Built In LA Celebrates Local Tech Successes

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A website called Built In Los Angeles quietly launched in January with the goal of becoming a hub for the local tech community.

Four months later Built In LA has released its first report on the state of technology in Los Angeles.

According to the report, 220 startups formed in Los Angeles in 2012, 100 companies raised funding of at least $1 million each and 43 were acquired.

The most popular tech sector with investors was fashion, which received 22 percent of all dollars invested in L.A. tech. But fashion was only the third fastest growing, lagging behind digital media and marketing.

To celebrate the release of the report, Built In LA hosted a party at the Beverly Hills home of billionaire Tony Pritzker on Wednesday evening. More than 200 entrepreneurs, engineers and other tech types showed up for the event.

Matt McCall, an advisor to Built In LA and partner at New World Ventures, presented some of the numbers to attendees, noting that it was the entrepreneurs who were behind the growth of startup activity in Los Angeles.

“This is really a celebration of all you guys,” he said.

The Built In websites began with Built In Chicago. The Los Angeles site is the third to launch. Maria Katris, chief executive of Built In, said the goal of the sites is to create an online network where entrepreneurs can connect with each other, post job openings and blog about lessons learned.

Built In LA has a company directory and also keeps track of local funding announcements and other news to compile reports like the one it released Wednesday.

Katris said the network helped unify the tech community in Chicago. She hopes it will provide a similar role in the building of L.A. tech.

“There are a lot of communities offline,” she said. “We wanted to bring them all online together. It’s a way to showcase all the activity in the digital space so companies can attract and retain talent.”

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