Catalyte CEO Jacob Hsu told President Barack Obama about Baltimore’s tech talent this week

On Monday, a group of entrepreneurs met President Barack Obama at his D.C. office. Among them was Jacob Hsu, the CEO of Catalyte, a downtown tech company that recently closed a $27 million funding round.
Here’s how Alexis Sobel Fitts began a story in Wired about the meeting:

It’s easy to make Jacob Hsu gush about the wonders of Baltimore. The former Silicon Valley executive moved to the Charm City in January 2017, to become CEO of Catalyte, a company that develops software using teams of non-traditional, algorithm-identified engineers. Once in Baltimore, Hsu was overwhelmed by the talent. He could work with city leaders and executives; he could recruit high-up federal employees—opportunities that would be impossible in the Bay Area.
And once he shook off his fanboy nerves, he was ready to tell President Barack Obama all about the many opportunities of Baltimore’s tech scene.

Hsu was one of five CEOs in the room with Obama ahead of the Rise of the Rest Summit, which is part of AOL cofounder Steve Case’s work to shine a light on entrepreneurs in startup communities outside San Francisco, New York and Boston. Catalyte is among the initial companies that was funded by the recently-closed Rise of the Rest Seed Fund.

Super honored to meet @BarackObama and discuss bringing more Americans into tech. Thanks @SteveCase @revolution @RiseOfRest for supporting @Catalyte_io's goal of expanding human potential. https://t.co/atV0XR0hAs

— Jacob Hsu (@jacobjjhsu) March 1, 2018

Based in the Federal Reserve building in Baltimore, Hsu told us last month that Catalyte uses predictive analytics to form teams of people that previously didn’t work in software development. The company seeks to expand tech hiring, and reduce bias in hiring to draw from across all populations. With the $27 million Series A and acquisition of fellow “onshore” dev and consulting firm Surge, the company is looking to open dev centers in other cities like Chicago and Salt Lake City.
Meeting with technologists wasn’t new for Obama. He spent some of his eight years in the White House meeting with the tech community, as well, whether it was through White House Tech Meetup or meeting Digital Harbor Foundation students at the White House Science Fair.