Our current work
Los Angeles Teen Tech Collective Partnership
In partnership with the Best Buy Foundation and the Greater L.A. Education Foundation, AnnenbergTech are building a network of 12 Best Buy Teen Tech Centers in deserving communities across L.A. County that are collectively called the Los Angeles Teen Tech Collective. AnnenbergTech’s role is to ensure that centers have access to top-tier technology and “maker spaces”, while also fostering direct engagement with tech founders and investors via entrepreneurship programs like the Young Innovators Accelerator.
AnnenbergTech-Supported Centers
Bresee Best Buy Teen Tech Center – Opened in November 2016 and hosted by the Bresee Foundation, this center was the first Teen Tech Center built in Greater Los Angeles.
Legacy LA Best Buy Teen Tech Center – Opened in August 2021, this center is hosted by Legacy LA in Ramona Gardens neighborhood of East Los Angeles, CA.
South Los Angeles Best Buy Teen Tech Center – Opened in June 2022, this center is hosted by the Vermont Slauson Economic Development Corporation in South Los Angeles, CA.
North Valley Caring Services Best Buy Teen Tech Center – Opened in May 2024, this center is hosted by North Valley Caring Services (NVCS) in North Hills, CA.
Antelope Valley Best Buy Teen Tech Center – Opened in November 2024, this center is hosted by the Antelope Valley Boys & Girls Club in Lancaster, CA.
YMCA Long Beach Carmelitos Teen Tech Center – Opened in January 2025, this center is hosted by the YMCA’s Youth Institute Long Beach at the Carmelitos Housing Development in North Long Beach, CA.
Young Innovators Accelerator – In summer 2023 and fall 2024, AnnenbergTech co-hosted the Young Innovators Accelerator, a business-development and pitch challenge designed to help teams of young people learn entrepreneurship fundamentals, tackle unique challenges, and refine their ideas with tech founders and investors. Dozens of students have completed the program at 6 L.A County teen tech centers, which culminates in a live onstage pitch with scholarship funding at Spotify’s DTLA campus. Check out the 2024 finalist competition here.
PledgeLA
PledgeLA is a coalition of venture capital firms working to make Los Angeles a global tech hub that reflects the full breadth of the region’s innovation and talent. With high-impact programs including venture capital fellowships and GP-LP matchmaking, the group works to help better connect talent, opportunity, and capital in Greater Los Angeles. Originally convened in 2018, the effort is co-hosted by AnnenbergTech and the Office of the Mayor of Los Angeles.
Venture Capital Fellowship
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 70 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 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.
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
Since 2022, AnnenbergTech and PledgeLA have supported a broad range of community-centered events during L.A. Tech Week, all with a focus on creating more economic opportunity in Los Angeles. Notable partners have included: Crosscut, Slauson & Co., VamosVentures, SomosVC, VC Familia, FounderFamilia, Supply Change Capital, Unshackled Ventures, LEEAF, BLCK VC, and Plug In Ventures.
PledgeLA Catalyst Awards
In December 2024, AnnenbergTech hosted the first-ever PledgeLA Catalyst Awards, recognizing outstanding investors, entrepreneurs, and ecosystem builders that have made an outsized impact in Greater Los Angeles. Beginning with a tech sector roundtable led by Mayor Karen Bass, the event also recognized the Kwanza Jones & José E. Feliciano Initiative for its significant investments in L.A.-based companies.
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.
