Needless to say, 2021 was a big year for tech and venture funding. That extends to New York City, its own startup hub. But while the most valuable U.S. tech companies are on the opposite coast, New York had its own banner year. According to early-stage investor Primary VC, NYC saw a 300% increase in venture funding from H1 2020 to H1 2021, with a total of $877 million poured into seed-stage deals in the first three quarters of 2021, and an estimated $1.6 billion in funds raised by NYC-based VC firms.
We looked at research firm CB Insights’ State of Venture report to check out the numbers for ourselves as the year comes to an end. Note that while the numbers demonstrate trends on the whole, the data does not capture VC trends through the end of the year, so we’ll get an even better snapshot of VC funding after the new year.
In the third quarter of 2021 alone, funding in New York soared to $13.3 billion across 504 deals, CB Insights reported. This year, mid- and late-stage deal share saw gains — up to 18% from 16% and 11% from 8%, respectively. And though early-stage deal share continues to make up the bulk of New York deal share at 55%, it's down from 59% in 2020, and 61% in 2019.
The COVID-19 pandemic impacted small New York businesses, but technology startups in a number of sectors, including telemedicine, e-commerce and fintech, saw growth. Shifts in consumer and business behavior that were already underway accelerated over the past year.
Crunchbase reported that at least five NYC tech companies pulled in $300 million or more in funding this year. Robotic process automation startup UiPath had a $750 million series F round; health care startup Ro had a $500 million series D round; risk detection AI company Dataminr had a $475 million series F round; text message marketing startup Attentive had a $470 million series E round; and website building and marketing startup Squarespace had a $300 million growth round.
“It doesn’t surprise me that we’re on pace to do more,” Cynthia Franklin, the director of entrepreneurship for the Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship at NYU’s Stern School of Business, told Crunchbase of New York’s venture scene this year. “Despite the fact that 2020 was such a strange year, there have been several sectors that have been doing quite well.”
