industry and the people it serves, making it easier for providers to attract patients and retain them.
It’s no secret that cities across the country are threatening to supplant Silicon Valley as potential tech epicenters. Along with cities like Austin and Denver, Los Angeles continues to experience profound change within its tech scene. But LA has some advantages that other cities and states lack. In addition to its close proximity to Silicon Valley, the city serves as an intersection between art and technology. Tech companies here have the opportunity to cull talent from both the entertainment industry and nearby universities, creating a powerful network of ambitious, intelligent people with entrepreneurial zeal. And by taking a quick look at LA’s tech history, it’s easy to trace the city’s transformation into a leading tech hub.
The City of Angels’ startup scene takes flight
Los Angeles has served as the launching pad for some of the tech world’s most famous startups. It was here that Sky Dayton established his startup EarthLink, a pioneer in the Internet space. And in 2003, Chris DeWolfe, Josh Berman and Tom Anderson chose Los Angeles as the home of MySpace, ushering in the advent of other social networking sites. Although these companies have subsequently faded, many other success stories have taken their places.
Like its northern tech neighbors, Los Angeles has earned substantial VC funding over the years. The city’s startup community has seen a significant number of billion-dollar valuations in particular. Some of LA’s most famous unicorns have snagged astounding funding rounds, such as Snap, Inc., which earned an IPO valuation of $14 billion in 2019, according to reports.
As surprising as it may sound, some of LA’s startup success may be a product of the city’s manufacturing heritage. Owing to this particular aspect of LA’s history, the city has become a hotspot for hardware startups. In fact, the city’s hardware fervor has evolved so much that it prompted the creation of Make in LA, a private accelerator and VC fund designed specifically for startups in the hardware space.
In a sense, the city of Los Angeles itself serves as a startup incubator, cultivating ideas that have the power to shift industries. Although LA will forever be defined by its Hollywood hills, the city has acquired a silicon edge, bringing it to the top of the world’s tech race.
Bridging the gap between industries and people in LA
In a city surrounded by the marriage of art and technology, it seems only fitting that Los Angeles is at the heart of the world’s consumer battle. And nowhere is this battle more noticeable than in LA’s burgeoning tech community, where links are being forged between consumers and brands on a daily basis.
These four tech companies in Los Angeles are igniting a tech revolution by bringing people closer to the industries that tie us all together.
Focus: Finance
Founding year: 2008
What they do: Smarkets is a betting exchange that serves as a secure and transparent platform for trading on sports, politics and current affairs events.
How they’re bridging the gap: The company is creating a more honest, user-centered trading process, giving people greater access to peer-to-peer trading. Since Smarket’s inception, the company’s platform has handled billions of dollars’ worth of trades, boasting the ability to process thousands of trades per second.
Focus: Automotive + Insurance
Founding year: 1980
What they do: CCC Information Systems works with organizations in the automotive, insurance and collision repair industries, providing cloud, mobile and telematics solutions.
How they’re bridging the gap: The company connects those in the auto industry with their consumer audience more closely, providing near real-time decision-making and engagement to improve the customer experience. CCC Information Systems’ aim is to improve these connections through the use of data, software and intelligence.
Focus: AdTech + Marketing Tech
Founding year: 2010
What they do: MomentFeed is a mobile customer experience management platform that works with brands to help influence their customers across mobile networks, apps and services.
How they’re bridging the gap: Working with retailers, restaurant chains, banks and more, the company helps businesses engage with consumers by boosting their mobile presence, which in turn drives more in-store sales. MomentFeed was designed to work specifically with multi-location businesses, transforming the ways in which their clients interact with consumers.
Focus: VR + Software
Founding year: 2010
What they do: Wevr is a software company that specializes in creating inspiring and immersive stories through the use of VR.
How they’re bridging the gap: The company aims to draw consumers into engaging game sagas and complex narrative journeys, enabling artists to connect with their audiences through stories, gameplay, characters and worlds. Boasting a team of Academy Award winners and other well-established artists, Wevr collaborates with many different types of creatives to help them better connect with audiences through immersive storytelling.
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