With so many tech companies hiring across New York City right now, sometimes it’s easier to have someone narrow down the field for you. Each month we strive to do just that, identifying locally grown companies with a mission, perks and leadership that set them apart from the pack. Here, we’ve identified 12 New York tech companies worth checking out, with each contender broken down to pure nuts and bolts: the mission, the perks, the tech stack and a little insight from a leader on their team.
Industry: Fintech
The mission: More than 65 million people use SmartAsset to help manage their finances each month. The company offers financial planning tools and resources as well as access to certified advisors in their local area.
The perks: SmartAsset employees get a 401(k) match, education reimbursements, a work-from-home stipend and pet insurance.
One of our engineering teams is building a custom telephony application that powers how we connect investors with advisors.”
Tech toolbox: SmartAsset runs on PostgreSQL databases, the Django framework and the jQuery and React libraries.
Tech team check-in: “As the business matures, we realize we need to do substantial decoupling of the various domains we created to build the business,” Director of Software Engineering Bryce McDonnell told Built In NYC this year. “To that end, one of our engineering teams is building a custom telephony application that powers how we connect investors with advisors. It’s a challenging synthesis of telephony, web development, business process management and intricate background job processing.”
Industry: Fintech
The mission: IEX’s equity trading technology was the first registered alternative trading platform, funded exclusively by a group of mutual funds, family offices, hedge funds and individuals. The platform is designed to act against the kind of predatory practices associated with automated high-frequency trading.
The perks: IEX covers 100 percent of costs associated with One Medical membership and pays all premiums for medical, dental and vision insurance — including spouses and dependents.
Our technology powers the functioning of the U.S. stock market every day.”
Tech toolbox: IEX engineers work with Java, Node.js and Python.
Fire drills: “IEX runs a fully electronic stock exchange, and our technology powers the functioning of the U.S. stock market every day,” Chief Risk Officer Paul Bauccio told Built In NYC early in the pandemic. “Because the dependability of our systems is so fundamental to the business, our team frequently simulates responses to potential crises in order to ensure business continuity in any scenario.”
Industry: Fintech
The mission: Riskified provides one of the largest e-commerce fraud prevention solutions on the market. Artificial intelligence is central to the company’s success with brands like Canada Goose, Prada and Ring.
The perks: Riskified offers company equity, performance bonuses, a 401(k) match, diverse volunteering opportunities and group physical activities like pilates, yoga, basketball and soccer.
We are trusted to have ownership over our work.”
Tech toolbox: Riskified builds its tech using Python, R, Scala and SQL, along with associated libraries and frameworks.
Professional development: “As employees, we are trusted to have ownership over our work, which gives us the individual power to make an impact on the company’s success,” Technical Solutions Specialist Zee Perez Canals told Built In NYC this year. “This sense of responsibility and trust has given me the opportunity to work on projects in my areas of interest and has been crucial for my overall success and engagement at Riskified.”
Industry: Fintech
The mission: Even Financial’s APIs and turnkey integrations allow businesses to add financial services to their own offerings. Back-end services include data analytics, customer insights and recommendations, all designed to help users reach customers in new ways.
The perks: Even Financial employees can work from anywhere — whether it’s their own home or, when workplaces reopen, the company’s “Silicon Alley” office. In the meantime, workers can enjoy access to virtual yoga and one personal holiday each month.
Our approach to blending finance and technology is gaining market traction and financial institution acceptance.”
Tech toolbox: Even Financial employs engineers with expertise in JavaScript, Typescript, React, Redux, Node and Scala.
A new approach: “Building an organization from the ground up continuously teaches me and my team a wide set of lessons on an everyday basis,” CEO Phill Rosen recently told Built In NYC. “Our approach to blending finance and technology is gaining market traction and financial institution acceptance. Many have become our investors, such as Goldman Sachs and American Express.”
Industry: Marketing tech
The mission: Using ActionIQ’s customer data platform, marketers gather customer data across multiple sources and deliver personalized experiences. The idea is to serve existing business customers with curated interfaces, similar to how Netflix tailors its streaming recommendations for individual users.
The perks: ActionIQ offers unlimited PTO, a home office stipend for remote workers and commuter benefits for in-office employees. The company also matches charitable contributions.
We’ve processed over 30 petabytes of customer data.”
Tech toolbox: In addition to TypeScript, Scala and React, ActionIQ also works in Luigi, Ansible, Terraform, Finagle, Slick, Enzyme and Molecule.
Scalin’ time: “In just the past 12 months, we’ve processed over 30 petabytes of customer data and powered over 1 trillion personalized interactions across our clients,” CEO Tasso Argyros said at the announcement of ActionIQ’s $32 million Series C earlier this year. “We expect that in the next 12 to 18 months, we’ll see significant consolidation in the space and we want to further advance our lead as the only CDP built for enterprise scale and complexity.”
Industry: Insurance tech
The mission: Fabric is a portal for new parents to draft a will and choose life insurance online. The company has digitized a traditionally slow and paper-heavy process, technology that earned it a spot on Built In NYC’s 50 Startups to Watch in 2019.
The perks: When employees return to the office, Fabric offers commuter benefits to help workers reach its pet-friendly Brooklyn base. Fabric employees also get the opportunity to buy equity in the growing startup.
Everyone knows what we’re trying to accomplish.”
Tech toolbox: Fabric is a JavaScript and TypeScript environment. Running on AWS distributed systems, the team also leverages services like Lambda, Cognito, DynamoDB, S3, SQS, SNS and Step Functions.
