Grand Central Tech isn’t your typical incubator.
Unlike others in the industry, they don’t offer entrepreneurs investment in return for equity. Instead, GCT gives startups free office space in their New York offices for a year, without any strings attached.
After the year is completed, the startups are offered rental space inside the building. So far, every single startup that’s gone through their program decided to stay in New York, and has also stayed in GCT’s space.
Out of over 1,000 applicants, 18 startups were named the lucky recipients of free space as part of GCT's third annual cohort. This is what they do:
Agent Q builds chatbots for e-commerce sites that understand natural language. That way, customers with stupid questions can bother a robot, instead of an expensive human.
Ampathy connects people with brands and social causes. The company’s founder, Brian Sirgutz, was a founder and former SVP of social impact and innovation at the Huffington Post.
API Fortress runs a testing and monitoring platform for API. The platform allows people who know about such things to automatically run scheduled tests and then be notified if any issues are found.
CU Lending Exchange runs a marketing, underwriting, risk management and loan syndication platform for credit unions.
Drawbridge Networks is a cybersecurity company that uses technology to detect and automatically respond to attacks.
Envisagenics uses software to find new therapies of RNA splicing to help cure cancer and other genetic disorders.
ExecThread is a selective, online network where executives can share job openings with other executives — it’s like LinkedIn for the c-suite. I tried to get an account but I'm not important enough.
Lately is a platform for managing marketing campaigns. Their platform automatically organizes channels, content, files, communications, analytics and budgets into one place.
Nineteenth Amendment is a fashion-tech marketplace. Pieces of clothing can be ordered by clients, then manufactured and delivered in under a month and a half. The 19th Amendment to the Constitution, in case you were wondering, prohibits any United States citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex.
Knock, formerly known as Knockaway, is a real estate startup that guarantees to sell your house at a certain price within six weeks. If they can’t find a buyer, they’ll buy it from you. Needless to say, they do not operate in New York City or other super-expensive property markets.
Monthly Gift is a subscription box-service that delivers pads, tampons and liners in accordance to a woman’s monthly cycle. Each box also includes a chocolate bar.
OhMyGreen selects and stocks healthy food for companies to provide to their employees. The company plans on eventually being able to offer things like yoga and meditation as well.
Paladin is a marketplace where professionals can find opportunities to do work pro bono.
Stae.co makes software that allows municipalities to work with companies and use real-time data, payment or regulatory information.
Stay Wanderful increases hotel bookings using an incentive engine that gives guests an incentive to book on a company’s website, instead of a third-party site that takes commission.
Tradefin
Tradefin is a fintech company working to make credit more accessible to small and midsize suppliers.
Nomad Health is changing the way doctors and nurses find freelance work — which is, apparently, currently done in an antiquated system involving brokers that charge high fees.
Waypoint Media is an adtech platform that allows brands to reach customers watching live video content — think things like Facebook Live.
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