AnnenbergTech is cultivating industry-wide participation from LA’s tech sector to engage in philanthropic activity focused on building equity, civic impact, and highways of collaboration across the region.
Our current work
An initiative of the Annenberg Foundation, AnnenbergTech is focused on accelerating access and opportunity for all Angelenos in partnership with LA’s tech sector. Current projects include:
Best Buy Teen Tech Center Partnership
Best Buy Teen Tech Centers, a program of the Best Buy Foundation, provide safe, after-school spaces where teens can get hands-on experience with the latest technology. AnnenbergTech, in partnership with Annenberg Learner and the Greater Los Angeles Education Foundation, provides ongoing support to all Best Buy Teen Tech Centers in the Los Angeles Community Impact Hub. Through providing state-of-the-art equipment and programming support, AnnenbergTech, along with our partners, ensures that disinvested communities are receiving mentorship, training, and tech access at no cost to youth.
South Los Angeles Best Buy Teen Tech Center – Since 2019, AnnenbergTech, in partnership with Best Buy, has played a pivotal role in establishing the city’s first Teen Tech Center. With continuous support from AnnenbergTech, the Vermont Slauson Economic Development Corporation, the Weingart Foundation, and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the South Los Angeles Best Buy Teen Tech Center offers a plethora of state-of-the-art equipment for youth visiting the center.
Young Innovators Accelerator – In partnership with the Bresee Foundation, VSEDC, Legacy LA, Calley Foundation, Greater LA Education Foundation, and Best Buy, we created the pilot Young Innovators Accelerator, aiming to promote the development of entrepreneurial mindsets in youth. During eight intensive weeks throughout the summer of 2023, 40 high school students gathered at Best Buy Teen Tech Centers in Koreatown, East LA, and South LA, connecting with tech experts and gaining hands-on experience in entrepreneurial practices and idea development. The accelerator concluded with an event at Spotify’s LA Campus, where students pitched their companies to special guest judges from organizations including Best Buy Social Impact, Fifth Wall Ventures, Brand Citizens, Los Angeles Economic Equity Accelerator & Fellowship. Every student who completed a pitch received a $500 scholarship, and the top three winners received additional funds.
PledgeLA
PledgeLA is a collective of Los Angeles-based venture capital firms and tech companies working to increase access to capital for all Angelenos. Originally convened in October 2018 by an alliance between LA’s venture capital and tech communities, Annenberg Foundation, and the Office of the Mayor of Los Angeles, our founding pledge was a collective call for change and a commitment to better reflect, support, and leverage the creativity and diversity that is Los Angeles. PledgeLA’s current work focuses on increasing access to capital for underrepresented entrepreneurs and fund managers across Greater Los Angeles.
PledgeLA Venture Data Report – PledgeLA sponsors annual, anonymized reports that measure access to capital in the Los Angeles venture capital ecosystem. Our partner research team at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs carefully analyzes public investment data to create one of the most comprehensive regional analyses of portfolio diversity in the nation. PledgeLA is the only effort of its kind that annually monitors the advancement of regional tech equity, holding accountable an industry vital to the future of all Angelenos. Read more about the 2023 Venture Data Report here.
Venture Capital Training & Internships – PledgeLA has provided outstanding students from backgrounds not well-represented in VC with experience at top LA-based firms through various venture capital training opportunities. Through our current Venture Capital Fellowship program, in partnership with Cinematica Labs, we prepare outstanding SoCal-based graduate students from underrepresented backgrounds for careers in venture capital investing. The program offers fellows: 3 months of training in venture capital fundamentals, hands-on experience in the due diligence and investment process, a paid internship at a Los Angeles venture capital firm, and support with networking and career opportunities in the LA venture ecosystem.
Since the program’s launch in 2019, PledgeLA has provided over 55 promising students with tailored training and full-time paid summer experiential learning internships at some of the top VC firms in Los Angeles. Read more about the current program and impact here.
PledgeLA Founders Fund – The PledgeLA Founders Fund, in partnership with Grid110, was created to directly address the systemic barriers that Black and Latinx entrepreneurs face when seeking capital for their companies, helping founders with demonstrated traction increase recurring revenue, find follow-on capital, and build community with their peers. Since the inception of the program in 2021, 54 alumni companies have collectively raised more than $21 million in follow-on capital and created over 82 new jobs. Read more about the program here.
PledgeLA Tech Mentorship Program – In partnership with the Riordan Programs at UCLA Anderson, we’ve helped connect over 70 LA tech leaders with first-generation college students to break into the tech sector. Read more about the program here.
By nearly every measure, Los Angeles’ new tech ecosystem will continue to have a profound effect on our city. The leaders of these companies today are our philanthropists of tomorrow, and we hope AnnenbergTech can serve as a hub for this next generation to convene and create new models of civic leadership that will lift up and inspire all Angelenos.
Wallis Annenberg
Chairman of the Board, President & CEO
Other Partnerships
LA Tech Week – During the summer of 2023, PledgeLA and AnnenbergTech supported various community-centered events focused on spotlighting underrepresented funders and investors for LA Tech Week. This included partnering with Slauson & Co., VamosVentures, LatinxVC, VCFamilia, Founder Familia, Supply Change Capital, LEEAF, Dot.LA, BLCK VC, and LGBT + VC, to organize and host unique gatherings across Los Angeles.
NYCEDC Venture Access Alliance – Inspired by the work of PledgeLA, the Venture Access Alliance is a coalition of New York-based startup investors aiming to create an inclusive venture and tech ecosystem. During their New York Tech Week launch event in 2023, sponsored by AnnenbergTech, the Alliance brought together tech leaders, investors, venture capital firms, and local leaders, with notable guests including NYC Mayor Eric Adams and Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer. More than 60 firms have joined the alliance since the initiative’s inception, including many PledgeLA member firms such as M13, VamosVentures, and Halogen Ventures.
City of STEM – We’re thrilled to partner with the Columbia Space Center on their annual City of STEM event, a month-long celebration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics that brings together students, families, scientists, schools, libraries, and museums across LA County.
Urban Tech Connect – AnnenbergTech is proud to support Urban Tech Connect, the annual conference hosted by Plug In South LA. The 2020 conference brought together founders, investors, innovators, and jobseekers from diverse backgrounds to engage around the theme of moving forward from the challenges of 2020.
Hello Future – In the fall of 2019, AnnenbergTech partnered with LA Promise Fund to support their milestone event, Hello Future, which engaged more than 7,500+ young women of color in a two-day event STEM careers and opportunities.
City of STEM – We’re thrilled to partner with the Columbia Space Center on their annual City of STEM event, a month-long celebration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics that brings together students, families, scientists, schools, libraries, and museums across LA County.
