Oakland Among Top Cities for Tech Startups

DBL Part­ners’ Pro­gram Direc­tor Lisa Hager­man is inter­viewed by NBC Bay Area TV on why Oak­land has become a pre­ferred loca­tion for star­tups in the tech and green tech space.

Pro­gram Direc­tor of DBL Part­ners Lisa Hager­man is quick to say that Oak­land is a great place to do business.

She should know; her ven­ture cap­i­tal firm is back­ing five Oak­land tech com­pa­nies and hopes to find more. “The more that we see Oak­land in a pos­i­tive light, the more com­pa­nies are going to choose to locate in Oak­land and grow in Oak­land,” Hager­man said.

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Oak­land was ranked among the most attrac­tive U.S. cities for tech star­tups accord­ing to a report out this week by the Nation­al Ven­ture Cap­i­tal Association.

San Jose and San Fran­cis­co topped the list, but the high cost of rent in those cities is mak­ing places like Oak­land more attractive.

“The cost of liv­ing and cre­at­ing a busi­ness is low­er in Oak­land than in San Jose and San Fran­cis­co,” said NVCA Pres­i­dent Mark Heesen. “Things are just cheap­er in the East Bay than opposed to the city or San Jose or Sil­i­con Val­ley areas.”

The NVCA list mea­sures over­all ven­ture cap­i­tal invest­ment in each respec­tive mar­ket in 2012. Oak­land ranked 11th.

“The amount of invest­ment pro­vid­ed to Oak­land-based firms is a clear indi­ca­tion that our city is one of the Bay Area’s inno­va­tion cen­ters,” said Oak­land May­or Jean Quan. “In addi­tion to being more afford­able, Oak­land offers a cen­tral Bay Area loca­tion, great weath­er and a skilled workforce.”

Oak­land is qui­et­ly becom­ing a breed­ing ground for suc­ces­ful star­tups giv­ing birth to a rev­o­lu­tion in field from food to on-line music. Stream­ing music site Pan­do­ra had its best day ever as a pub­li­caly trad­ed com­pa­ny last week when shares jumped 18-per­cent. Rev­o­lu­tion foods, which makes afford­able lunch­es for pub­lic schools, now deliv­ers 120,000 meals dai­ly thanks to its cen­tral loca­tion in Oakland.

Oth­er fac­tors in Oakland’s favor include prox­im­i­ty to research insti­tu­tions like the Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia — Berke­ley and Lawrence Berke­ley Nation­al Lab, a mod­er­ate cli­mate and abun­dant green space includ­ing Lake­side Park, just steps from downtown.