Give it up for Philly! Fast Company recently posted an article giving Philadelphia its props as the next big tech town. The City of Brotherly Love takes on technology with open arms as the city’s diverse group of nerds and entrepreneurs pave the way to make Philly the next startup capital.

Companies like InviteMedia, MyYearbook, The Neat Company, and DuckDuckGo “have surged in popularity and refused to emigrate to nearby New York or succumb to the vortex of Silicon Valley”.

A common downside to creating startups in a niche market is that they tend to migrate toward sexier cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York. Philly’s tech talents are finding more lucrative deals in these markets where there is a greater likelihood for success.  But being a big fish in a small pond has its benefits. The ability to stand out among other metropolitan areas in the tech industry is what makes Philadelphia a unique market – unabashed and unafraid.

These entrepreneurs “genuinely love Philadelphia” and for the first time in years, more youth are moving to the beloved, albeit misunderstood city to seek opportunities in technology. With a large number of colleges and universities crawling with hipsters, techies, future business leaders of America, and everyone in between, Philly is expanding its pool of early adopters.

“Philly is the greatest city in the country,” says Sean Blanda, cofounder and writer at the newsblog Technically Philly. “This city is real life. It has real problems and real people, which give us all a tremendous opportunity to make a dent”.

Philadelphia’s tech scene is growing, and with true Philly grit, it’s not going down without a fight.