Five New York Tech Companies to Watch (August 2017)
Tech:NYC’s thriving membership is a testament to how robust the startup community is in New York. Nearly any type of tech you can think of is represented here, and we look forward to the continued growth and expansion of tech in the years to come.
With that in mind, we’re starting a new monthly feature to highlight five up-and-coming member companies each month. Check out our first five below.
Carmera
What does your company do?
Carmera Co-Founder and CEO Ro Gupta: Carmera is a real-time street-level intelligence platform. We operate a crowdsourced vehicular sensor network that gathers 3D scenery and analytics data on city streets. Our machine vision and geospatial data pipelines extract rich texture and insight to produce real-time HD maps for autonomous vehicles and planning data for environment professionals, while helping make vehicles on city streets safer.
Why did you found it in New York?
RG: First, it's home. Many of us have been in New York tech for a long time, starting companies like Blip.tv and MakerBot, and communities like NYC Resistor. We are able draw from a world-class pool of talent who know us well and are excited at the unique opportunity to work on AV tech locally. Second, we are working on one of the hardest parts of the problem, where maps matter most. NYC allows us to prove out key parts of the tech in one of the most challenging environments including dealing with deep urban canyons, highly congested streets, bad weather, etc. that you don't contend with in traditional testing areas like California and Arizona. Finally, the city tends to be very diverse in terms of end usage opportunities. In addition to built environment applications, we get a lot of interest from VR/AR, local intelligence, insurance, etc., all of which have substantial addressable markets within NYC.
One piece of advice for being a New York founder?
RG: Treat NYC like your first country for which you're trying to get product-market fit. Someone once said if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. Probably some TED Talks guy.
What brought you to New York?
RG: A few things led to my moving here from San Francisco almost 15 years ago. One of them, I will admit, was the first Interpol album.
What’s your favorite pizza slice?
RG: Rosario's on the Lower East Side.
What’s your favorite NYC park?
RG: Greenwood Cemetery.
How do you get to your office? Subway, bus, cab, bike or foot?
RG: Non-autonomous vehicle...for now.
What’s your favorite neighborhood?
RG: The Brooklyn Navy Yard is starting to win me over.
Clark
What does your company do?
Clark Co-Founders Megan O’Connor and Sam Gimbel: Clark is a virtual assistant for tutors. We manage the end-to-end tutoring experience for independent educators, students and parents. Our tutor-facing iOS app is in the App Store, and our parent-facing web product is coming soon.
Why did you found it in New York?
MO and SG: New York is the greatest city in the world. It also has a significantly more diverse set of viewpoints and perspectives on technology and edtech than you'll find in the Valley. NYC is much less of a monoculture, and the struggle of being outside the epicenter of tech culture gives us a unique perspective on our own priorities as a company. Plus, New York City has the largest school district in the country, making it a great place to start and test new products that touch educators.
One piece of advice for being a New York founder?
MO: Spend the quality time upfront to build a quality team - while you don't see the same volume of tech talent you do in Silicon Valley be smart about looking in house at large publishing houses, agencies and other non traditional places - there is an impressive amount of under the radar talent in those places.
SG: Always be recruiting. It's so much harder here than in SF, and you likely won't find out until after it becomes a problem. The cost of living in NYC is comparable, but salary expectations are based primarily on reports from mid-stage startups. You'll end up spending more time looking for people who are willing and able to take a salary hit for the potential upside afforded by a high-growth startup, so get started early.
How do you get to your office?
MO: I take the L from Williamsburg right into Union Square, where we work out of the Human Ventures Office.
SG: Subway, always. N line for life.
What’s the best place in New York for a coffee or lunch meeting?
MO and SG: The Grey Dog on University is great for a morning coffee meeting and is like a startup meetup point for both coffee and lunch.
What’s your favorite NYC coffee shop?
MO: Toby's Estate.
SG: Joe on 13th and 5th Ave or Cafe Grumpy in Park Slope.
What’s the best condiment on a New York hot dog?|
MO: An absurd amount of mustard.
SG: Spicy mustard. No contest.
What’s the craziest thing that’s happened to you in NYC?
MO: Having Alec Baldwin walk me to work.
SG: Having the entire cast of the TV show Community show up at the bar we went to after a Childish Gambino show and just casually saying hi and thank you for your comedy, good sirs and madams.
Hive
What does your company do?
Hive Co-Founder and CEO John Furneaux: Hive is a powerful project management platform for teams. It pulls everything your team needs —chat, planning, files—into one place. Most tools only cover one area of collaboration and force you to invest in a whole productivity stack. Hive provides a tailored hub for teamwork.
