Long known more for movie magic than technology and overshadowed as a startup hub by Silicon Valley to the north, Los Angeles has shifted in recent years to become not just one of America’s top startup ecosystems, but a global hotspot as well. That shift has been partially driven by changes in taxation policy. Los Angeles has delivered more than $90 million in tax relief to local businesses since 2013, which has assisted with the growth in startups of all kinds. More than 212,000 new businesses have been licenced in the city over the last 5 years. Despite a tumultuous year Los Angeles companies managed to land $9 billion in VC funding in 2020. What sets the growing startup ecosystem in Los Angeles apart from many established tech hubs is its inclusivity. PledgeLA, an organization that includes more than 80 venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, mayor Eric Garcetti and the non-profit Annenberg Foundation, aims to increase diversity in the city’s tech scene. For instance, recognizing that a “friends and family round,” where wealthy personal contacts fund an entrepreneur’s earliest efforts, is often an impossibility for minority founders, PledgeLA set up a South LA Fund to distribute $25,000 each to 20 companies led by Black or LatinX founders. Los Angeles is also amongst the top 20 cities with the highest number of female-owned businesses, which average a gross annual revenue of between $1 billion to $5 billion.