The Bay Area has lost its stranglehold on tech,” adds Logan Bartlett, a partner at Redpoint who initially planned to move to San Francisco upon his hiring, before opportunistically staying put “People want to be in NYC for lifestyle reasons and because no one wears a Patagonia vest.” “The reason VCs are moving here now is because they’re allowed to. “It’s a new experience and I love having opportunities to meet with East Coast founders for coffee in the morning or even a show at the Comedy Cellar at night.” “I chose to move to New York because it’s filled with arts and culture, diverse people and a massive economic engine,” says Lainy Painter, a partner at Craft Ventures. There’s another, more personal reason for the trend as well: investors who prefer the city now don’t need to choose it over a job. This way of thinking sounds ridiculous now," she says. "Five years ago, it was a real point of debate whether companies could scale outside the Bay Area. No vests neededĬraft Ventures' Lainy Painter moved to New York in February. I think the underdog mentality here gives a renewed energy.” It’s not just crypto, either: other investors point to digital health and ecommerce as local startup hotbeds now minting unicorns like Spring Health. “The new mayor said he’s getting paid in Bitcoin for his first three paychecks. “The culture of crypto is even more decentralized and integrated into culture that’s outside of core software development,” he says. “I think fintech has rotated its headquarters to New York right now, at least from a talent perspective,” he says.įintech excitement is only being fueled further by the congregation of crypto and “Web3” founders in New York, says Rosenberg at Greylock. ![]() Overdorff’s pitch to Lightspeed to serve as its first East Coast partner was simple: “If you don’t have someone in New York, you’re going to miss out.” In September, he led a $100 million Series C funding round in Alloy on behalf of Lightspeed, valuing it at $1.4 billion. Overdorff was already personally investing in a new generation of fintech companies increasingly based in the city, such as bank identity system Alloy. Overdorff moved to New York just before the pandemic on behalf of Stripe, which saw benefit in having a veteran corporate development and strategy leader in the city, closer to Europe. And while Stripe and other fintech leaders historically grouped in Silicon Valley - in Plaid’s case, moving there from New York - a new generation of breakouts like Ramp is remaining in town. ![]() One of tech’s hottest areas by funding, fintech startups raised $39.2 billion for the year as of September 30, according to PitchBook, compared to $20.4 billion last year. It’s no coincidence that Haber, Lightspeed’s New York-based partner Justin Overdorff and Greylock principal Seth Rosenberg all specialize in fintech. “Venture is still a relationship business.” Fintech frenzy It’s not surprising to me that people are moving here,” he adds. The recent success of tech companies going public in New York from ad tech to ecommerce and infrastructure has helped prove that New York must be taken seriously as a significant tech hub, Haber says. Now he’s part of what peers say is a 20-person-plus team in New York at least one other general partner, David Ulevitch, is in the process of purchasing a New York home. Haber helped open Spark Capital’s office in New York nearly a decade ago before founding Bond Street and selling it to Goldman. ![]() Andreessen HorowitzĪnchoring A16Z’s venture fund presence in New York is David Haber, who joined the firm in June from Goldman Sachs. Andreessen Horowitz partner David Haber says widespread VC interest in New York should come as no surprise.
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