Category Archives: NYC

Top NYC Tech Companies

When I ask people about the NYC startup scene, most people can only rattle off a short list of startups, typically it’s Foursquare, Tumblr, Etsy, Gilt Groupe and Kickstarter. Those are all great companies but there are at least 60 additional tech companies in NYC that I think will have a substantial exit (in the next few years) and you should be aware of them.

  1. 1010data
  2. 10gen
  3. 2u (fka 2tor)
  4. Aereo
  5. Appnexus
  6. Arkadium
  7. Blip.tv
  8. Birchbox
  9. Bit.ly
  10. Bonobos
  11. Boxee
  12. Buddy Media (update – acquired for $698M by Salesforce on 6/4/12)
  13. Buzzfeed
  14. Chloe & Isabel
  15. Collective Media
  16. Comixology
  17. DoubleVerify
  18. Enterproid
  19. Etsy
  20. Everyday Health
  21. Fab.com
  22. Fancy
  23. Foursquare
  24. Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG)
  25. Gilt Groupe
  26. HowAboutWe
  27. ideeli
  28. Indeed (update – acquired on 9/25/12 for $750M+)
  29. Intent Media
  30. Kaltura
  31. Kickstarter
  32. Knewton
  33. Learnvest
  34. Lot18
  35. Major League Gaming
  36. Makerbot (update – acquired on 6/19/13 for $403M+)
  37. Medialets
  38. MediaMath
  39. Media6Degrees
  40. Meetup
  41. MOAT
  42. Moda Operandi
  43. Newscred
  44. Offerpop
  45. OMGPOP (update – acquired for $180M by Zynga on 3/21/12)
  46. On Deck Capital
  47. OpenSky
  48. Outbrain
  49. Quirky
  50. Rent The Runway
  51. Return Path
  52. SailThru
  53. SecondMarket
  54. Shapeways
  55. Stack Exchange (aka Stackoverflow)
  56. SumAll
  57. Tapad
  58. TheLadders
  59. Thrillist
  60. Tremor Video
  61. Tumblr (update – acquired by Yahoo on 5/19/13 for $1.1B)
  62. Undertone Networks
  63. Unified
  64. Vibrant Media
  65. Warby Parker
  66. Yext
  67. Yodle
  68. Zocdoc

There are ~600 NYC startups that have raised VC funding in last two years (per CBInsights). I wanted to keep the list closer to 50 but as you can see it is beyond 60 at this point. If there are any obvious breakout startups that I missed, please let me know.

NYC hasn’t had a large IPO ($1B+ valuation and/or raised $100M+ at IPO) in the last 10 years, yes, isn’t that shocking?! Assuming the stock market stays steady, I can see at least 10 of these startups mentioned above going IPO in the next few years.

Disclosure: This list of companies was put together based on insights gathered during conversations with VCs and other players who are an active part of the NYC startup scene. In addition, I used the following sites for research: LinkedIn, CBInsights (a NYC startup), Crunchbase, Compete, Quantcast and Made in NY.

List of Active Series A Investors

Here is a list of active investors who invest in Series A rounds of NYC (New York) based startups: If you are looking for Seed stage investors, see this post.

This firms are currently writing checks for companies who are raising Series A rounds that range from $3M to $10M.

NYC Based (meaning they have a full time investor(s) living in NYC & you don’t have to fly to another city for a partnership meeting(s)):

  • Bain Capital Ventures
  • Bessemer
  • Bloomberg Beta
  • Canaan
  • Contour Venture Partners
  • DFJ Gotham
  • First Round Capital
  • FirstMark
  • General Catalyst
  • Greycroft
  • High Peaks Ventures
  • IA Ventures
  • Matrix
  • New York City Investment Fund (NYCIF)
  • Polaris
  • Raptor Ventures
  • Rho
  • RRE
  • RTP Partners
  • Softbank Capital
  • Spark Capital
  • Tiger Global
  • Tribeca Ventures Partners
  • Union Square Venture Partners
  • Venrock
  • Zelkova Ventures

Non-NYC Based:

  • Accel
  • Battery
  • BlueRun Ventures
  • Fairhaven Capital
  • Foundry
  • Flybridge
  • Google Ventures
  • Highland
  • Javeline Venture Partners
  • Khosla
  • KPCB
  • Lightbank
  • Lightspeed
  • Menlo Ventures
  • NEA
  • Norwest Venture Partners
  • Sequoia
  • Shasta Ventures
  • Social+Capital Partnership
  • True Ventures

List of Active Seed Stage Investors

Here is a list of active investors in NYC (New York) based seed stage startups.  If you are looking for active Series A investors, see this post.

