Tech founders are dropping big sums on Los Angeles homes.
Bored Ape Yacht Club co-founder Zeshan Ali purchased a 2,000-square feet Silver Lake house for $4 million. Ali, who previously lived in St. Louis, Missouri, rose to prominence after the once-secret creatives behind the NFT company were revealed earlier this year.
Even as the crypto market fluctuates, BAYC has expanded to celebrity videos and broken into Hollywood. Yuga Labs, the company behind BAYC, boasts a $4 billion valuation.
Patreon CEO and co-founder also Jack Conte also resides in Silver Lake, as does YouTuber Jenn Im.
Other tech figures are also snapping up real estate in the city. Logan Head and Grant LaFontaine, the founders of the LA-based livestream shopping platform Whatnot, dropped $15 million on a new house in Beverly Hills. The pair sold a four-bedroom Venice house for $3.7 million in August.
In July, Whatnot brought in $260 million in Series D funding. Livestream shopping has taken off in Asia, and American markets have been trying to recreate that success. Whatnot is cornering this market, with a $3.7 billion valuation. Competitors like Popshop Live and Talkshoplive are seeing mixed results as the trend struggles to take off in the U.S.
Head and LaFontaine join Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and tech entrepreneur Milun Tesovic in Beverly Hills. Last week, Bezos’ ex-wife Mackenzie Scott donated her $55 million home in the area to charity. The luxurious zip code is also home to Launch House, a mansion for startup founders facing accusations of misconduct and harassment.
Throughout the pandemic, some experts believed a number of tech founders and companies would lead a great exodus out of California. Some did leave—most notably, Elon Musk relocated Tesla to Texas, though SpaceX remains situated in Hawthorne. But many tech founders aren’t leaving Los Angeles, and the city continues to attract venture capital firms and startups.
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