New York, New York and yeah, yeah, we know: if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. This was a very good year for tech in NYC, and while a number of our home-grown founders killed it, there are always those who seem to just go quietly about their business, building their companies and their brands, and who somehow fall under the radar.
Here are 15 founders who you’re going to be hearing a lot more about come 2015.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE 15 NYC STARTUP FOUNDERS TO WATCH FOR IN 2015
Founder’s note: AlleyWatch does not have a financial relationship with any of those included. This list is in no particular order nor is it a ranking. In fact, the =RAND() function on excel was used to determine order.
Michael Yavonditte
Yieldmo, CEO
YieldMo is saving the world from bad mobile ads, and hats off to Michael Yavonditte for that. YieldMo’s Ad Format Lab has invented dozens of proprietary formats that drive better results and command higher prices – without ruining the viewer experience. Think of it as Disney Imagineers meets ad format creation. And since tools like AdSense aren’t exactly porting effectively to mobile advertising, well, that explains why Google Ventures participated in Yieldmo’s $10M Series C round back in October. Along with Time Warner Ventures, Union Square Ventures and Genacast.
“Yavo” was previously CEO of Quigo, which was acquired by AOL for $361M.
The company currently has several patents pending. Yup, keep an eye on this one!
Keep up with Mike:
Twitter
LinkedIn
Image credit: YieldMo
Arjun Rai
Canvs, Founder & CEO
canvs+, which is producing a next generation project management app that helps businesses manage their workforce, tasks, projects, and files in the most creative way ever, was founded by Arjun Rai in Spring of 2013, while he was still a student at the New York Institute of Technology.
He graduated earlier this year, in fact.
A few weeks into school at NYIT (where he was a scholarship and grants recipient, of course), he launched fuelbrite.com, a social media agency focused on small businesses and startups, and a student-focused organization, TheBizDen. After interning at a PR and ad agency in the summer of 2012, he quickly saw the need for yet another startup within the tech space, and raised a seed round to build it out. That would be Canvs+, of course, and he has his eye on bringing the future of the workspace and tablet computing to thousands of companies around the world. He’ll no doubt do it. More news coming soon.
Keep up with Arjun:
Twitter
LinkedIn
Image credit: LinkedIn
David Arabov
Elite Daily, Cofounder, CEO & Managing Editor
It all started while studying David Arabov was still a student at Pace University, and Elite Daily has quickly become one of the most popular sites on the web, due to Arabov’s understanding of the void in the marketplace for content specific to Millenials, written by Millenials. The site reaches over 50 million people a month and employs over 60 Millennials. Arabov knows his audience – and he’s just getting started.
Keep up with David:
Twitter
LinkedIn
Image credit: DLD Conference
Brandon Wright
Cognical, Cofounder & CEO
Believe it or not, not everyone has a credit card, and Cognical is an integrated alternative financing solution for online shoppers that radically improves the accuracy of financial underwriting. All it requires is a quick application, that’s approved in seconds. Net result: increased sales and customer loyalty – not to mention that the Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator company recently raised $10M.
Keep up with Brandon:
Twitter
LinkedIn
Image credit: LinkedIn
Nat Turner
Flatiron Health, Cofounder
Flatiron Health is the healthcare IT company whose mission it is to improve cancer research by organizing the world’s real-world oncology data on a shared technology platform.
The company was founded in 2012 by Nat Turner and Zach Weinberg, the founders of Invite Media, which was acquired by Google in 2010. Noticing that most cancer centers, physicians and researchers were deprived of even the most basic of data and analytical tools that other industries take for granted, they decided to found Flatiron Health. Oh, and while Flatiron is currently in beta with a number of cancer care facilities across the country, they raised $130+M this year. Something must be looking very promising!
Keep up with Nat:
Twitter
LinkedIn
Image credit: Twitter
Suzanne Xie
Hullabalu, Founder & CEO
Hullabalu is new media company that creates interactive story apps to inspire kids aged 3-8. In other words, they’re creating storytelling for the next generation. The company launched in 2013, was part of Techstars NY Class of 2014, has hit #1 in Books in 38 countries and has been featured in ‘New & Noteworthy’ and ‘Essentials’ in Kids and Books in the Apple App Store.
The story on Xie : prior to Hullabalu, she cofounded Weardrobe, which is now part of Google, mentors at Founders Institute and Blueprint health, and eats a lot more ice cream than she’d like to admit to. That’s ok : with all that’s happening with Hullabalu, she probably needs the energy rush.
Keep up with Suzanne:
Twitter
LinkedIn
Image credit: LinkedIn
Mike Perrone
Social Sign.in, Founder & CEO
Mike Perrone knows social, and who doesn’t love free wifi ? With the exception of those coffee shops and other venues whose wifi you’re using for hours, for the price of a cuppa, that is. Perrone has been changing that with Social Sign.in, a platform for venues to establish relationships with customers in exchange for free connectivity. It’s a win-win – and a winner !
Perrone also cofounded SocialFlow, which pioneered social media optimization by applying predictive analytics to real-time big data.
Keep up with Mike:
Twitter
LinkedIn
Image credit: Twitter
Anthony Casalena
Squarespace, Founder & CEO
Squarespace‘s mission is to provide creative tools that help anyone give a voice to their ideas. From the designers and engineers who are creating the next generation of web and mobile experiences, to anyone putting a website together for the first time, Squarespace provides elegant solutions that set new standards for online publishing and is known for their sophisticated yet easy-to-use interfaces. The company has been at it – very successfully, we might add – since 2004, when it was launched from founder and CEO Anthony Casalena‘s dorm room at the University of Maryland, but it’s grown and evolved a bit since then. Squarespace now has over 410 employees. And counting.
