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​While 2021 was mainly a year of returning to the new normal, it was also a banner year for venture capital funding in the Big Apple. As the city sees all-time-high levels of early-stage funding and public exits, the back seat that New York has taken to the Bay Area is moving up. One key attraction of the city is its concentration of people working in traditional finance, who make up a talent pool that fintech start-ups and the like are trying to tap into. With this trend likely to stay for the city that never sleeps, it’s a good time to look at the best tech SMES to work for this year.

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With that, here’s our list of NY’s top ten tech SMEs to work for in 2022. We look at metrics such as business nature, post-funding valuation, workplace culture and more.

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1. Sevenrooms

A developer of guest and reservation management software for the hospitality industry, Sevenrooms is a venture capital (VC) backed mid-sized company with 189 employees and a post-Series B valuation of $250mn. As a fast-growing business, the funds will be used to support its global expansion and evolve its product to an end-to-end guest experience platform. Founded in 2011 by three like-minded people with backgrounds in finance and computing, newcomers can expect to be guided by strong leadership and share the same passion with the team. Sevenrooms’ CEO, Joel Montaniel, served as Chief of Staff at LivePerson prior to founding the company.

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2. SeatGeek

With a valuation over $1.35bn, this company is not one to be overlooked in the B2C information services sector. SeatGeek’s platform scrapes information from the biggest sports, concert and theater ticket sites and presents all the search results in one place, creating a one-stop shop for customers to purchase their tickets at the cheapest prices. The company is in talks to receive $100mn of development capital from Accel, against the backdrop of an ongoing reverse merger with RedBall Acquisition announced on October 13, 2021. Besides a competitive pay, you may be able to attend some events for free. If you graduated from New York University, the odds are in your favour as over 10% of their employees have attended the school.

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3. Stash

Another big name in fintech is Stash. Having completed a Series G, the company is busy acquiring competitors and verticals in the personal finance space such as Paygrade in 2021. The Stash app offers personal investment, retirement and custodial accounts for minors, making it super easy to buy fractional stocks and invest in large funds without commissions. With a post-money valuation of $1.4bn, the company is backed by Goodwater Capital, T.Rowe Price and many more. At Stash, employees can expect a very open-minded and nurturing work environment with a robust employee support system.

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4. BetterCloud

BetterCloud is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company. Based in New York, the company has engineering offices in Atlanta which build out unified software systems that combine automation workflows and empower IT professionals to remediate and enforce management. Having been 23 months since its $75mn Series F led by Warburg Pincus, the company is a potential acquisition target in the coming period. At BetterCloud, diversity and inclusion is a clear focus. Employee Resource Groups (ERG) such as Chocolate Rain, Rainbow Mafia and CurryCloud serve minorities from diverse backgrounds.

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5. Updater

Updater is a digital platform aiming to make moving easier for households especially those that relocate every year in the U.S. The platform organises all moving-related logistics and partner with real estate agents, brokers, property managers and moving companies to make the entire moving process a seamless experience. In late 2021, the company received $60mn of development capital from Unlock Venture Partners and other investors, bringing its valuation up to $60.97mn. As of the time of writing, all job postings are labelled ‘remote’ but they do have a New York HQ and an Atlanta office.

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6. Catalyst Software

Considering the number of firms in a similar industry with this name, it is easy to confuse this one. Catalyst Software is an intuitive Customer Success Platform with all the tools needed for analysing customer data. For fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) businesses, the biggest fear is to have a high customer churn rate. Catalyst solves just that. Conveniently located in the heart of Chelsea in Downtown Manhattan, collaboration across different teams happen all the time. However, the company also believes in a hybrid work set-up post pandemic and allows remote working from anywhere within the U.S. and Canada. With a $125mn post money valuation and 90 employees, Catalyst is experiencing top-quartile growth and is a company to keep an eye on.

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7. Hiro Systems

Possibly the smallest start-up on this list, Hiro Systems is a stack developer tool builder that works behind-the-scenes for Bitcoin apps and smart contracts. With only 40 employees, of which half are local, the company operates fully remotely and is suitable for prospective employers who prefer a work-from-home set-up or cannot physically be in office during this period. Most of the job postings are for development and engineering roles, with a handful in content and marketing as well. The firm believes in being caring, flexible and bold. Employees can also look forward to receiving equity and Stacks (STX) tokens, the network’s native cryptocurrency.

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8. Candy

Founded only a little more than a year ago, Candy is the developer of an NFT ecosystem designed to let fans and followers to buy and trade officially licensed sports NFTs. At the end of 2021, the company raised $100mn in Series A funding led by Softbank Investment Advisers and Insight Partners, putting the company’s post-money valuation at $1.55bn. The funds will help accelerate the company’s growth and scaling efforts in a nascent industry. Aside from developer and engineering roles, the company is hiring for nine other departments including data analytics, finance and operations. With board members from e-commerce, media and crypto backgrounds, incoming employees are sure to experience a steep but fulfilling learning curve.

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9. Orum.io

A new player in the fintech and machine learning space, Orum is a platform for frictionless money movement. Led by Accel and Canapi Ventures, the company raised $56mn in Series B just three months after their Series A and debt raising efforts were completed. Despite a fully remote work arrangement, the team has not lost out in terms of building and benefitting from a corporate community. Company sponsored family events and virtual weekday lunches mean that colleagues get maximum face time with one another from anywhere they are.

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10. nate

No, we did not forget the caps. In 2018, nate introduced the first mobile app that integrates all your online shopping into a single interface. Backed by Coatue, Canaan, Renegade and Forerunner, the company raised an undisclosed amount of funding from investors late last year. With a pre-money valuation of $300mn, the company is in good hands to expand their operations and grow their team internationally. With 22 job postings on their website for roles across 10 departments including HR, sales and development, prospective employees are not short on opportunities and options.

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For more information on the best SME's to work for in New York, follow Barney Capstick on twitter, as he posts weekly articles, diving a little deeper into each company. If you have any questions or are on the look out for a finance role in New York you can contact him: barney@caminopartners.co.uk.