Company Culture

These were our 10 most-read DC tech stories of 2018

Rising startups, coworking spaces and new funding are the moments that drew you to our site in 2018. Here's what caught the DC tech community's attention this year.

What do the locals do around here? (Photo by Tajha Chappellet-Lanier)

The new year is days away and as you look ahead to 2019, take a second to reminisce on what mattered the most in the tech community this year.

Even though we wrote more than 20 stories on acquisitions this year, found out that half of Amazon‘s second HQ is moving into Northern Virginia and grappled with the fact that 1776 is temporarily closing its D.C. location next week (yes, it’s really happening), those big changes aren’t all that you cared about reading.

Here’s a roundup of what you read the most this year in the DC tech community. It tells lengths about what this community valued most about change in the local industry.

10. Mapbox is moving to a new HQ (again)

After closing a $164 million Series C investment round in October 2017 led by the Softbank Vision Fund, the mapping company announced that it was moving its headquarters for the second time in a year.

Mapbox is now situated on 15th and H Streets NW as of January 2018, after previously being headquartered at 1509 16th St. NW, where the company was only working out of since May 2017.

9. Georgetown University is offering a blockchain-focused course this spring

The Georgetown University campus.

Georgetown University added a blockchain-focused course to its catalog this past spring to start training a blockchain workforce.  Undergraduate students got the opportunity to learn about fintech, blockchain and cryptocurrencies. The class was taught by John Jacobs, executive director of the school’s Center for Financial Markets and Policy, and Perianne Boring, founder and president of the Chamber of Digital Commerce.

8. BEE-Q-BOX grew a cosmetics brand from a tweet

After Arlington, Va., native Brianna Queen tweeted that she would make “F*ckboy Repellant” makeup, her tweet went viral and she started a company based off of it.

Brianna Queen wants BEE-Q-BOX to be a brand with staying power.

BEE-Q-BOX is a successful vegan, alcohol-free, silicone-free and cruelty-free cosmetics brand. Queen began marketing her brand as a $25 subscription box, but it grew tremendously from there.

7. WeWork Labs looks to offer startup resources beyond coworking

In June, WeWork launched a program aimed to provide help for startups as they build businesses called WeWork Labs. The program launched at WeWork 80 M SE where startup companies pay per person, for monthly memberships to gain access to workspace, programming and access to mentors, experts, and enterprise businesses partners.

6. How two former Yu-Gi-Oh! pros plan to make ‘charity checkout’ smarter

After meeting through the prominent Japanese card came Yu-Gi-Oh!, Johnny Li and Patrick Hoban launched an equity crowdfunding campaign to build their company Parvenu into an AI-driven force for good. The pair cofounded the company to personalize the act of giving, by prompting people to donate to causes they care about when checking out at retail stores based on what they have just purchased.

5. Hatch Apps raises $1.3 million to make software development faster and cheaper

Hatch cofounders Param Jaggi and Amelia Friedman. (Courtesy photo)

Hatch cofounders Param Jaggi and Amelia Friedman. (Courtesy photo)

Hatch Apps raised $1.3 million in funding in February to publicly launch its platform that automates the process of building custom apps. Founded by Param Jaggi and Amelia Friedman, this company was a part of our 2018 realLIST and has shown continuous growth throughout the year, check out our coverage here.

4. DC students named finalists in NASA spinoff competition

D.C.’s Benjamin Banneker Academic High School eleventh grade students Bria Snell, India Skinner and Mikayla Sharrieff developed their water filter project at Inclusive Innovation Incubator. They were among eight finalists in a competition challenging students to find uses for NASA spinoff technology in everyday life. The trio went on to win second place in the competition.

3. After a rocky 2017, what does the future hold for coding schools?

This story covered coding school growth in the District after a wave of coding schools closed in 2017. Featuring Coding Dojo, Flatiron School, WeWork, General Assembly and more, this piece uncovered why 23,000 Americans graduated from code schools in 2017 and how this number continues to climb.

2. 3 DMV entrepreneurs took home cash prizes at Lyft’s inaugural pitch competition

Lyft Pitch 2018 finalists.

Lyft‘s first pitch competition was launched in the DMV this fall with the help of former entrepreneur Kate Glantz, currently Lyft’s Mid-Atlantic marketing manager, playing an instrumental role in conceiving the competition. Lyft Pitch is exclusive to Lyft drivers with entrepreneurial goals and after pitching to a live audience, three of the eight finalists received a financial boost with cash prizes.

1. DC’s 2018 realLIST startups

You guessed it, our 2018 DC realLIST took the cake for the most read story of 2018 and Technical.ly DC‘s most read story EVER. Each year we curate a list of the community’s most promising startups and might I say, I think we got it right. Check out our 2018 realLIST if you already haven’t and get ready, because we are taking nominations and beginning to form the 2019 realLIST as we speak (or read?). Submit a suggestions if you have one.

Companies: Georgetown University / Mapbox / WeWork / 76 Forward / Hatch / Amazon / Lyft

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