In what should be seen as a boost for New York’s tech community, start-up incubator TechStars is set to open an outpost here in January, thereby adding a fourth wing to its network of offices in Boston, Seattle, and Boulder, where it was founded in 2006. TechStars helps start-up founders by giving them a little cash– up to $18,000 per project– and access to advisors.
The New York office will be run by seed stage investor David Tisch and TechStars CEO David Cohen, who according to Silicon Alley Insider, is temporarily moving to the city to oversee the new program. As the official announcement puts it: “The rapid growth and intensity of the New York tech scene has been well documented. We look forward to joining the movement and integrating a New York flavor of the TechStars program into this thriving entrepreneurial community.”
The team of mentors they’ve assembled for New York features a long list of founders that includes Foursquare’s Dennis Crowley, Hunch’s Chris Dixon, Tumblr’s David Karp, Yipit’s Vinicius Vacanti, Drop.io’s Sam Lessin, Thrillist’s Ben Lerer, and Hot Potato’s Justin Shaffer. They’ve recruited a number of prominent money men, too, including Fred Wilson and Albert Wenger from Union Square Ventures, Charlie O’Donnell and Phin Barnes from First Round Capital, Roger Ehrenberg from IA Venture Partners, and Dave McClure from 500 Startups. Also on board are web consultant Rex Sorgatz and HackNY’s Hilary Mason and Evan Korth (from bit.ly and N.Y.U., respectively). The full list of advisors can be found here.
Applications for TechStars NYC’s inaugural three-month session are due in November; according to TechCrunch, the incubator will take a 6 percent equity stake in each startup they support.
