United States

New York City

#2

Global Startup Ecosystem

MEMBERS:

New York City Economic Development Corporation Tech:NYC

“New York is where startups come to apply and scale emerging technologies. This is especially true for AI, and it’s why we’re more bullish on New York’s tech ecosystem than ever before.”

Highlights

New York City is home to more than 25,000 tech-enabled startups with an ecosystem value above $694 billion. AI startups are earning some of the city’s largest VC investments, including a $235 million Series D in October 2023 for machine learning company Hugging Face and AI research company Runway’s $141 million June 2023 Series C. NYC Climatech startups earned $664 million in venture or growth funding across 34 deals in 2023. New initiatives were launched to support piloting urban tech solutions in the built environment, including Pilots at Brooklyn Army Terminal and NYC Smart City Testbed. The city’s more than 1,600 Fintech startups collectively raised 24% of the United State’s total fundraising in the sub-sector in 2023.

A swell of debut funds opened in New York City in 2023, including Life Sciences tech fund Dimension, early-stage B2B cloud fund m]x[v Capital, and crypto-native fund Hash3. In July 2023, software investor Insight Partners raised $118 million for its second VC fund of funds led by underrepresented managers. VC firm Lux Capital raised $1.15 billion in April 2023 for Deep Tech and science startups. Early-stage VC Inspired Capital raised $330 million in February 2024 for its Inspired Capital Fund III.

A $10 million city investment was made to place 30,000 New Yorkers into apprenticeship programs by 2030. An additional $10 million city investment was made to expand CUNY 2X Tech, to ensure CUNY colleges continue to develop a high-quality tech talent pipeline.

Ecosystem by the Numbers

ECOSYSTEM VALUE

(H2 2021 - 2023)

$694 bn

GLOBAL AVG. $29.4 bn

TOTAL EARLY–STAGE FUNDING

(H2 2021 - 2023)

$21 bn

GLOBAL AVG. $655 m

ECOSYSTEM VALUE GROWTH

(H2 2021 - H2 2023 VS H2 2019 - H2 2021)

36%

GLOBAL AVG. 46%

NUMBER OF UNICORNS

(H2 2021 - 2023)

126

GLOBAL AVG. 3

MEDIAN SEED ROUND (H2 2021 - 2023)

$1.7 m

GLOBAL AVG. $985 k

MEDIAN SERIES A ROUND (H2 2021 - 2023)

$10.3 m

GLOBAL AVG. $7.5 m

SOFT. ENGINEER SALARY (2023)

$160 k

GLOBAL AVG. $47 k

EARLY-STAGE FUNDING GROWTH (2020-21 VS. 2022-23)

Scale of 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest)

TOTAL VC FUNDING (2019 - 2023)

$145 bn

GLOBAL AVG. $4.6 bn

TIME TO EXIT (2019 - 2023)

9.6 years

GLOBAL AVG. 10 years

EXIT AMOUNT (2019 - 2023)

$165 bn

GLOBAL AVG. $8.9 bn

EXIT COUNT (#)

(2019 - 2023)

1498

GLOBAL AVG. 80

311

261

409

292

225

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

Sub-Sector Strengths

AI, Big Data & Analytics

Emerging as an AI leader, NYC boasts over 40,000 people in the metro area with AI and AI-adjacent skills and the largest number of AI job postings in the nation. Empire AI will create an AI computing center to promote responsible research and development and create AI-enabled jobs statewide. Leading NY academia including CUNY, SUNY, Columbia, NYU, Rensselaer Polytechnic, and Cornell are founding members. NYC also released its own AI Action Plan for the implementation of AI to modernize government services and delivery.

Life Sciences

The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub New York (CZ Biohub NY), a new biomedical research hub that will leverage a nearly $300 million public-private investment to drive collaboration between leading research institutions and solve significant scientific challenges, was announced in October 2023. The SPARC Kips Bay Master Plan drives innovation in New York City’s growing Life Sciences and healthcare sectors by bringing schools and industry together to provide career pathways for CUNY and New York City Public School students.

Climatetech

NYC has committed up to $100 million in a Climate Innovation Hub for incubation and research commercialization. Public policy requires that the grid be powered by 100% renewable electricity by 2040 and reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The Green Economy Action Plan seizes the opportunity of the green economy. Led by Stony Brook University, The Climate Exchange was announced as a $700 million campus dedicated to finding solutions to address the climate crisis.

Reasons to Move Your Startup to New York City

High-Quality Talent

New York City has the largest base of STEM-educated adults in the U.S. In December 2023, NYC launched a $600 million plan to build inclusive pathways for young professionals to enter the workforce through government and private partnerships. CUNY partnered with Amazon Web Services, Fortune 500 tech companies, and government leaders in 2023 to redesign IT curricula at area universities to prepare students to enter IT fields.

Access to Capital

NYC startups raised $9 billion in venture capital in 2023 and the city is home to over 1,200 active venture capital firms. In October, New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) launched the Venture Access Alliance, a coalition of over 100 NYC investors dedicated to increasing diversity in the city’s tech and venture ecosystem. The NYC Catalyst Fund is a $40 million impact investing vehicle committed to inclusive entrepreneurship.

Dedicated Support

NYCEDC’s Founder Fellowship program, focused on serving underrepresented tech Founders, has served more than 160 NYC-based founders helping them gain access to venture capital and grant funding and grow their businesses. Tech:NYC Founder House is an initiative providing early-stage tech founders with curated opportunities to collaborate with their peers, investors, and industry experts.