Squarespace raised $40M in 2014 and previously raised $38.5M in 2010.
Keep up with Anthony:
Twitter
LinkedIn
Image credit: Squarespace
Nick Taranto
Plated, Cofounder
Plated is redefining weeknight dinner. Through weekly chef-designed menus, and fresh ingredients and recipes delivered each week, which can be turned into healthy meals in one’s home kitchen in a mere 30 minutes, they’re helping America to eat better and live better.
And redefining ‘fast food,’ when you think about it.
Cofounder Nick Taranto certainly knows how to serve. He’s a former US Marine (and HBS grad) and considering that the company is expanding – and raised a $15M round this year from investors including Greycroft, Lerer Hippeau and ffVentures – it seems he knows how to dish it out as well.
Keep up with Nick:
Twitter
LinkedIn
Image credit: Twitter
Gilad Rotem
CUPS, Cofounder
If there are two things that New Yorkers love, it’s coffee and variety. And a bargain, so make that three, and that’s why CUPS has taken off the way it has. Founded in Tel Aviv and quick to make the move to one of the undisputed Coffee Capitals of the World, CUPS is a mobile app that connects coffee drinkers with independent cafes. Members purchase prepaid plans to get discounted drinks at some of New York′s best coffee shops, and it’s as simple as walking into a participating café and use your Smartphone to get a great deal on a cup of joe.
And let’s be honest: a Starbucks is a Starbucks is a Starbucks, and not always one’s cuppa.
Keep up with Gilad:
Twitter
LinkedIn
Image credit: LinkedIn
Lily Liu
Public Stuff, Founder & CEO
PublicStuff is a service that allows you to capture and notify the correct department in a city to get things fixed, and it rolled out of the first class of Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator. It was quickly named one of the top 25 startups to watch by Business Insider. The following year, founder Lily Liu was named one of the top 30 under 30 Entrepreneurs by Forbes and earlier this year, made the Forbes list of companies to watch in 2014. It’s no wonder : the platform is currently being used in over 200 cities – and counting. As for Liu herself, did we mention that the Carnegie Mellon grad was the youngest analyst under Mayor Bloomberg‘s Department of Education for special analytics and projects, where she helped manage the $20B budget and teacher union negotiation ? Or that she’s into extreme sports, loves to arm wrestle and has yet to lose a match ? Again, she’s one to watch out for !
Keep up with Lily:
Twitter
LinkedIn
Image credit: LinkedIn
Matt Salzberg
Blue Apron, Founder & CEO
Blue Apron is one of the companies that is changing the way people cook at home, by delivering a weekly subscription box filled with everything you need to make your own meals – fresh, properly proportioned ingredients and recipes included, with no subscription fee required.
In fact, the company recently announced that it is delivering over a million meals per month to customers across the country.
For the curious : ‘Blue Apron’ refers an age-old French tradition for young chefs to wear a Blue Apron while they master the art of cooking.
Keep up with Matt:
Twitter
LinkedIn
Image credit: LinkedIn
Jack Welde
Smartling, Cofounder & CEO
When you’re trying to communicate with people globally, there’s nothing more basic than language – which can also be a barrier. Smartling simplifies and accelerates translation and localization for companies reaching a global market by using an innovative, cloud-based translation management platform. The Smartling platform currently serves more than one billion page views per month in 100 languages across the globe.
For the record, founder and CEO Jack Welde is an industry veteran (and combat-decorated Air Force pilot) who also co-founded Trio Development, a software company that created the first personal information manager, which was acquired by Apple in 1993.
Keep up with Jack:
Twitter
LinkedIn
Image credit: LinkedIn
Dominik S. Richter
HelloFresh, Founder & Global CEO
2012 must have been the Year of DIY Meals. HelloFresh, Blue Apron and Plated all launched then – and all three closed significant 8-figure rounds this year.
HelloFresh, a meal planning and shopping platform, sends recipes and the exact ingredients for subscribers to prepare them right to one’s front door – and they’re global. Launched in Germany, HQ quickly moved to the US and New York, specifically, where they raised a $50M Series D this year.
Seems the world’s appetite for the service just isn’t abating any time soon.
Keep up with Dominik:
Twitter
LinkedIn
Image credit: LinkedIn
Russell D’Souza
SeatGeek, Cofounder
Founded in 2009, SeatGeek is one of the oldtimers on this list – and still going strong. SeatGeek is a ticket search engine for live sports, concert, and theater events, presenting them to consumers within an elegant and powerful user interface that makes finding the best value on events tickets easy and painless. SeatGeek’s Deal Score system analyzes thousands of ticket listings and rates the best bargains. The higher the Deal Score, the better the value. And there are no hidden costs. They also take into account user preferences and favorited teams and artists in order to generate accurate recommendations of upcoming local events.
It was certainly a banner year for the DreamIt Ventures Accelerator alums, who closed a $35M Series B in August, with investors that included Eli Manning, Peyton Manning, Rob Glaser and Stanford University. Go team, and if cofounder Russell D’Souza has a favorite team or band, he ain’t saying.
Keep up with Russell:
Twitter
LinkedIn
Image credit: Forbes
