NYU-Poly New-Business Incubator in Brooklyn’s DUMBO Graduates First Startup

Less than one year after Polytechnic Institute of New York University’s (NYU-Poly) DUMBO-based tech incubator opened its doors, the school today announced that TENDIGI, a mobile app development company, has become its first graduate.  The business incubator, launched in partnership with New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYC EDC) and Two Trees Management Company, opened in January 2011.

TENDIGI, founded by former Apple engineer Jeff Soto, grew organically and moved out, making room for other startups. The company works closely with businesses, agencies and individuals on a variety of mobile development projects, ranging from consumer-facing apps to internal enterprise apps.

The DUMBO incubator, which is modeled after the NYU-Poly Incubator on Varick Street in Hudson Square, provides a nurturing environment for start-up firms in sectors such as digital media, mobile and digital gaming. It provides a locus in DUMBO for programming and seminars aimed at the growing local tech community. Currently, there are 18 startups at the DUMBO incubator.

“Fostering innovation and invention through transformational entrepreneurship is part of NYU-Poly’s culture, and extends beyond the classroom to nurturing small businesses in our incubators,” said NYU-Poly Acting President and Provost Katepalli Sreenivasan. “While NYU-Poly has been graduating first-class engineers for decades, our incubators encourage them to stay in New York City instead of taking their talent to Silicon Valley. Through our incubation programs, we promote an entrepreneurial spirit and atmosphere that encourages startups to create their own business right here in New York City.”

“The DUMBO incubator was a great stepping stone for TENDIGI,” said Jeff Soto, founder and executive director of TENDIGI. “We were able to work with other startups in the incubator on their mobile applications, we grew our business significantly during our residency, and we even hired an NYU-Poly student along the way. While TENDIGI quickly out grew the space, we still reside in the neighborhood. I look forward to the evolution of the DUMBO incubator and the positive role it continues to play in this area."

TENDIGI is the fourteenth business to graduate from the NYU-Poly incubators this year. The other companies that have graduated are Brainscape, CB Insights, nRelate, BestVendor, M.J. Beck Consulting, LifeEnsured, Rentricity, Sollega, Clifton Charles, Social Amp, Fig Food Company, Torch Films and CreativeWorx.

Since NYU-Poly’s first incubator with NYC EDC support opened in 2009, 26 companies have graduated, more than $50 million in new capital has been raised by the start-ups, and more than 550 jobs and internships have been created. Previous graduates of the incubators include EcoLogic Solutions, Hotlist, Nude Barre, Pixable and ThinkEco.  Currently, there are 48 companies in the incubators.

NYU-Poly’s incubators in DUMBO and on Varick Street have a mission to provide guidance, expertise and resources to start-up businesses to help them grow into successful ventures that bring economic growth to New York City.  The Varick Street incubator, now at 137 Varick, was launched as part of Mayor Bloomberg’s Five Borough Economic Opportunity Plan in 2009, making it the first New York City-supported incubator, and the NYU-Poly DUMBO Incubator, at 20 Jay Street, was launched in 2011 as an integral component of NYU-Poly’s i2e philosophy – invention, innovation, and entrepreneurship. 

Varick Street consists of firms that span many sectors such as digital media, clean tech, financial tech, big data and others.  It also houses the New York Accelerator for a Clean and Renewable Economy (NYC ACRE), which NYU-Poly operates with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to foster cleantech and clean energy startups. For more information, visit http://engineering.nyu.edu/incubator.