On October 7, Augury joined 13 other Israeli startups in New York City as part of the IL2NYC delegation that was organized by the NYCEDC (Economic Development Corporation). It was an intensive week packed with meetings and panels that culminated in a pitch event in front of 200 NYC-based investors and businessmen. Guess who won the event?
The teams
We were fortunate to be accompanied by amazing teams from very different fields – fashion, connected toys, fin-tech, enterprise software, and e-commerce.
These included:
AdCore, Brayola, Cellepathy, Choozer, Connesta, Curiyo, Fashioholic, Roomixer, Seebo, Senexx, TotalBoox, Viewbix, and Zazma.
It didn’t take us too long to bond and become very good friends – we wish all the best to all of them, and good luck!
The program
The week was meticulously organized by the NYCEDC team – Sri Swaminathan and Justin Kreamer – along with David Bratslavsky from the USI (U.S.-Israel business council), who hosted the final event.
The week gave us a chance to taste the rising startup scene in NYC and tackle the toughest questions – why should we choose NYC over San Francisco? How do we open our U.S. operations? What are the legal issues, immigration issues, etc.?
We were hosted at some of the amazing companies that came out of NY – AppNexus and LivePerson, for example – who opened their doors and shared their stories. We also had panels with NY-based investors and angels who talked about the differences between the NY ecosystem and the Silicon Valley.
All in all it was an amazing week – and they managed to convince us. When the time comes, we’ll open our headquarters in NYC. In the future, NYCEDC will host market-specific delegations instead of geography-specific. If you can find the time and money and manage to get in, we assure you it will be worth your while.
The pitch event
The final event was held at the Silverstein Suites in the NYC Financial District. Before the pitch event, we had a speed dating-style event with NYC investors.
In the evening we moved to an auditorium that was packed with over 200 businessmen who came to network and meet the companies. Each team had 90 seconds to introduce their company in front of a panel of judges. There’s not a lot you can say in 90 seconds, so the pitch had to be laser-focused [What – Why – How].
At the end of the pitches, after more questions from the judges, four companies were selected by the judges (thanks Danny Schultz for choosing us). The companies were then voted on by the audience using the old “make noise to vote” method.
It was almost unanimous – Augury was selected as the winner of the event.
We really enjoyed the event and the week and hope that this win will give us the much-needed backwind for the fundraising.
NYCEDC
One last thank-you to Sri and Justin from NYCEDC. I’m sure we’ll continue to work together in the future.
