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Top Brooklyn Startups to Watch (and Work for) in 2023

July 20, 2023
      |      Kieran Ryan
View of brooklyn bridge from the city.

My Background

Hi, I'm Kieran! I worked in startups for five years at On Deck and Wefunder. Some of my favorite things that I've worked on during my career include:

  • Wefunder Workaway: 12 founders working on a new idea, 7 days, 1 mansion in Hawaii. One of the teams we picked raised a Series A from Andreessen Horowitz, and two people who met during the trip got married...
  • On Deck: As employee #15, I contributed to the startup's growth from no revenue to a $20 million run rate in less than a year. I led the team that built the admission infrastructure to support and scale ~20 fellowships for founders, capital allocators, operators, and creators.
  • XX: Worked on a pre-YC accelerator program that invested $125K on an MFN SAFE into 8-10 teams per cohort.
  • ODX: Worked on a $100 million accelerator program that invested $125K for 7% into 100s of startups. We partnered with leaders like Flexport to build vertical industry tracks around supply chain & logistics, etc.
  • Ryan Marketing: Created an influencer marketing startup (2 million+ Instagram followers) during college with my twin brother and realized early that monetization for creators was broken. I learned a lot, and it paid enough to cover my schooling, rent, and meals.

The Methodology

I considered several data points to arrive at the startups selected on this list, including company traction, funding raised, valuation, and investors. From my initial list, I then referenced each startup with my personal network to narrow down the list to the one you see below. I take my credibility seriously, so I do not take any money from startups who want to be included on this list to remain impartial. If you want to understand my analysis of startups and prefer long-form content, read my research on the top startups of 2023 afterward.

Overtime Logo

Overtime

Sports media company.

Headquarters

Brooklyn, New York

Industry

Sports

Founded

2016

Funding

$215.1 million

Valuation

$500 million

Traction

  • As of June 2023, Overtime reports two billion+ monthly views and 70 million+ followers across seven platforms (up from 65 million+ followers in August 2022).
Deno Logo

Deno

A modern runtime for JavaScript and Typescript.

Headquarters

Brooklyn, New York

Industry

Cloud

Founded

2021

Funding

$25.9 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • As of May 2023, Deno’s open-source solution on GitHub has 89.4k stars, 4.9k forks, and 817 contributors.
  • Deno rated as one of the most loved web technologies in a survey of 70,000 developers conducted by StackOverflow. 
  • As of May 2023, Deno Runtime has 200,000 monthly active users, with developers at Slack, Netlify, GitHub, and Supabase using the product.
Outlier Logo

Outlier

The world’s best online education.

Headquarters

Brooklyn, New York

Industry

Edtech

Founded

2018

Funding

$46 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • As of June 2023, Outlier claims students can save between 50%-66% on their college education.
  • As of June 2023, Outlier is not accredited but works with Golden Gate University for Degree+ programs and the University of Pittsburgh for individual courses so that students can earn transferable college credits.
CookUnity Logo

CookUnity

Flexible and convenient meal plans that match your needs and taste.

Headquarters

Brooklyn, New York

Industry

Food & Beverage, Food Delivery

Founded

2015

Funding

$121.9 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • As of June 2023, CookUnity has rated 4.8/5 stars from 3.7K reviews on the Apple App Store and 2/5 stars from 63 reviews on the Google Play Store.
  • As of June 2023, CookUnity has 50,000+ subscribers, 7 kitchens, 80 chefs, 430 weekly recipes, and 10 million meals annually.
  • In 2022, CookUnity donated 50,000+ lbs of food.
  • From September 2020 to September 2021, CookUnity reported 550% growth.
The Rounds Logo

The Rounds

Zero-waste deliveries and refills of sustainable staples.

Headquarters

Brooklyn, New York

Industry

Consumer, Food Delivery

Founded

2019

Funding

$42 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • As of October 2022, The Rounds has grown over 10x in the last 12 months, surpassed 10,000 paying members, and operates in four markets (Philadelphia, Washington DC, Miami, Atlanta).
  • As of May 2023, The Rounds has 355 products on its website.
Propel Logo

Propel

Building software for low-income Americans.

Headquarters

Brooklyn, New York

Industry

Fintech

Founded

2014

Funding

$68.2 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • As of June 2023, Propel has rated 4.8/5 stars from 439K reviews on the Google Play Store and 4.8/5 stars from 252.6K reviews on the Apple App Store.
  • As of March 2022, Propel has 5 million monthly active users.
Underdog Fantasy Logo

Underdog Fantasy

Daily and season long fantasy contests.

Headquarters

Brooklyn, New York

Industry

Sports

Founded

2020

Funding

$45 million

Valuation

$485 million

Traction

  • In December 2022, Underdog Fantasy was awarded a license to operate as an online sports betting service by the Ohio Casino Control Commission.
  • As of July 2022, Underdog Fantasy was available in every state besides Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Louisiana, Montana, Washington, Delaware, and Iowa.
Northspyre Logo

Northspyre

Real estate development solution.

Headquarters

Brooklyn, New York

Industry

Construction

Founded

2017

Funding

$32.5 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • As of July 2023, Northspyre has facilitated over $7.5 billion in complex projects, up from $44 billion in February 2022.
  • As of July 2023, Northspyre claims customers are seeing an 80% increase in efficiency with administrative tasks and a 66% reduction in project overruns.
  • As of February 2022, Northspyre reported 6x growth since May 2020, 91% growth margins, 130% net revenue retention, and 130 customers.
Floodbase Logo

Floodbase

Making parametric flood insurance possible.

Headquarters

Brooklyn, New York

Industry

Climate, Insurance

Founded

2021

Funding

$12 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • As of June 2023, Floodbase’s data has insured 30 million+ new people.
  • As of January 2023, Floodbase’s data is powered by 15 satellites, machine learning, and on-the-ground data.
Bedrock Ocean Exploration Logo

Bedrock Ocean Exploration

High-resolution marine surveys.

Headquarters

Brooklyn, New York

Industry

Marine

Founded

2020

Funding

$33.5 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • As of July 2023, Bedrock Ocean Exploration’s sweet spot for surveys is far shore (<90km from shore) deep water (<300 depth) missions.

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