WNYC purchases Gothamist; plans relaunch of beloved site
When Gothamist and DNAinfo were unexpectedly shut down and their archives scrubbed in November, New Yorkers lamented the loss of two of the city’s favorite websites. Now, a glimmer of hope emerges as public radio station WNYC announces it has purchased both Gothamist and DNAinfo, as well as their archives. The amount of the sale, which was funded by two anonymous donors, remains undisclosed. WNYC has stated that it plans to revive Gothamist to its former state. DNAinfo, however, will not receive the same treatment. [Forbes]
NYC tech is taking over, named the official “second city” of the startup scene
According to a new report, New York City is now home to more than 7,500 technology companies, which employ more than 120,000 individuals. These numbers are up more than 60 percent from just 10 years ago, highlighting the exponential growth of the New York City tech sector. Trends in funding also reflect this growth, with more than $34 billion in venture capital being driven into NYC tech in the last five years. The report notes that these growing numbers establish NYC as the official “second city” of tech in the United States, with San Francisco being number one, of course. [Crain’s]
Brooklyn-based Industrious raises $80M to compete in NYC co-working arena
When you think of co-working, your mind likely drifts to the WeWorks of the world. Meanwhile, Brooklyn’s Industrious has quietly been building up a shared office empire, and just raised $80 million in Series C funds to further expand their reach. Currently, Industrious has 35 individual locations across 25 cities — only two of which are in New York City. [Technical.ly]
Greenhouse helped nearly 200,000 people get hired last year, announces exciting partnerships
Popular talent acquisition platform Greenhouse revealed some impressive statistics earlier this week, in addition to announcing partnerships with major brands Match.com and the PGA. Newly-analyzed data indicates that job seekers used Greenhouse to submit more than 21.9 million job applications, and hiring managers ultimately made 189,000 talent acquisitions using the platform. Now, exciting new clients like Match.com, AEG, J.D. Power and more will increase Greenhouse’s already impressive reach. [Press Release]
Europe’s most popular dating app touches down in the United States
Valentine’s Day didn’t go as planned? Go ahead and download Once, Europe’s most popular dating app, which just became available in the United States on Tuesday. Unlike other apps that have cornered the market in the U.S, Once works by analyzing a user’s age, location, education, and preferred type and then delivering a single match per day. It may be difficult for stateside users to get used to the whole “quality over quantity” thing, but it could also be exactly what the love doctor ordered. [NY Post]
More than half of 2017’s ICOs resulted in failure and million dollar losses
Thought ICOs (initial coin offerings) have been rocky terrain from the start, new statistics reveal just how disastrous they can be. According to data compiled by Bitcoin.com, of the 902 ICOs filed last year, 142 failed before funding was raised, and another 276 failed after funding was raised; another 113 are labeled as “semi-failed.” It’s true, most startups don’t succeed, no matter how funds are raised. Yet failed ICOs have a much greater blast range, as funds come from inexperienced investors as opposed to professionally organized firms. Will the ICO trend continue into 2018? Time will have to tell. [New York Business Journal]