Team ownership: “It is extremely important to our team that everyone knows what we’re trying to accomplish, why it will drive results for the business and how we intend to get there,” Engineering Manager Scotty Eckenthal recently told Built In NYC.
Industry: Marketing tech
The mission: Through its drag-and-drop software, Animoto seeks to make it easy for any user to create professional videos. The platform includes storyboarding templates, photo and clip uploads and customizable features.
The perks: Animoto provides fitness subsidies, free lunches on Mondays, a continuing education stipend and a performance bonus. The company also has a documented equal pay policy.
Our two-year vision involves dynamically generating great videos on behalf of our customers.”
Tech toolbox: Animoto is built using Java, Python, C++, Ruby and Swift, along with the MySQL and Redis databases.
Looking ahead: “Our two-year vision involves dynamically generating great videos on behalf of our customers, who are mainly small business owners,” VP of Product and Design Kristen Connor recently told Built In NYC. “We also have no clear path to achieve it! But by telling the story of a real small business owner — Chef Maurizio Crescenzo, owner of Taverna di Bacco in NYC — we could together envision what the Animoto experience might be when we can automate videos on Chef Maurizio’s behalf and how his life and business would be improved. That shared vision has made it much easier for teams to start roadmapping, designing and building to achieve it by the end of 2021.”
Industry: Insurance tech
The mission: Using computer vision technology, OnSiteIQ converts 360-degree walkthrough images into navigable floor plans. These floor plans act as status updates for interested parties from afar and allow for remote quality inspections.
The perks: OnSiteIQ offers unlimited PTO, performance bonuses and funds to help with ongoing education and professional growth.
Engineering culture at OnSiteIQ begins with radical transparency and a builder’s mindset.”
Tech toolbox: OnSiteIQ engineers work with tools like JavaScript, Python, React, Redux and Jest, among others.
Inside the engineering culture: “Engineering culture at OnSiteIQ begins with radical transparency and a builder’s mindset,” Head of Engineering Kishan Sudusinghe told Built In NYC earlier this year. “Every engineer is fully aware of the business goals and constant changes to company priorities. This enables them to make process adjustments with a full view of what lies ahead, instead of blindly following orders.”
Industry: Construction
The mission: Property owners use Sweeten to find architects, interior designers and general contractors to help with renovations. Users post their jobs to Sweeten’s platform, which then matches them to contractors for free.
The perks: Sweeten provides free lunches on Fridays, relocation assistance, company equity opportunities and unlimited vacation.
If I see that you or your company have experienced an important milestone... I try to send a quick note.”
Tech toolbox: Sweeten engineers use the Node.js and Ruby on Rails frameworks when coding in JavaScript and Ruby, as well as the Python and SQL languages.
Network connection: “If you are someone in my network, you might not hear from me for years, but if I see that you or your company have experienced an important milestone or you’ve announced some other notable achievement, I try to send a quick note,” COO Bridget Best told Built In NYC earlier this year.
Industry: Digital agency
The mission: Giant Machines designs, codes, integrates and launches web apps, mobile apps and digital systems. With a team of product managers, engineers and designers, the company has delivered experiences and applications for businesses across the financial services, e-commerce and healthcare industries, to name a few.
The perks: Giant Machines employees can take advantage of wellness programs, free daily meals, tuition reimbursement and a remote work stipend, plus plenty more.
These are highly customized, completely bespoke platforms built from the ground up.”
Tech toolbox: Giant Machines builds its solutions using the technology that suits its client, which means it tends to look for engineers experienced with a wide array of languages, frameworks, databases and libraries.
What they're building: “Giant Machines partners with clients in a variety of industries to design and develop one-of-a-kind, breakthrough software — anything from multi-user type, multi-device e-commerce platforms to real-time trading systems for the financial industry, and so much in between,” the company wrote in a March blog post. “These are highly customized, completely bespoke platforms built from the ground up.”
Industry: 3D printing
The mission: Shapeways’ technology has helped more than one million business customers build and scale some 20 million 3D-printed parts. The company’s software supports the best additive manufacturing technologies and more than 90 different materials.
The perks: Company equity, paid holidays, and fitness subsidies. Shapeways also takes pride in elevating perspectives from a variety of backgrounds, intentionally building a diverse management team and offering unconscious bias training.
I have worked on so many cool projects at Shapeways.”
Tech toolbox: Shapeways works with a Java, PHP, Python and SQL stack.
How employees make an impact: “I have worked on so many cool projects at Shapeways,” Tech Lead Software Engineer Johnny Wang told Built In NYC last year. “One of the recent projects I was involved with was called Shapeways E-commerce Integrations. It is a standalone service written in PHP, which integrated with the Shapeways and Etsy APIs to auto-fulfill shop owners’ Etsy orders on Shapeways.”
Industry: Customer service tech
The mission: Stella Connect’s SaaS platform absorbs customer feedback to help customer-facing professionals improve their service skills. Through its software, Stella Connect users can manage distributed agents, organize meetings and coach agents.
The perks: Stella Connect employees who have been with the company for five years get a one-month sabbatical. The company also offers unlimited vacation, a mentorship program and 12 weeks of parental leave for new parents.
During this time of uncertainty, I was able to help sustain business growth with a people-first approach.”
Tech toolbox: Stella Connect mainly works with a Ruby stack.
Leading with empathy: “When COVID-19 started and the business world changed, we did not know how Stella Connect would be affected,” Controller Joel Kleiner told Built In NYC this year. “During this time of uncertainty, I was able to help sustain business growth with a people-first approach. I learned to think of others and their challenges.”
