D.C. tech has had a whirlwind of a year. From the endless funding rounds from cybersecurity companies (and many others) to the development of new District-wide initiatives taking shape, the D.C. tech community is optimistic about the year ahead.
With 2017 right around the corner, we asked members of the DC tech community what they expect from the new year:
Nate Fick, Endgame CEO
“2016 was a big year for D.C. tech, especially cybersecurity. In addition to the 'normal' threats to businesses and government agencies, we now have hacks at the heart of questions about American democracy. We’ll continue to see strong security spending and investment in 2017 as the best of the next generation of companies compete to displace incumbents.
Consolidation in the industry will continue, and maybe accelerate, driven by customer confusion and vendor redundancy. We half-joke that the market is filled with features masquerading as products, products masquerading as companies, and companies masquerading as businesses. One thing is clear—traditional security tools fail to stop advanced attacks, and organizations must adopt a new vision that solves the problem in a different way.
Endgame was built on this very premise—by uniting data scientists, domain experts, enterprise developers, and designers, we created a platform that anticipates attacker innovations and stops the most advanced threats. This vision was validated by our recent contract with the U.S. Air Force, the largest “endpoint detection & response” deal of the year. In 2017, we look forward to continued growth and to D.C. maintaining its pole position as a leader in cybersecurity.”
Harry Alford, Humble Ventures
"Mayor Bowser's Pathways to Inclusion Report demonstrates the District's vision to connect and cultivate a more inclusive innovation ecosystem. With support from most stakeholders in DC, I anticipate more startups founded by underrepresented entrepreneurs to launch next year.
Expect major progress to be made in 2017 with regards to AR/VR. We've seen it come to market for gaming with Notion Theory and soon the local sports and entertainment industry will integrate new ways for fans to consume content.
Ubiquitous connectivity will enable startups like Transitscreen to transform DC into an actual smart city. The electricity-generating sidewalks in Dupont Circle are just the beginning. Homes, safe autonomous vehicles, street lights and other city infrastructure will create more of an open data environment which will ultimately humanize tech and benefit Washingtonians."
Nathaniel Houghton, NextGen Venture Partners Director
"The rise of smaller/micro VCs should lead to strength in the seed fundraising market as quite a few first-time funds will be looking to deploy capital, but a 'Series A Crunch' will continue to be a difficult hurdle for DC tech companies that will likely need to seek larger checks from outside our region. We also expect interest in emerging market investments to be tempered by political uncertainty despite interesting opportunities that exist abroad."
Mike Avon, ICX Media (as told on The Beat, DC Inno's weekly podcast)
"I think cybersecurity is going to continue to be on fire certainly over the next year. I wouldn't be surprised to see some IPOs from some major companies around here in that space.
I do think that this market, beyond cybersecurity, is an incredibly strong market when it comes to data science and data analytics of all kinds—whether that's in marketing and media, whether that's in enterprise technology, whether that's in personalized medicine and then defense and cybersecurity.
I'm hopeful that by the end of next year, or two or three years, people around the country and around the world really look at DC as a data analytics, data science, machine learning center of excellence. Not that we'll necessarily be the Bay Area, but I think we have some amazing talent here, amazing capabilities and I think that trend will accelerate over the next year."
Lisa Cuesta, NextGen Venture Partners Vice President
"2017 is going to be a big year for larger venture-backed tech companies including Snap, which has reportedly already filed for an IPO, and speculation about others in the IPO pipeline. SocialTables' Series B is one sign of continued strength in DC's hospitality/event tech market. Additionally, initiatives like the Vinetta Project and the Beacon Initiative with the Mayor's office show DC's commitment to being one of the nation's best markets for female founders."
Mike Lincoln, Cooley
“The greater DC tech market is poised for a strong rebound in 2017 after a somewhat soft year. There are a number of solid, high-growth companies in the local pipeline that will likely go public in 2017. Moreover, there are some really novel and interesting start-ups—particularly in the education, cyber, SaaS and data analytics sectors—that are well-positioned to raise strong venture rounds.”
Adam Segal, Cove
"Unlike any other city, every four or eight years, DC by design has an incredible amount of turnover of people, jobs, and ideas. And that impacts all sectors, including the tech scene. With all these new changes will come new ideas and new priorities. So in many ways, 2017 feels like the greatest year of flux and unknowns as it relates to what is to come in the DC tech scene - and a city as a whole."
Image used via CC BY 2.0 — credit Matthew Straubmuller
