Over the past few weeks, we’ve spotlighted some of the most innovative startups across various U.S. cities and industry verticals. However, our startup series would not be complete without turning our attention to New York City—a city synonymous with innovation and entrepreneurship.
Known for propelling startups like Etsy, Foursquare, Tumblr, and Kickstarter into globally recognized tech giants, NYC continues to be a powerhouse for transformative ideas. With its tech ecosystem ranked second only to Silicon Valley, The Big Apple remains one of the fastest-growing tech hubs in the country, consistently attracting substantial venture capital investment and fostering groundbreaking innovation.
Indeed, venture capital is pouring into New York City’s thriving tech scene, solidifying its position as a top destination for tech investment. Highlighting this momentum, AlleyCorp—a leading venture capital firm with a portfolio that includes Business Insider and Aura Health—recently expanded its presence in the city. They’re far from alone; New York State is now home to 123 venture capital firms, a number that continues to grow. In October 2022 alone, New York-based startups secured an impressive $1.2 billion in funding, underscoring the city’s appeal to investors.
This surge in funding is driving innovation across diverse industries. Major sectors benefiting from this capital influx include fintech, healthcare, educational technology, and online marketplaces like Kickstarter. As such, the city that never sleeps is proving to the world that its startups have the support and resources needed to turn ambitious ideas into groundbreaking realities. Based on BMV’s work supporting New York City startups scale over the last decade, here are 15 early-stage (Seed to Series B) startups that we think you need to watch for breakouts in 2025.
Actuate leverages computer vision technology to detect firearms through existing security camera feeds. Their system provides real-time alerts to law enforcement and early warnings to bystanders, enabling faster response times and potentially life-saving actions. In addition to enhancing safety, Actuate empowers organizations with advanced analytics and reporting tools, transforming data into actionable insights for improved business outcomes.
The company has secured $24.8M in funding to date, with contributions from 13 investors, including Tensility Venture Partners and Gray Line Partners. The company’s most recent funding round, Series B, closed on August 14, 2024.
AuthZed specializes in creating solutions for fine-grained authorization services. Their managed service, AuthZed Dedicated, offers a production-ready implementation of their open-source project, SpiceDB. This solution is designed for global scalability, ensuring high availability, consistency, and performance. Additionally, AuthZed licenses the SpiceDB Enterprise package, providing advanced features for organizations preferring self-hosted deployments. Moreover, AuthZed has raised $15.9M in funding, backed by 15 investors, including Y Combinator and Amplify Partners.
Renting apartments can be costly and frustrating due to outdated tools and inefficient processes. Block.a, a proptech company with roots in New York City and Tel Aviv, addresses these challenges by offering an innovative, end-to-end residential leasing solution. Their platform integrates automated marketing, AI-driven bots, self-guided and occupied apartment tours, and big-data machine learning.
For landlords, Block.a reduces time on the market by over 50%, saves resources, and provides comprehensive insights into leasing data and performance. For renters, on the other hand, the process is seamless—they can visit their desired neighborhood, tour up to 30 units in person, and complete the application and lease signing process, all on a single platform in just one day.
Additionally, Block.a recently reported a 105% profit growth, reflecting its strong financial trajectory. The company is also expanding into consumer banking by enhancing its Cash App offering.
Candidly, based in New York City, is redefining the way Americans approach student debt and savings with its AI-powered optimization platform. Designed to guide individuals and families through every stage of planning, borrowing, and repayment, Candidly partners with leading employers, financial services firms, and workplace providers like 401(k) and 403(b) recordkeepers. By embedding its solutions seamlessly into the financial ecosystems where users work, bank, or seek advice, the platform meets people exactly where they are in their financial journeys.
With flexible integration options—ranging from outlinks and SSO to widget and API solutions—Candidly accommodates partners’ varying technical and resource needs. It also supports diverse branding options, including white-labeling and co-branding, ensuring a tailored experience for every client. Backed by a powerhouse roster of investors, including Aflac, Salesforce Ventures, UBS, and Vulcan Capital, Candidly has raised $46.3M to date.
Chord is revolutionizing commerce with its innovative commerce-as-a-service platform, equipping businesses with the technology and data tools needed to thrive in today’s competitive landscape. At the heart of Chord’s offering is its cutting-edge headless commerce technology, designed to provide unparalleled flexibility and scalability for businesses of all sizes. Coupled with advanced tools for first-party data management, insights, and governance, Chord empowers commerce entrepreneurs with the resources to make smarter, data-driven decisions.
The company’s unique blend of scalable technology and sophisticated data solutions has attracted 14 investors, including Spencer Slaine and Foundation Capital, helping it raise $40M to date.
Footprint, headquartered in New York City, is redefining customer onboarding with a powerful, streamlined platform that tackles KYC (Know Your Customer), security, authentication, and fraud prevention—all with just five lines of code. Leveraging cutting-edge technologies like nitro enclaves, passkeys, and app clips, Footprint empowers businesses to enhance customer conversion rates and maximize lifetime value while fortifying defenses against fraud through proprietary deterministic signals.
With its innovative approach, Footprint has helped companies unlock hundreds of thousands of dollars in customer lifetime value by blending seamless onboarding with robust security. Backed by 12 investors, including Neo and Animal Capital, the company has raised $20M to date.
OneChronos, founded in 2015, is transforming financial markets with its groundbreaking Smart Market technology. Unlike traditional markets, Smart Markets leverage mathematical optimization to match counterparties, delivering superior outcomes in price improvement, liquidity, trade size, and fairness.
At the core of OneChronos’s innovation is Expressive Bidding, a unique technology that merges the personalized touch of voice trading with the efficiency of an electronic marketplace. This approach creates unparalleled liquidity, benefiting all market participants and setting a new standard for trading.
Backed by leading investors, including Addition and 9Yards Capital, OneChronos has raised $81.3M to date.
Reality Defender is at the forefront of combating the growing threat of false media content with its advanced detection platform. By leveraging cutting-edge synthetic media detection algorithms, Reality Defender identifies and assesses risks associated with manipulated images, videos, audio calls, and documents in real time. This empowers enterprise and government clients to combat synthetic media and protect the integrity of their communications.
Founded in 2021, Reality Defender has raised $48.5M to date from investors, including Accenture and Illuminate Financial.
Warp is revolutionizing payroll for startups by automating the complexities of payroll operations, freeing founders from the time-consuming task of managing state tax registrations and other payroll processes. With Warp, founders can focus on scaling their businesses, knowing that payroll is streamlined and hassle-free.
Based in New York City, Warp has raised $5.2M to date, with backing from 8 investors, including HOF Capital and Abstract. The company’s most recent funding, a Seed round, closed on January 1, 2024, reinforcing its position as the go-to platform for founders looking to simplify payroll operations and optimize their business management.
Xscape Photonics is driving the future of high-speed connections with its cutting-edge photonic chips, designed for high-performance computing systems and data centers. By harnessing the power of photonics, Xscape Photonics delivers scalable, high-bandwidth, energy-efficient, and cost-effective solutions that are crucial for the next generation of AI, machine learning, and simulation hardware.
Xscape Photonics has raised $57M to date, with investment from 8 prominent backers, including Kyra Ventures and Fathom Fund.