“I am moving to #NewYork” said Apple CEO Tim Cook after a standing ovation at BAM, Brooklyn where he launched new #MacBookAir and #iPadPro.
Apple’s coming to New York, for the first time, to launch its new products is another sign of how much cool and sexy the city is becoming for the tech industry!
Dr. Sam Natapoff, the President of Empire Global Ventures LLC, has just written a very interesting article about “Why New York City is giving Silicon Valley a serious run for its money“. He says: “Fifteen years ago, New York City was a tech afterthought. Today, it is ranked the second highest performing startup ecosystem in the world after Silicon Valley. More significantly, in certain tech sub-sectors it beats Silicon Valley at its own game, a trend that may continue.”
Some interesting numbers: NYC now has over 7,000 startups, valued at $71 billion, and it received over $11.5 billion in venture capital funding in 2017. It is the home to the most “unicorns” in the U.S. after Silicon Valley, including WeWork (valued at $20 billion), Infor ($10 billion) and AppNexus ($2.2 billion). The city employs over 326,000 people in its tech sector (over three times its East Coast rival, Boston), hosts over 100 incubators.
“Strikingly, NYC managed this feat without a strong engineering base by relying on the natural strengths of its existing economy, its diverse industry base, its human capital diversity, and its desirability as a place to live,” points out Dr. Natapoff. In fact: “89 percent of tech talent cite diversity as a key attraction to move to NYC, 74 percent say a diversity of industries, and 80 percent say the access to cultural institutions, entertainment, restaurants, and sport. NYC ranks first overall among 50 global cities (ahead of even San Francisco) for its ability to attract and support women-owned businesses.”
NYC model is very difficult to replicate, but it must be studied by other cities to understand how a tech startup community can thrive.
