Companies to Watch - Dec 15, 2018

Accelerating to 2019

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As we come to the end of 2018, there’s a lot of milestone moments to be grateful for in the last year of New York tech, but one rises to the top of the list: the explosive growth of the startup community. NYC is now home to more than 9,000 startups receiving nearly $12B in total investment.

But big numbers like those would be next to impossible without all of the accelerator and incubator programs that exist here to get them off the ground. With 100+ programs across the city, entrepreneurs have opportunity at every turn to gain access to the feedback, mentorship, funding, and space they need to pilot and scale their businesses.

To celebrate everything these programs are doing to support and build the startup ecosystem, we’re profiling five accelerators committed to advancing new ideas with urbantech, social ventures, veteran entrepreneurs, media innovators, and more. Below is a shortened version of our conversations; read the full post here. 

NYC Media Lab

How does your accelerator work?NYC Media Lab Executive Director Justin Hendrix: We are running multiple entrepreneurship programs at the moment. At NYC Media Lab, we run The Combine, which takes teams from across New York City’s universities and helps them to commercialize concepts and technologies. At RLab, we just finished an XR startup bootcamp helping to do the same, specifically focused on virtual and augmented reality. And we are about to launch an accelerator program for more established, yet still early stage startups in collaboration with Super Ventures. These programs all run roughly three months, and emphasize customer discovery and market validation.How has digital media changed the way we interact with the news and other information, as opposed to more traditional modes of media?JH: The advance of interface technologies changes media dramatically. From the PC to the web, from web to mobile, from mobile to future interfaces like voice and XR, the form and function of interface technologies set the parameters for interaction design and consumption, and thus the economics of the industry. At NYC Media Lab and at RLab, this is what we are experimenting with. We’ve built a community of practice that explores how these technologies are changing the way we produce and interact with information, entertainment, commerce, government, and one another. 

URBAN-X

How does your accelerator work?URBAN-X Managing Director Micah Kotch: Every six months, with our venture partner Urban.Us we invest $100,000 in up to 10 startups that are reimagining city life. Companies have access to hands-on assistance from our expansive network of global experts — including world-class engineers and designers from BMW and MINI, software developers, policy experts, marketing and sales experts and UX/UI designers from the NYC startup ecosystem, graphic designers and communications and PR experts. Teams get 1,000 hours of hands-on help with product development. The program is focused on helping startups run a successful fundraising process, and culminates in a Demo Day (this year its April 24th), where teams present their solutions to leaders from the public and private sector. Following demo day, the companies participate in “Investor Days” where they meet investors in New York and the Bay Area and officially start their process. 85% of our teams have gone on to raise their next round of capital. Based on your experience in urban tech, what is one industry that’s prime to have a significant impact on the way New Yorkers interact with the city?MK: From the perspective of transparency, collaboration, and efficacy, New York has really been a leader with open data. The City continues to engage with the tech community to make government more efficient and effective. This year 600 new data sets were released from 38 city agencies covering everything from drinking water inspections to for-hire vehicle trip data. One of our portfolio companies from our last cohort is Rentlogic, a tech-powered standards association that grades apartment buildings from A through F based on health and safety standards. They literally could not exist without the City's Open Data. 

How does your accelerator work?Blue Ridge Labs Managing Director Hannah Calhoon: Our incubator program is for early stage social ventures who want to take a proven, but small-scale, concept and turn it into a scalable tech platform. The program runs for six months (November to April). We provide $50K in funding, a healthcare stipend, office space, executive coaching, and hands-on support around product and business model development. We expect at least one full-time member of the founding team to work from our office for the duration of the program.

How are social ventures better positioned to address gaps that government may overlook?HC: Startups have the ability to move quickly and take risks – two things that can be hard for government to do effectively. That said, when you’re talking about core social services, it’s important for social ventures to make sure they have a backup plan so that if their product doesn’t work as intended, they aren’t leaving their users worse-off than before. 

Techstars NYC

How does your accelerator work?Techstars NYC Managing Director Jenny Fielding: Spend 3 months with me this summer and your life will change!NYC has a very active tech ecosystem. What are some traits of NYC startups applying to your program that may be unique from programs in other cities?JF: NYC is one of the most diverse cities in the world and as such Techstars NYC attracts a dynamic group of founders from various backgrounds and geographies. And because you need to be resilient to live and thrive in NYC, we find that we attract passionate and focused founders who won’t take no for an answer.

Bunker Labs

How does your accelerator work?Bunker Labs Northeast Region Executive Director Katherine Kostreva: On Veterans Day 2017, WeWork and Bunker Labs formed a national partnership to launch Veterans in Residence, an initiative to support veteran and military family member entrepreneurs with fully sponsored workspace, services, business mentorship, and community to help veteran entrepreneurs find their tribe and create their life’s work. They will also have access to a national network of veteran-owned businesses to connect, learn and grow from the community of current and alumni Veterans in Residence.

What unique qualities do veterans bring to the entrepreneur community?KK: Resilient. Driven. Work ethic. 7 to 7, no questions asked. And the camaraderie is unsurpassed. This is why Bunker Labs is so successful, because it has found a way to unite the military connected community and recreate a unique bond post-service.Join Us

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