Why did you found it in New York?
JF: In a word, diversity. In New York, everyone and everything is represented. From advertising to fashion to finance, everywhere you go, you can interact with people from every profession and background. This produces a healthy cross-pollination of ideas, and it fights blinding groupthink. New York also has a broader prospective customer base. Did you know that 48 Fortune 500 companies are headquartered in New York City? Only five are in San Francisco. For a B2B company, this concentration of business makes it a lot easier to win and service these customers.
One piece of advice for being a New York founder?
JF: Leverage the community. There a lot of good people in a tight knit group.
What brought you to New York?
JF: I came from San Francisco to New York to start Hive. It was clear to me that New York is the best place for Hive to grow. The sales opportunities and the growing tech community have been huge assets.
What’s your favorite pizza slice?
JF: Anything from Artichoke.
How do you get to your office? Subway, bus, cab, bike or foot?
JF: I walk because I live close. I love to take a Citi Bike, even though I probably put my own life at risk every time I do.
What’s your favorite NYC coffee shop?
JF: I'm British. I drink tea.
What’s the best condiment on a New York hot dog?
JF: Horseradish.
What’s the craziest thing that’s happened to you in NYC?
JF: Being given the chance to start this company.
Mack Weldon
What does your company do?
Mack Weldon Co-Founder and CEO Brian Berger: Mack Weldon is a direct to consumer menswear brand focused on premium basics. Our core products are wardrobe essentials such as underwear, socks and t-shirts, and, more recently, polos and sweats. The mission is to create real product innovation rooted in design and fabric coupled with an amazing, e-commerce-driven, customer experience. Basically the opposite of what you get at traditional retail.
Why did you found it in New York?
BB: NYC is the center of everything and if you can break through here, you have the potential to build something big. Another reason is the talent—the best and brightest in fashion, tech, digital media, and marketing are in NYC—and that’s the core of our business.
One piece of advice for being a New York founder?
BB: Take advantage of the amazing networks that relate to your business. The opportunity to get smarter and shorten the learning curve on so many early, important decisions is just a call, email, or networking event away.
What’s your favorite pizza slice?
BB: Koronet Pizza in Morningside Heights.
What’s the best place in New York for a coffee or lunch meeting?
BB: La Pecora Bianca.
What’s your favorite NYC museum?
BB: It’s a toss up. Either Guggenheim or Natural History.
What’s your favorite New York building?
BB: The Citigroup Building at 53rd and Lex.
Metaprop NYC
What does your company do?
MetaProp NYC Co-Founder and Managing Director Aaron Block: MetaProp NYC is the world’s premier real estate technology nexus. The MetaProp NYC 22-week accelerator and 8-week pre-accelerator at Columbia University are the leading programs for high growth property technology (PropTech) startups. Each year, up to 20 of the best technology driven real estate industry ideas are selected to participate in intensive education, mentorship, and growth hacking programs, culminating in exclusive Graduation Defense panels and bi-coastal Demo Days for partners, investors, VCs and media. MetaProp NYC's team and strategic seed stage funds have invested in more than 60 technology companies across the real estate value chain.
Why did you found it in New York?
AB: NYC is the center of the global PropTech industry. We're the number two tech market and the number one real estate market. It's a no brainer!
One piece of advice for being a New York founder?
AB: Be great at your startup but also spend some serious time with non-technical business leaders in NYC. The business culture here is very different (I think better) than the Valley or other tech markets.
What brought you to New York?
AB: Originally, I came here to build my real estate career with a large, multinational commercial real estate firm. More recently, I returned to be closer to some East Coast family.
How do you get to your office? Subway, bus, cab, bike or foot?
AB: I live outside the city, so I do my best to take New Jersey Transit. Occasionally, I get to drive in with work colleagues. That makes the commute more fun.
What’s the best place in New York for a coffee or lunch meeting?
AB: It's a poorly kept secret that I love meeting people at Starbucks. They're very easy to find. Plus, my Starbucks name, Hercules, is always a conversation starter.
What’s your favorite NYC museum?
AB: My kids and I love the New York Transit Museum.
What’s the craziest thing that’s happened to you in NYC?
AB: I lived in NYC during 9/11 and both blackouts. I have vivid memories of the craziness that followed those events, especially random strangers’ kindnesses. Folks opened their homes, shared cold drinks with pedestrians, and helped sort out traffic. Just a few more reasons why I love building a business in Gotham.