The city generated $621 billion in economic impact between July 2022 and December 2024, according to the research, which is based on an analysis of 5 million companies worldwide, venture capital funding databases, survey data and expert interviews. From 2020 to 2024, $116 billion has been poured into local startups. The average exit took 9.9 years, slightly shorter than the global average of 11.2 years, and the value of those exits came to $141 billion, according to the research.
The optimistic report comes amid general chaos in the public market that has spooked many startups from pulling the trigger on an exit. New York’s success is driven by the AI, life sciences and climate tech industries, which have flourished due to the city’s talent pool and capital. The findings echo another recent analysis, which showed that tech companies accounted for 41% of the 104,000 new net jobs created in New York between 2019 and 2024.
“It’s a very ascendant time for tech in New York,” said Julie Samuels, president and CEO of Tech:NYC, which represents tech companies across industries. “We have an incredibly vibrant startup scene, and we have marquee tech employers… the flywheel of that is very interesting.”
An average software engineer makes an annual salary of $153,000, according to the analysis. The data also estimates that the city is home to 150 unicorns.
The largest AI funding round of 2024 was SoHo-based productivity software Metropolis, which raised $325 million according to PitchBook. NoMad-based drug discovery platform Formation Bio also nabbed a key funding round to the tune of $372 million in July, a top get for life sciences firms in the city. And White Plains-based energy recycling company Braven Environmental raised $250 million in April of 2023, the top climate tech funding round in the area, according to the report. More recently, in February 2024, Red Hook-based transportation company Revel raised $200 million, also contributing to the subsector’s success.
Despite choppy waters in the public market, a few recent exits may help thaw the appetite to IPO: Oddity, a SoHo-based direct-to-consumer beauty company that uses AI developed by a former Israeli defense official to develop brands and make custom product recommendations, went public in July 2023 at $47.53 per share, marking a $2.7 billion valuation. The stock now trades for nearly $73 a share, a 39% increase.
Midtown-based Nano Nuclear Energy is also enjoying sustained positive momentum from its IPO in May 2024 – the stock is currently valued at $33, a 635% uptick from its public market debut.
Acquisitions in the life sciences sector were also plentiful for the New York market. Midtown East-based cancer treatment company AnHeart Therapeutics was acquired by San Francisco oncology company Nuvation Bio for $397 million in April of 2024, according to PitchBook. That same month, Paramus-based Epygenix, which developed a medicine to treat severe epilepsy, was purchased by Harmony Biosciences, a firm located in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania. Harmony shelled out $35 million at the time of the agreement, with the potential for $130 million promised based on development and $515 million more pending sales milestones, the company said at the time.
But the city’s rise isn’t guaranteed. Samuels fears that several bills being considered in Albany could throw cold water on AI. Namely, the RAISE Act, which aims to regulate artificial intelligence development, could have a “chilling effect” on the growth of the industry, Samuels said, and risk sending the message that New York is “not open for business.”
While Samuels agrees that some regulation is needed for AI, the preference is that it is industry-specific regulation at the federal level, providing states with an even playing field to work with.
“This genie is not going back in the bottle,” she said.
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