Over the last couple of years, startups from Europe looking to scale in the U.S. have had another ‘planet’ hover into their horizon other than San Francisco – and that’s been New York.
As I wrote in 2012, increasingly, New York’s burgeoning tech scene has made it more attractive for certain types of European companies to make it their beachhead into the U.S.
Here’s a quick list I made of European startups that have made New York their U.S. base: Spotify, Klarna, Hailo, Skimlinks, OpenGamma, CognitiveMatch, Brandwatch, Mendeley, Onefinestay, Erply, Logentries,musiXmatch, Zemanta Qriously, Upptalk, Shapeways, Yourkarma, Bloglovin, Conversocial, struq, TicTail, Lulu, wireWAX, Versus, Criteo, Dashlane, YPlan, Trustpilot, Widespace, Videoplaza, Sticky, X5 Music, Soundrop, Fanduel, Blippar, Campalyst, StrikeAd, DailySecret, Aframe, Trustev, Wonderloop and Redkite to name just a few.
European startups have noticed the growing VC and Angel scene in New York, plus the growing organic tech scene. And there is the wonderful time zone, which puts you within reach of your team back home in Europe.
New York is also closer than Silicon Valley for European investment and startup hubs such as London, Berlin and Paris. Its large immigrant pool allows newly arrived companies to find cultural similarities between their home countries and groups within NYC. It’s also close enough to Boston’s startup ecosystem and top-tier academic institutions. Plus it’s a key media, fashion, finance, and advertising hub – with companies that are often customers. Finally, New York and London are deeply connected as financial centers.
TechCrunch Disrupt in New York is therefore the ideal time to check out this booming scene.
But, there are only two short weeks left to apply for the Battlefield at Disrupt NY.
Applications are open now through February 20th. Questions? Hit up battlefield@beta.techcrunch.com
Rules
To compete in the Startup Battlefield, at time of application submission startups must be live for less than three months.
In selecting final contestants, we will give heavy preference to companies that launch for the first time to the public and press at TechCrunch Disrupt. We consider new products from existing companies to be significant. Due to the limited number of competition slots on stage, companies launching new feature sets do not qualify as launch companies. The competition will take place in NYC, but teams around the globe are welcome to submit their startups for consideration.
Companies that have presented at other public launch events are not eligible for Startup Battlefield. If you’re choosing between launch platforms and need an early decision, please apply and email us at battlefield@beta.techcrunch.com and we’ll priority review your application.