Draft:History of Technology Companies in Washington, DC

Washington, DC emerged in the early 2000s as a hub for startups and its present landscape encompasses influential companies across sectors like media, real estate, education, and e-commerce, as well as recent advancements in B2B and B2G software.

DC Tech is the commonly used name for Washington, D.C.'s tech sector, similar to Silicon Valley in the San Francisco Bay Area.

As the national capital, the Washington, D.C. region boasts the third largest tech workforce in the US. . The District of Columbia (city of Washington, DC) has the highest rate of tech employment in the US in 2024, with 7% of its workforce employed in the tech sector.

History
An early tech cluster in the region developed in Northern Virginia and became the Dulles Technology Corridor, with some telecommunications companies such as Intelsat and Sirius Satellite Radio based in the District of Columbia (Washington, DC itself).

In the early 2000s and 2010s, Washington, DC emerged as a hub for startup companies, growing several influential internet companies during that time.

Real estate information provider CoStar Group, was founded in DC in 1987 and IPOed in 1998. In the 2000s, CoStar grew into the world's largest real estate technology company through a series of acquisitions.

In educational technology, learning management system Blackboard was founded in 1997 and IPOed in 2004, maintaining its headquarters in DC until 2019. Everfi, a DC based educational tech platform, was acquired in 2022.

In e-commerce, LivingSocial launched a daily deals website for local experiences in 2009, grew to 4,500 employees in 2011, and was purchased in 2016 by its leading competitor Groupon. Optoro, founded in 2008, is also a leader in retail returns and reverse logistics.

Culture
Among US technology clusters, DC Tech is notable for its highly centralized, enthusiastic community of employees and entrepreneurs. In 2012, the DC Tech Meetup was recognized as the world's largest tech meetup, with over 1,000 attendees and over 25,000 members. By 2021, the DC Tech Slack group was notable for having 1,000 weekly active users and over 10,000 users.

Press outlets covering DC Tech startups include Technically Media and the Washington Business Journal (as the successor to DC Inno). Washingtonian Magazine compiles an annual list of notable "DC Tech Titans."

Recent Developments
In contrast to the Dulles Technology Corridor, DC Tech companies typically focus on information services and government-adjacent B2B sectors such as education, healthcare, and transportation, and less on direct government contracting, defense and cybersecurity. International development is also a focus, and since 2014, the Halcyon Incubator has run a residential incubator program for early stage social entrepreneurs in DC's Georgetown neighborhood.

Many recent DC Tech companies have focused on B2B and B2G software. Notable companies include government relations software FiscalNote which IPOed in 2022, digital identity verifier ID.me, event planning software Social Tables (acquired by Cvent), transportation information software company Actionfigure, and mapping software company Mapbox.