This has been the biggest, most well received NYC Big Apps competition in history! Over 120 companies competed for just 20 coveted spots across four categories. Read on to find out about the startups that want to make living, working, playing and learning in NYC easier. Winners won’t be announced until September, but for now, the finalists are…
CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL 20 FINALISTS IN THE NYC BIG APPS COMPETITION
Image Credit: NYC EDC Tumblr
Emrals
A finalist in the live and play category, Emrals is a cryptocurrency based game that empowers citizens to clean their city. And you know what they say: every litter bitcoin helps!
Explore NYC Parks
A finalist in the live and play category, Explore NYC Parks with this mobile-friendly web-app that enables users to find information on parks closest to them, filter parks by offered amenities, find upcoming events and get suggestions for park adventures. So, where do you want to go today?
Heat Seek NYC
A finalist in the live and work categories, Heat Seek NYC is tapping the internet of things to empower tenants, landlords, community organizations, and the justice system to tackle our city’s heating crisis. And helping to keep the heat on because come winter, it gets cold out there, baby.
MyCoop
A finalist in the live category, MyCoop is a social platform for residential buildings, making it easy for neighbors to communicate, share and get access to important information that matters – and hits them where they live.
Mind My Business
A finalist in the work category, Mind My Business let’s New York City brick and mortar businesses know what’s happening outside and around their establishments that makes a difference to their bottom lines. (The company also just became part of 500 Startups’ Batch 10)
NYC Hired
A finalist in the learn and work categories, NYC Hired uses data visualizations to display growth, availability, and salary potential in various different fields using city-level labor statistics.
RentHackr
A finalist in the live category, RentHackr is a resource for would be renters, as the name implies, to find out more about potential spaces to live including upcoming availability, property details, and experience of previous tenants.
FineNYC
A finalist in the live category, FineNYC is the easiest way to pay for your New York City parking tickets. Yeah, that’s what they mean by ‘fine.’ (Is that why they’re called New York’s Finest?)
Easy Food Stamps
A finalist in the live category, Easy Food Stamps make interacting with the government more user-friendly with the tech equivalent of a trusted friend who helps you navigate those complex forms. And isn’t that when you need a friend the most?
SketchFactor
A finalist in the live category, SketchFactor is an app that will let you know the ‘”relative sketchiness” of a neighborhood. You will no longer feel the threat of being mugged or stabbed with this navigation app powered by crime data.
Nfoshare
A finalist in the learn and work categories, Nfoshare is a real time sentiment analytics platform for the educational space that can project drop out rates for students and other factors like loneliness.
CourseKicker
A finalist in the learn category, CourseKicker is an online collaboration network for K-12 teachers where they can connect and build a professional learning network, share best practices and ideas, and save time. CourseKicker’s lesson discovery engine helps them quickly find and share great lessons recommended by their peers.
Culture Island
A finalist in the play category, Culture Island is uniting the islands of New York with island culture. Manhattan may be a world unto itself, but Governors Island is a whole different thing. Only 400 meters south of Manhattan – and a world away. Here’s where the exploration begins.
Dream See Do
A finalist in the learn and work categories, Dream See Do is a social learning community that enables students to discover, explore, and sample a range of career possibilities based on their interests and skills.
Ohmconnect
A finalist in the learn and live categories, Ohmconnect is the platform that pays you to save your own electricity. Yes they pay you to save money! Taking advantage of the IoT phenomenon, their smart meter is integrated with a number of smart devices already including Nest, Tesla, and Belkin devices.
Reported
A finalist in the live and work categories, Reported is the Yelp for Yellow Cabs. The iOS app gives New Yorkers the ability to file complaints and give feedback directly to the TLC about any of the 175 millions NYC cab trips a year.
PIPs/Positive Impact
A finalist in the learn and live categories, PIPs is the virtual currency that rewards citizens for conscious behaviors that drive social impact related to health, community, and environment.
RedRover
A finalist in the learn and play categories, RedRover is a discovery engine for drop in classes around NYC. The application also includes a social component to enhance discovery amongst peers.
Social Cyclist
A finalist in the live and play category, Social Cyclist by Social Bicycles allows New Yorkers to share and record bike routes. The aggregate data can be used by infrastructure and planning purposes by cities, biking businesses, advocacy groups, developers, and urban planners.
Responcers
A finalist in the live and work category, Responcers is 311 on steroids. It gives you the ability to share location details in real time with emergency responders and personnel in the case of emergencies.