With so much going on in the city’s thriving ecosystem, it is easy to miss some of the happenings in the space. We keep you abreast of a few of things that you may have missed in NYC Tech News this week including the fundings, exits, and events.
Have notable company news that you would like included in The NYC Tech Week in Review? Send all pertinent details to WIR@alleywatch.com.
Access Innovation, the company connecting corporations and research institutions to facilitate research, has raised $700K in Seed funding for founders Gregg Smith and Matt Spangard’s first round of funding.
Boldstart Ventures has closed $21M in funding for its first close for its third fund. According to SEC filings, the target size of the fund is $45M. Boldstart led by Ed Sim and Eliot Durbin has invested in a number of seed deals in the enterprise space including investments in EMissary, Indiegogo, and Rapportive.
The turnstiles were busy in city government this week at the house that de Blasio built.
Minerva Tantoco, the first CTO of the City of New York, announced that she will be leaving the post at the end of this month to join Future/Perfect Ventures as an advisor.
It was also announced that Sree Sreenivasan, who recently left the Metropolitan Museum of Art, will be the city’s next Chief Digital Officer, replacing Jessica Singleton who recently left the city to pursue her MBA.
Image credit: CC by Kenny Louie
MikMak, the app that lets you buy from short infomercials, has raised $3.2M in Seed funding led by VaynerMedia with participation from Slow Ventures, MX Investments, and BRaVe Media Ventures. The founder Rachel Tipograph has now raised her second round of funding.
Shoppable, the universal online checkout extension, has raised a Series A round of $3.5M from Canary Ventures, Sandeep Bhanote, Andrew Boszhardt, Jr., John Owen, Bodley Group, Thomas Varghese, On Grid Ventures, and MI Ventures. Founder Heather Marie has now raised a total of $5M.
IDtree, the company allowing investors to track private companies closer, has raised a round of Venture funding for founder Samuel Dallaire’s first round of funding.
Ceros, the company allowing you to create with no coding experience, has raised $8M in Series B funding led by Grotech Ventures with support from Silicon Valley Bank, Greycroft Partners, StarVest Partners, Sigma Prime Ventures, CNF Investments, and CNF Investments. The company has raised $16.45M over their 3 rounds of funding. You can read about the full story about the funding here – This NYC Startup Raised a Series B Round So You Will Not Ever Need to Code
Zype, the cloud video distribution service for OTT, has raised $2M in Seed Funding led by Revel Partners with participation from Terrapin Bale Venture Fund & Studio, Entrepreneurs Investment Fund, Berlin Ventures, Alpine Meridian Ventures, and Point Nine Capital. The company has raised $3.6M to date.
Zazoom Media Group, the creator of timely videos, has raised $800K for the company’s 4th round.
Birchbox, the company sending personalized boxes for beauty products, has raised a $15M Convertible Note from the following investors: Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Harrison Metal, Grape Arbor VC, Grace Beauty Capital, Glynn Capital Management, Forerunner Ventures, First Round, Bullish, Aspect Ventures, and Accel. The company has raised $86.9M to date.
PaidEasy, the mobile payments app has acquired Happy for cash and stock. The company’s main market is in the restaurant payment market.
Axial, the network for finance professionals, has raised $14M in Series C funding led by Edison Partners with participation from Redpoint, First Round, and Comcast Ventures. Founder Peter Lehrman has now raised $33.5M over the company’s 5 rounds.
Fixthub, the fixed income markets enterprise software company, has raised a Series A round from Cerium Technology. This is the first round for founder Brian Lane.
BrandYourself, the company that lets you take control of the Google search of your name, has raised $2M in Series B funding. FF Angel LLC, Barney Pell, and NAV.VC participated in the company’s 5th round raising their total amount funded to $6.8M.
Yieldbot, the creators of a new channel defined by relevant advertising and performance, has raised $35M in Series C funding from Staley Capital Advisors. Jonathan Mendez’s company has now raised $63.4M over 5 rounds.
Spot.IM, the network to have a conversation about anything, has raised $13M in Series A funding from Ran Tushia, Brian Bedol, Nir Zohar, Giora Kaplan, Avishai Abrahami, Norma Investments Limited, and AltaIR Capital. This is the company’s first round of funding.
AirHelp, the company that helps you get compensated for your delayed or cancelled flight, has raised $12M in Series A funding from U-Start, Galvanize Ventures, Jimmy Maymann, Naval Ravikant, Evan Williams, and Khosla Ventures. The company has raised $16.7M over their 2 rounds.
Our friends at Harry’s announced that their products will now be found in Target locations across the country as well as on the Target website Harry’s up until now has been a mail order subscription service and this marks its entrance into the mass market.
Anthemis Group has announced the closing of its first venture fund, Anthemis Venture Fund I, at $60M that will specialize in fintech investments pre-seed, seed, and Series A. Anthemis already has 30 portfolio companies including Betterment, Moven, and Artivest. “Our enviable position of being truly expert in both financial services and technology, coupled with our history of investing in startups and advising financial services incumbents, sets us apart from others. The Anthemis team’s experience is becoming increasingly important as more money flows into the sector.” said Amy Nauiokas, Anthemis founder and president. “As competitive pressures in fintech continue to rise, it’s the focused experts with track records who will be the best partners for investors and entrepreneurs.”
