Sure the latest initiatives from the Teslas, Apples and Googles of the industry tend to dominate the tech news space — and with good reason. Still, the tech titans aren’t the only ones bringing innovation to the sector.
In an effort to highlight up-and-coming companies, Built In has launched The Future 5 across seven major U.S. tech hubs. Each quarter, we will feature five tech startups, nonprofits or entrepreneurs in each of these hubs who just might be working on the next big thing. You can check out last quarter’s Los Angeles round-up here.
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The SoCal tech scene has grown tremendously in recent years, and innovators aren’t only there to partake in the laidback Los Angeles lifestyle. An array of tech developers have been hard at work creating solutions geared toward helping humans thrive. From finance and e-commerce solutions to healthcare and education, check out how these West Coast creators are changing the game for tech.
Built In’s Future 5 Up-and-Coming Los Angeles Companies, Q1 2023
- Locale (Dating)
- Options MD (Healthtech)
- Pluto (Fintech)
- Sabio (Edtech)
- Stylette (E-commerce)
Seeking out meaningful connections with other people is basic human nature, but when it comes to dating, making the first move is often easier said than done. Hoping to offer some assistance is Locale, a location-based dating app that lets singles safely gather to mingle at events.
Locale differs from most legacy dating apps in the way it prioritizes in-person meetings over digital communication. The platform partners with bars, lounges and clubs to create public meet-up hubs for its users. Through the mobile app, singles can find these spaces and events and then meet other singles in person once they get there.
The app also encompasses a number of safety features, like requiring users to take a selfie upon checking into an event and granting people the ability to call 911 directly from the app. As the company grows, Locale wants to add platform features like a pre-check-in capability and the option to match users together before they arrive at a venue.
“I think the most exciting prospect of Locale would be that we’re building something that could quite possibly change the way that people go about interacting in certain scenarios and hopefully making that a better, more efficient and safer experience,” Mikael Toikka, Locale’s co-founder, told Built In.
Millions of people across the U.S. have major depressive disorder, or MDD, and a large portion of that population has sought treatment. However, many individuals are subsequently diagnosed with treatment-resistant depression, otherwise known as TRD. In this case, traditional treatment options for depression are ultimately ineffective.
Looking to help those with severe depression find successful treatment outcomes, Options MD operates a mental healthcare solution that encompasses more than 200 treatment options. From these methods, the company’s team of psychiatrists uses Options’ software to create comprehensive programs tailored to each patient’s needs.
“The reason why we call the company ‘Options’ is that we believe that it doesn’t matter even if you’ve already tried 20 antidepressants — and we work with patients who honestly are in that scenario — you still literally have hundreds of potential treatment options when you look at different treatments and combinations,” Morgan Hewett, Options MD co-founder and CEO, told Built In.
Options MD has grown its platform substantially since its inception in 2020 and has come to serve a community of about 6,000 patients to date. As it grows, the company hopes to continue addressing a currently underserved patient population in the healthcare industry.
Having recently launched its live crypto trading solution, Pluto is well on its way to achieving its goal of becoming a multi-asset trading platform. The company, spearheaded by CEO Jacob Sansbury, works to help novice investors create tools to diversify their digital investments and manage risk.
Pluto offers a marketplace of digital investment strategies. Users can customize these strategies to fit their specific preferences without needing to write new code.
“Pluto’s proprietary strategy grading system and marketplace give investors the option to educate themselves on a plethora of strategy options and select the one most appropriate for their risk tolerance and investment preferences,” Sansbury told Built In via email. “Pluto is for anyone who wants to compete with institutional investing behemoths but lacks the resources to do so.”
Working to expand its offerings for investors, Pluto plans to include stock trading features on its platform. In the near future, it will also offer stock report cards to help users gain better insight into leveraging the tech platform.
Local company Sabio believes anyone can learn to code. Founded in 2012, the company offers an intensive coding bootcamp that combines digital education tools with live mentorship.
The platform was created to help people looking to enter the software engineering space regardless of whether they have prior coding experience. Sabio’s co-founder and CTO Gregorio Rojas was inspired to create the company after moving from a career in athletic training to one in software development.
“I went to night school and over the course of maybe 10 months to a year, I got my first job in software development. And then 18 months later, I found myself switching jobs, making approximately $80,000. ... I made as much as I could possibly have hoped for in my prior career,” Rojas told Built In.
An important element of Sabio’s work is ensuring its students feel supported and that they can grow alongside their peers. The company strives to create a space where students can freely ask questions and learn how to navigate new social and emotional situations that come with entering a new field.
Today, Sabio trains about 500 to 600 people per year in its 17-week program. As it continues to serve new cohorts, Sabio plans to expand upon its recent platform developments. Newer features already available include a progress-tracking dashboard and gamified ways to give feedback to peers.
Kids really do grow up fast, so quickly in fact, that much of their clothing can only be worn only a handful of times before it needs to be replaced. For life’s big events in particular, such as weddings, birthdays and vacations, parents can end up buying an array of nice outfits their child might only wear once.
Stylette offers a more sustainable solution for outfitting kids for special occasions. The platform offers an online marketplace where users can get a la carte clothing rentals for designer kidswear. The items on Stylette come from brands like Bari Lynn, Petite Hailey and Velveteen and are available to rent for five to 10 days at a time.
Co-founder Sheena Jongeneel was inspired to create Stylette when her daughter experienced frequent growth spurts. Spending money on one-time outfits grew increasingly wasteful, she said. In addition to saving parents money, Stylette also spares the environment from additional fashion industry waste.
“Each product or unit can be used at least 20 times, and having that component of re-loving and recycling your product makes sense. I think a lot of families and brands will tend to throw things away … and that has not stopped,” Jongeneel told Built In. “We’re going to hand [pieces] down to other families, not just our family or our brother and sister, but other families nationwide.”
Down the line, Stylette plans to encompass more sustainability-oriented features like clothing resale and recycling.
