New York is quickly becoming the center of “hyphen tech,” melding its long-held position as the capital for large industries such as fashion and finance with the digital age. New York-based entrepreneurs are growing into industry leaders across ad-tech, fashion-tech, med-tech, fintech and media-tech among other speciality fields, which has subsequently pumped a significant sum of venture capital dollars into the city’s startup ecosystem.
Here are the biggest funding rounds of 2015, sorted by the industries that make up New York’s growing tech community.
AdTech
Taboola is a content discovery platform, serving 300 billion recommendations to over 750 million unique visitors each month on the web's most innovative publisher sites, including NBC, USA Today, The Weather Channel, The Atlantic and Fox Sports.
2015 Funding: $117 million Series E
Total Equity Funding: $160 million
Investors in the Round:
AppNexus uses cloud-based software platform to enable and optimize programmatic online advertising.
2015 Funding: $62.67 million Series F
Total Equity Funding: $288.17 million
Investors in the Round: Not Disclosed
Sprinklr is an enterprise social media management company that helps large companies drive business outcomes and manage customer experiences across all touch points. Headquartered in New York City with almost 1,000 employees globally, Sprinklr is revolutionizing customer engagement for top enterprise brands, including IHG, Intel, Microsoft, Samsung, and Virgin America, Accenture, Havas and Razorfish.
2015 Funding: $46 million Series E
Total Equity Raised: $123.5 million
Investors in the Round: Battery Ventures, Iconiq Capital, Intel Capital
Fashion
Gilt is an online shopping website that provides instant insider access to top designer labels through flash sales.
2015 Funding: $286 million Series F
Total equity funding: $271 million
Investors: General Atlantic
Moda Operandi is an online luxury fashion retailer that allows members to pre-order ready-to-wear accessories and jewelry.
2015 Funding: $60 million Series E
Total equity funding: $138.41 million
Investors in the Round: Fidelity Investments, Advance Publications, LVMH, NAV.VC, New Enterprise Associates, RRE Ventures
Maiyet is a luxury fashion brand that partners with global artisans to incorporate handcrafted details into its clothing collections. Maiyet has worked with artisans in places such as India, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Mongolia, Peru, Bolivia and Thailand.
2015 Funding: $13.43 million Venture
Total Equity Funding: $38.95 million
Investors in the Round: Not disclosed
Media
Refinery29 is an independent fashion and style website. In addition to its global and local newsletters and original editorial content, Refinery29 connects readers with content, commerce and a community for lifestyle tips and tricks.
2015 Funding: $50 million Series D
Total Equity Raised: $80.4 million
Investors in the Round: Matt Coffin, Tom Glocer, Canaan Partners, Contour Venture Partners, TTV Capital, Tribeca Venture Partners, Thayer Street Partners
Newsela provides daily news articles from top national and regional newspapers, all written at five reading levels. Initially targeting grade 3-12 classrooms, Newsela automatically gives readers the level of an article that's just right for his/her reading ability, while empowering them to change levels with a single click. Embedded quizzes track students' reading process and mastery of Common Core standards. Customized analytics sent to teachers and students provide actionable insights designed to improve reading ability.
2015 Funding: $15 million Series B
Total Equity Funding: $22.16 million
Investors in Round: Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Owl Ventures, Women's Venture Capital Fund
Gimlet Media is a network of high-quality, narrative podcasts. The company initially gained traction with a podcast called “StartUp,” which outlined how to launch your own startup.
2015 Funding: $6 million Series A
Total Equity Funding: $7.5 million
Investors in Round: Graham Holdings, Cross Culture Ventures
Fintech
Betterment is a goal-based online investment company delivering smart, personalized financial advice paired with low fees and an enhanced customer experience. Launched in 2010, Betterment’s automated platform eliminates the typical complexities and time of the traditional investment account, freeing up time for other important things in life. Behavioral guardrails built into the account help users make savvy, rational decisions with their finances.
2015 Funding: $60 million Series C
Total Equity Funding: $105 million
Investors in Round: Francisco Partners, Anthemis Group, Bessemer Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures, Northwestern Mutual
CommonBond is an online lending platform that connects borrowers and investors to make education finance better. The company’s model makes it possible for students to save money on their student loans while allowing investors to earn a competitive financial return.
2015 Funding: $35 million Series B
Total Equity Funding: $44.65 million
Investors in the Round: August Capital, Tribeca Venture Partners, Social Capital, Tom Glocer, Tom Kalaris, Vikram Pandit, Nyca Partners, Victory Park Capital
TruMid is an electronic trading platform designed to disrupt the antiquated way corporate bonds are traded. TruMid’s approach utilizes trading sessions called “swarms” to concentrate a critical mass of the most important users in the market in the same place at the same time. The idea is to let all market participants determine pricing, and through anonymity and protection of information, to unlock liquidity.
2015 Funding: $25 million Venture
Total Equity Funding: $33.25 million
Investors in the Round: George Soros, Peter Thiel
E-commerce
Blue Apron is a grocery delivery service company that delivers recipes and the required ingredients to customers’ doorsteps. The service eliminates the time it takes to grocery shop and the precisely portioned dinners minimize waste, while simultaneously providing customers with new recipes and fresher food. Blue Apron’s “meal kit” approach offers the convenience of delivery while allowing customers to flex their cooking skills.
2015 Funding: $135 million Series D
Total Equity Funding: $193 million
Investors in the Round: Jason Finger, BoxGroup, Bessemer Venture Partners, Stripes Group, Fidelity Investments
Vroom allows people to buy and sell used cars from the web, which includes free delivery and a seven-day trial period.
2015 Funding: $95 million Series C
Total Equity Funding: $168 million
Investors in the Round: Allen & Company, Rowe Price, General Catalyst Partners, Catterton Partners
Casper is a mattress company that touts an award-winning memory foam and latex design in its products. Tailored to millennials, the bed-in-a-box startup works as an on-demand service, where mattresses are delivered directly to customers homes.
2015 Funding: $55 million Series B
Total Equity Funding: $69.95 million
Investors in the Round: Alexandre Mars, blisce/, IVP, New Enterprise Associates, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners – NVP, Vaizra Investments, SV Angel, Slow Ventures, QueensBridge Venture Partners, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Scooter Braun, Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Adam Levine, Correlation Ventures
Healthtech
Oscar is a health insurance company that employs technology, design, and data to humanize health care.
2015 Funding: $145 million Venture
Total Equity Funding: $295 million
Investors in the Round: Brian Singerman, Peter Thiel, Goldman Sachs, Li Ka-shing,Wellington Management
ZocDoc will help you instantly book doctor appointments online and receive reminders for preventative checkups. Overall, ZocDoc’s online platform provides seamless accessibility and is free for all patients.
2015 Funding: $130 million Series D
Total Equity Funding: $223 million
Investors in the Round: Atomico, Baillee Guifford, Founders Fund
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