National notice: No. 7 Baltimore tech trend of 2016

The end of the year is a time to think about what’s next for 2017, but it’s also worth reflecting on how we got here. We’re looking back at some of the themes that kept coming up in our coverage of Baltimore’s tech community in 2016. See the full list of 2016 trends here.

Baltimore has consistently been making lists as a great place for young, creative people, but in 2016 national organizations also decided to come and check the city out. Some just finally decided to head up the road from D.C.
The visitors kept coming after Steve Case’s Rise of the Rest tour stopped by in 2015. Most stayed for longer than a day. Breakout looked to give entrepreneurs a complete picture. During Baltimore Innovation Week, Paul Singh parked his Airstream here as part of the RJ Tech Tour and Startup Champions from across the country toured the area.
NextGen Venture Partners decided it was time to open a Baltimore office. Village Capital is contributing toward a new incubator, and brought its edtech cohort to town.
Baltimore startups are always logging miles, attending and speaking at conferences and pitching investors. This year local startups also got picked for national accelerators: Sickweather went to 500 Startups, and Lessoncast and Kermit went through the first cohort of Dreamit’s reworked model. PathoVax won at Buffalo’s 43North.
Another sign that the city can’t be ignored lies in the national consumer-facing startups opening branches here. The on-demand massage wars came, as did apps for finding roommates and getting groceries delivered.
Meanwhile, locally-born startups like Kinglet and Loople also took their services to other cities.
This kind of exposure only raises the city’s profile, and helps companies increase their reach.