The definition of active means that the investor has made at least three new seed stage investments in a NYC startup in the last 9 months.  Some of the firms are new, so they haven’t made three investments yet but are planning on making investments.  Seed stage investment means that these investors participate in deals that are typically less that $2M in size.

New York based seed investors:

  • 500 Startups
  • Abdela, Angelo
  • Accel Partners
  • Advancit Capital
  • ARC Angels Fund
  • Betaworks
  • Black Ocean
  • BoldStart Ventures
  • Bowery Capital
  • Box Group
  • Brand Foundry
  • Brooklyn Bridge Ventures
  • Canaan Partners
  • Chart Venture Partners
  • Chertok, Doug
  • Coriolis Ventures (incubator)
  • Contour Venture Partners
  • Crossbar Capital (Charlie Federman)
  • Dace Ventures
  • Gotham Ventures
  • DreamIT Ventures (accelerator)
  • Dyson, Esther
  • ENIAC Ventures
  • ER Accelerator
  • Eskapa, Daniel
  • ff Venture Capital
  • Flybridge
  • First Round Capital
  • FirstMark Capital
  • Fogel, Avi
  • Founder Collective
  • Genacast Ventures
  • General Catalyst
  • Gilbert, Parker
  • Goldberg, Alexander (angel – Canary Ventures)
  • Golden Seeds (angel group)
  • Great Oaks Venture Capital
  • Greycroft Ventures
  • HBS Angels NY Chapter (Harvard Business School)
  • High Line Venture Partners
  • High Peak Venture Partners
  • IA Ventures
  • KayWeb Angels (equity in exchange for web development)
  • Lerer Ventures
  • LDV Capital
  • Marrus, David
  • MESA+
  • Metamorphic Ventures
  • Milestone Ventures
  • Neu Venture Capital (Jerry Neumann)
  • New York Angels (angel group)
  • New York Life Science Angels (angel group)
  • NextView Ventures
  • NYC Investment Fund
  • NYC Seed
  • NYU Innovation Venture Fund
  • Polaris Ventures
  • Quotidian Ventures
  • Red Swan Ventures
  • Richenstein, Larry
  • Rose Tech Ventures (David S. Rose)
  • RRE Ventures
  • Schneider, Mark
  • Softbank Capital
  • Spark Capital (Mo Koyfman based in NYC, firm based in Boston)
  • Techstars (accelerator)
  • Tevel Angels
  • Thrive Capital
  • Trisiras Group (Kal Vepuri)
  • Union Square Ventures
  • Upstage Ventures (Mark Wachen)
  • Urgent Ventures (Jeff Stewart)
  • Vaizra Investments (NYC/Israel)
  • Vaux les Ventures (Miles Spencer)
  • von Simson, Ernie
  • Whelan, Jon
  • Women Innovate Mobile (accelerator)
  • Yavonditte, Michael
  • Zelkova Ventures

Other investors active in New York seed deals (with location):

  • Battery Ventures (Boston)
  • Floodgate (Bay Area)
  • Forerunner Ventures (Los Angeles)
  • Javelin Venture Partners (Bay Area)
  • Khosla Ventures (Bay Area)
  • Launch Capital (Dave Shen, SF/Boston/New Haven)
  • Lowercase Capital (KA)
  • MentorTech Ventures (Philly)
  • New Enterprise Associates aka NEA (D.C. and Bay Area)
  • Resolute.vc (Boston)
  • SoftTech VC/Jeff Clavier (Bay Area)
  • SV Angel/Ron Conway (Bay Area)
  • True Ventures (Bay Area)