It's that time of year when it's good to think about what you're thankful for, and the D.C. tech scene has plenty of blessing to count. If D.C. tech were a single person sitting at a Thanksgiving dinner table on Thursday, here's what it might say when asked what it was thankful for this year.
VC Funds: Anxiety over a possible tech bubble permeates any discussion of startup funding, but that hasn't stopped venture capitalist, local and otherwise, from raising money and investing in D.C. startups. Steve Case and Ted Leonsis' Revolution made plenty of big funding announcements, including that it would seek $450 million for a third fund, while Grotech made a $200 million fund plan of its own and 1776 closed its own fund and began investing. Up in in Baltimore, TCP Venture Capital is pumping $15 million into the local startup scene
Funding: The single biggest funding news was when Maryland's Tenable Network Security raised an astonishing $250 million, the largest cybersecurity funding round ever. But it was hardly alone. Cybersecurity netted plenty of other impressive funding, like the $7.5 million for IronNet Cybersecurity. Lots of popular local startups have some funding to feel thankful for this year, like Contactually for its $8 million round, Brazen for the $4.7 million it raised or Aquicore for its $3.1 million, led by 1776.
And it's not just tech startups either that have something to be thankful for this year. The fast-casual food market has exploded a veritable cornucopia of riches on local favorites that are gaining national appeal. Taylor Gourmet raised $5.6 million and &pizza scored $15 million. Meanwhile, Cava Grill raised $44 million for its Mediterranean meals just a few months after a $16 million raise. In other words, they are all set to cater for any post-Thanksgiving meals you want. Even all of that is just the tip of the mashed potato mountain. There are a lot of hungry startups in D.C.
Leadership: The D.C. tech scene is a lot smaller than the one in Silicon Valley, which makes community leadership roles really important sometimes. For startup entrepreneurs though, there is a robust cast of leaders eager to help out. The hundreds of people attending each DC Tech Meetup is a clear testament to the work of its organizers. But there are a plethora of groups and organizations in the area to cater to every subset. Founders meetups, women in tech groups, coding hangouts and an endless number of related events are all put together by volunteers who knit together a community where everyone seems to know each other, or at least be willing to introduce one another.
Diversity: Another things that stands out about D.C. is just how diverse the leadership and general membership is. It's not hard at all to make a list of female startup founders, or powerful women connected to tech in D.C. in general. And it starts young, as you can tell from a list of 25 startup founders under 25. Considering how much trouble Silicon Valley companies seem to have improving their diversity, D.C.'s relative ambition in that regard is certainly something to be thankful for.
Tech Lobbying: A lot of tech companies outside of D.C. haven't really paid much attention to Capitol Hill and how events there can impact their industries. That's been changing of late though. Tech firms have been snapping up D.C. insiders to help them out, like Uber hiring Obama campaign chief David Plouffe or FanDuel hiring a lobbyist well-connected with the lawmakers studying fantasy sports. In some cases, there's a very visible indicator, like when the CEA renamed itself to the Consumer Technology Association, more to emphasize the extent of what it does than any shift in its plans. Other times its just an expanding membership list, like how Coinbase and Pandora joined the Internet Association. Tech companies are putting more and more resources into looking to fight for priorities like immigration reform and changes to patent law. Though it's been limited in effectiveness so far, advocates can be thankful there's a shift in priorities at least.
50 on Fire: Last, but certainly not least, DC Inno can be thankful for all of the amazing nominees, judges and participants in 50 on Fire this year. Whatever industry they are innovating in, there are trailblazers all over D.C. and we're very excited to bring them all together on Dec. 10 when we reveal the winners. And there will be plenty of people in the crowd with their own plans for startups and innovation that we will be giving thanks to next year.
