Silicon Beach

For the company, see Silicon Beach Software.

Silicon Beach is the Westside region of the Los Angeles metropolitan area that is home to over 500 tech startup companies. Major technology companies have opened offices in the region including Google, Yahoo, YouTube, BuzzFeed, AOL, EdgeCast Networks, and MySpace. The region is considered the second- or third-largest tech hub in the world, according to various reports.[1][2]

This has had major impacts on the type and availability of office space and on home prices in Santa Monica, Venice, Playa Vista, and Westchester as these areas have become more desirable due to this influx. The effects are also spilling over into Marina del Rey which is attracting tech firms.[3]

Start-up pockets have also emerged in nearby Culver City, West L.A., and El Segundo. Other areas include Downtown Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, and Hollywood.[4]

Startups

Silicon Beach is also home to a number of start-up incubators and accelerators, such as Launchpad LA, Amplify.LA, Science, and StartEngine.[5] Several world-class universities, such as Caltech, University of Southern California (USC), University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the Claremont Consortium institutions (Pomona College, Scripps College, Claremont McKenna College, Harvey Mudd College and Pitzer College), several campuses of the California State University (including Los Angeles, Northridge (CSUN), and Fullerton), Pepperdine University, Azusa Pacific University, and Loyola Marymount University are situated within the region. RAND Corporation too is a long-standing member of this intellectual community. In the first six months of 2013, start-ups in Silicon Beach raised over $500 million in funding, and there were 94 new start-ups and 9 acquisitions.[6]

History

It was first used in the USA in 1984 to refer to the San Diego, California region when the company Silicon Beach Software was formed. The founder, Charlie Jackson, is credited with coining the term Silicon Beach.

The term has also been used in Australia to describe that country's internet technology community, and was first used so on July 27, 2008[7] However, due to a lack of capital, its value is 100 times lesser than that of the Californian Silicon Beach.[8]

List of startups based in Silicon Beach

Company Year founded Industry Valuation
WeMash 2014 Creative Video Content [9]
RenewU 2014 On-Demand Fitness $5Md[10]
Tapiture 2012 Social Media [11]
Snapchat 2011 Social Media $3 Billion [12]
Hulu 2007 Television Streaming Services $100M [13]
BQE Software Inc 1996 Business Software [14]
Nasty Gal 2006 $49M [15]
Eventup 2011 $1.8M [16]
BeachMint 2010 $74.7M [17]
Gradient X 2013 $3.75M [18]
Bitium 2012 Cloud Computing $8.9M [19]
The Honest Company 2012 Consumer Goods $122M [20]
Fullscreen
Frequency 2010 Internet, Mobile Apps
Big Frame
Bloom2Bloom 2012 Floral Subscriptions, Social Enterprise, Flowers
BCG Digital Ventures
WeezLabs 2008 Mobile Application Development
Kuapay 2011 Mobile Payments $16.5M[21]
Dollar Shave Club 2011 Consumer packaged goods $22.8M[22]
The Bouqs Company 2012 Floral $1.1M[23]
Enplug 2012 Software $2.5M[24][25]
The Bouqs 2012 Flowers $6M[26]
Tieks 2008 Footwear, retail
TrueCar 2005 Automotive $1.6 Billion[27]
ConsumerTrack, Inc 2004 Internet Marketing $30M[28][29]

References

  1. ↑ "Silicon Beach emerges as a tech hotbed". USA Today. 2012-07-15.
  2. ↑ "Startup Genome Ranks The World’s Top Startup Ecosystems: Silicon Valley, Tel Aviv & L.A. Lead The Way". TechCrunch. 2012-11-20.
  3. ↑ Logan, Tim (January 2, 2015) "Buoyed by Silicon Beach, Westchester enjoys a housing surge" Los Angeles Times
  4. ↑ Chang, Andrea (March 7, 2015). "Tech scene takes hold in revitalized downtown L.A.". Los Angeles Times.
  5. ↑ "A list of top LA accelerators and incubators".
  6. ↑ "Over $500M Raised by 92 LA Startups in the First Half of 2013".
  7. ↑ "Silicon Beach Australia". 2008-07-28. Retrieved 2013-05-30.
  8. ↑ Kohler, Alan (21 November 2012). "Australia's "Silicon Beach" is no Entrepreneurs Paradise". ABC.
  9. ↑ WeMash website
  10. ↑ RenewU Profile on CrunchBase
  11. ↑ Tapiture Website
  12. ↑ Dave, Paresh; Pierson, David (April 16, 2015). "Cheap content, growing reach make Snapchat a fast-rising star". Los Angeles Times.
  13. ↑ Hulu Profile on CrunchBase
  14. ↑
  15. ↑ Nasty Gal Profile on CrunchBase
  16. ↑ Eventup Profile on CrunchBase
  17. ↑ Beachmint Profile on CrunchBase
  18. ↑ Gradient-X Profile on CrunchBase
  19. ↑ Bitium Profile on CrunchBase
  20. ↑ The Honest Company Profile on WSJ
  21. ↑ Kuapay Profile on CrunchBase
  22. ↑ Dollar Shave Club Profile on CrunchBase
  23. ↑ The Bouqs Company Profile on CrunchBase
  24. ↑ Lawler, Ryan. "Digital Display Startup Enplug Raises $2.5 Million Seed Round". TechCrunch. AOL. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  25. ↑ Smith, Samantha. "LA Startup Goes from 0 to 100mph In Three Months". Forbes. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  26. ↑ "TheBouqs.com Raises $6 Million to Deliver ‘Farm-to-Table’ Bouquets". Venture Capital Dispatch. Wall Street Journal. June 26, 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  27. ↑ TrueCar Public Stock Quote on NASDAQ
  28. ↑ ConsumerTrack, Inc Profile on Wikipedia
  29. ↑ Foord, Celine (October 9, 2014). "ConsumerTrack President Jeff Bartlett to Talk Entrepreneurship at 2014 Innovation Week LA". PR Newswire. Retrieved October 9, 2014.