10 Of The Best Impact-Minded Startups To Work For In LA
Because impact and beach reads shouldn’t be mutually exclusive.
Over the years, the city of Los Angeles has been likened to Silicon Valley as the “Silicon Valley of Social Impact” and thus, the new destination for impact entrepreneurship.
We couldn’t be happier about this news. LA’s vibrant startup scene brings innovative, incredible — and now — mission-driven ideas to light, meaning that the next big thing is always just around the corner. When the “next big thing” includes reducing food insecurity or building sustainable energy technologies and “the corner” in question is the nearest beach, we recommend saving this list of the 10 best impact-minded startups to work for in Los Angeles.
(Check out even more job listings at LA startups on Interchange here.)
1. Headspace
Headspace wants to improve the health and happiness of the world. How? Meditation. The digital health platform provides hundreds of hours of content on meditations centered around stress, sleep, focus, anxiety, and more. We also love Headspace co-founder Andy Puddicombe’s TED Talk describing the power of practicing “mindful minutes”.
Headspace’s innovative Santa Monica office (furnished with individual meditation pods of course) guarantees that you’ll be in the, well, right headspace to get to work!
2. SnackNation
We think snacking doesn’t get enough credit. SnackNation agrees. The Culver City startup makes snacking fun and life awesome — all through their healthy snack delivery service. Every month, a curated selection of snacks from the most innovative and natural brands lands at your doorstep.
Hm, we’re hungry just writing about them! But SnackNation doesn’t just stop at satisfying consumer hunger — for every box shipped, SnackNation donates 10 meals to a family in need through their partnership with Feeding America. They’ve donated six million meals and counting!
SnackNation has been named one of Inc. magazine’s Best Workplaces, received a Great Place to Work® Certification, and been acclaimed by Entrepreneur Media’s as having one of the top company cultures in America! The accolades don’t stop there.
P.S. We’re guessing that their break room has an impressive collection of snacks ― let us know if we were spot on!
3. Arrive Outdoors
If you can’t tell by their name, Arrive Outdoors is all for creating a world where we all, well, arrive outdoors! Arrive facilitates this process by renting premium outdoor gear for a fraction of the price of retail. It’s not sustainable or financially feasible for many of us to buy outdoor gear — it can be a waste of money, time and space and harmful to the planet to buy things unnecessarily. Arrive is designed for every outdoor moment, so that you can explore the outdoors while exploring their varied collection.
Additionally, Arrive has a “100% Happiness Guarantee” on its products. With its incredible emphasis on people and living, we bet that that guarantee extends to its employees. Oh, and did we mention they’re based in beautiful Santa Monica?
Apply to Arrive Outdoors here!
4. AllVoices
AllVoices enables employees to safely report harassment, bias, and culture issues directly to their company’s leadership through anonymous reporting. Until AllVoices, companies were unable to use real-time, proactive data to identify issues before they become systemic problems. Now, they can.
CEO and Founder of AllVoices, Claire Schmidt, was raised by her parents to measure success by her impact on the world around her; according to Claire, “The real currency was always: What are you doing to make the world better?” when she was growing up. Claire’s family lived those values daily, with her father spending his career fighting for the rights of migrant workers.
AllVoices’ goal is to make every workplace safe and inclusive, something their employees can definitely attest to.
5. GoodRx
GoodRx believes prescription drugs should be affordable and convenient for everyone. We agree. GoodRx’s website and mobile apps track current prices and publicize powerful and valuable saving tips and discounts for every prescription drug at virtually every pharmacy in the U.S.
GoodRx was recently included on Fortune’s Change the World and Los Angeles Business Journal’s Best Places to Work Lists due to their commitment to social impact.
GoodRx’s commitment to Americans more than extends to its employees — as one employee succinctly describes their experience at the Santa Monica-based firm, “all in all, I am very content.”
6. Pledgeling
Pledgeling specializes in turning individual companies’ visions for social impact into a movement that transforms both their business and the world. Partnering with more than 4,000 brands all over the world, Pledgeling operates several successful impact campaigns — from customer giving, public donation APIs, e-commerce plugins, impact measurement, native product integration and more.
Last month, Pledgeling reached an incredible milestone in their partnership with Evite — in less than two years, the two doubled total donations to organizations and causes across the US to total $20 million!
With a team dedicated to #pledgetodogood and company volunteer days, Pledgeling leaves employees saying “great team with an awesome mission.”
7. Heliogen
We have a hunch that Heliogen attracts employees as bright as their fuel source. Formerly Edisun Microgrids, Heliogen is a clean-energy company completely rethinking distributed solar power from the ground-up — they’ve developed patented technology as part of their mission to meaningfully contribute to the world’s efforts to eliminate the need for fossil fuels.
Based in beautiful, sunny Pasadena, Heliogen will guarantee that you’ll get some nice sun right alongside their many, many mirrors (pictured below).
8. Avisare
Avisare believes that when it comes to competing for contracts, the playing field must be leveled to accommodate for our diverse business community. We agree. Avisare’s platform simplifies and streamlines the bidding processes for government agencies and Tier 1 contractors. To top it off, collaboration, transparency, automated compliance-tracking, and reporting features make sourcing and vetting easy.
Avisare’s founder and CEO Sky Kelley began the company out of a desire to eradicate wealth and income inequality along racial and gender lines. To that end, Avisare donates a percentage of their profits to the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE). NFTE teaches kids in low-income areas how to start their own businesses.
9. SafeRide
SafeRide knows that many Americans require access to critical health services but that transportation services to attend appointments can be a barrier. SafeRide aims to eliminate barriers plaguing medical transportation and reconnect the nation’s poor and sick to care.
SafeRide provides healthcare providers with solutions to send text alerts about appointments and track the rides of their patients. SafeRide’s technology empowers health plans to improve patient experience, population health, and program efficiency.
Be a driving force of change within the healthcare industry by joining SafeRide’s awesome team.
10. PledgeLA
PledgeLA is a coalition of tech companies and venture capital firms working to measurably increase diversity, equity, and community engagement, hosted by the Annenberg Foundation and the Office of Mayor Eric Garcetti.
PledgeLA has proven time and again their commitment to their pledge by partnering with industry leaders to form their VC Internship Program, fund for HBCU founders, and more.
Check out their annual report on LA’s progress towards increasing diversity, equity, and community engagement here! Be a part of PledgeLA’s pledge to Los Angeles and a better, more equitable world for all by joining their team.
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This post is brought to you by Interchange, LA’s first free job board for tech startups. For more jobs like these, join our community of top tech talent and find your next LA-based opportunity.
