The Exchange had already stopped covering venture capital performance in 2021, but we lied. Yesterday we looked at preliminary Q3 data on the Chinese startup market. We are looking back at what New York City startups did in the first half year.At least some startups. We looked through the report of Work-Bench in New York City, which is a venture capital firm that focuses on enterprise technology. The firm calculated the Q1 and Q2 venture performance for their target market. The data revealed that the startup market is busy raising capital, creating unicorns, and increasingly generating large exits.The Exchange examines markets, startups, and money.It's available every morning at Extra Crunch. You can also subscribe to The Exchange newsletter every Saturday.The days of the New York startup scene, which was always in Silicon Valley's shadow, were gone. Work-Bench has raised a new $100million fund.We have a lot of questions so Work-Bench partner Jonathan Lehr, one half of a founding team that also includes Jessica Lin, joined us to discuss. Let's find out how big the New York City Venture Capital Market has grown. Where are the funds flowing in enterprise-startup terms? And what is the city's pace of creating new unicorns. Can it find enough exits to fund so many $1B startups.This is the last question we have about virtually every startup hub in this world. Maybe New York City can be a model for how to create a larger unicorn stable with a wider exit than entrance.A venture bonanzaNew York's start to 2021 was a great one at the state level. Like many startups ecosystems, New York saw more venture capital activity during the first half 2021 than it did in the same time period in 2020.CB Insights data shows a clear picture. In 2020's first half, New York-based startups raised $7.6 Billion in 667 rounds. These numbers rose to $22.4 billion in the first half 2021 from 847 deals.Similar gains were seen in enterprise venture funding. According to Work-Bench, New York City's enterprise startups raised $6.7 billion in their first and second quarters. This is 146% more than the $2.7 billion raised in the first half 2020. Work-Bench also reports that venture funding for enterprise startups in New York City was 12x higher in H1 2021 than in full-year 2014.These figures show, in a nutshell: New York's rise as a key startup market over the past decade.
