New York is still known as the largest business center in the world. With thousands of companies located in NYC, the enterprise software industry has a wide landscape of application scenarios. In recent years, however, as the global business environment is getting increasingly unstable, the growth of enterprise services in New York has also witnessed an unpredictable slowdown.

The investment trends changed dramatically after 2017. The total value increased drastically with the number of investments witnessing an obvious fall. This can be explained by the soaring figures of late rounds of investment (Series D and above). In other words, a notable number of startups founded several years ago in New York have been recognized by the market and investors, and they are now in a fast-developing period. Meanwhile, investors are less optimistic about new startups, so both the number and the total value of early round investments decreased in 2018 and 2019.

More importantly, the fluctuating graph shows the uncertain prospects of New York’s enterprise services industry. With the decreased amount of investment in 2019 compared with 2018, startups may face a harder environment in 2020. However, there are still companies that have promise. EqualOcean has generated the list of top enterprises services companies in NYC, based on their business models, financing records and management team background.

Empowered by AI, data science plays a vital role in business analytics

Companies receive tons of information of all types every day. Collecting and processing it scientifically can greatly improve efficiency and increase productivity. With an emphasis on data analysis, business analytics (BA) enables companies to explore data and make data-driven business decisions. As the maturity of AI technology takes shape, a group of startups are focusing on applying cutting-edge technologies to make more precise analysis for enterprise customers.

Recently, public data has become increasingly significant. The huge amount of public data ensures rich rewards, but also requires more advanced techniques of data mining. Enigma Technologies applies big data technology to integrate internal and public data to assist companies to make business decisions. Institutes including The New York Times and American Express Venture are on Enigma’s investor list – Enigma has successfully raised USD 130 million in aggregate funding. Focusing on providing real-world evidence (RWE) to customers in the life science industry, Aetion provides insights from analytics that are helpful for business decision-making. After finishing a series B investment in February 2019, Aetion’s total funding value was raised to USD 75 million. 

Applying new technologies of Cloud computing, traditional database service provision has a new look. Cockroach Labs provides distributed cloud database solutions for enterprise customers. It designs data strategies for customers including Bose and WeWork. With funding from Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global Management and Index Ventures, Cockroach Labs has received USD 110 million since it was founded in 2015.

At the same time, Natural Language Processing (NLP) increasingly allows high-quality business document processing. HyperScience offers processing for financial institutes, healthcare providers and insurance companies, while Aquant integrates scattered data and applied NLP technology to provide insightful analysis. Both companies finished their USD 30 million Series B financing in 2019.

Meanwhile, many data analysis companies are going deeper into customer data to extract insightful conclusions for enterprises. ActionIQ provides an enterprise data platform focusing on analyzing customer data. The customers ActionIQ serves include American Eagle Outfitters and Pandora. Investors including Sequoia Capital have provided ActionIQ with USD 77 million since it was founded in 2014. Similarly, mParticle is a customer data platform that unifies and simplifies data to help companies improve customer experience. With investors including Bain Capital and Google Venture being optimistic about mParticle, the startup has raised a total funding of USD 76 million.

Concentrated in ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), SaaS provides integrated platforms for enterprises

ERP providers offer enterprise integrated management systems for their processes, mostly in the form of online platforms or software. Via notifications from a shared database, ERP allows the collaboration among different divisions to become more efficient. With a large number of companies operating in New York City, ERP is in high demand. 

For example, CitiXsys generated integrated cloud platforms for the retail and hospitality industries. The platform includes sales systems, sales data reporting and analysis for retailers. In November 2019, CitiXsys closed a USD 60 million financing with Goldman Sachs. Button offers publishers and brands well-designed and easy-to-use mobile platforms to do business better in mobile. Their products are designed to improve user experience and integrate various functions. Since being founded in May 2014, Button has raised USD 64 million.

In the real estate industry, VTS, Inc. provides solutions for companies in business intelligence, tenant management, market view, et al. In May 2019, VTS finished its USD 90 million series D financing.

With Integrated human resource platforms, companies improve efficiency of management

An important function that enterprise services provide is improving human resource management in various aspects, including talent searching, employee engagement and performance evaluation. As an example, Andela created a worldwide network of software engineers and built IT teams for companies based on it. Based on its data-driven assessment and matching system, Andela has become the training partner of companies including Microsoft and Facebook. Favored by the capital market as well, Andela has received more than USD 180 million since it was established in 2014. Centrical (founded in 2013) developed an employee engagement and performance platform. By its evaluation and learning system, Centrical enables companies to spur employees and create enterprise culture. It has attracted USD 34 million in funding.

There are also two noteworthy companies in the list that offer payment systems for enterprise customers. On its online platform that enables companies to easily handle employee payments and benefits, Justworks helps companies improve operational efficiency. Supported by investment companies including Bain Capital, Justworks has received more than USD 140 million since it was established in 2012. Similarly, Papaya Global is a SaaS company that transforms global payroll and payments. Founded in 2016, Papaya has, so far, received USD 50 million among seed and series A financing.

To boost sales, CRM (Customer Relationship Management) providers enable companies to improve the overall customer experience

Most companies consider the market/sales department as a key division. From our top 20 list, one third of the startups help enterprises improve customer experience with different approaches. CRM providers can help companies communicate with customers more efficiently and collect more accurate feedback. For instance, Kustomer offers an omnichannel conversation platform provider that supports companies to communicate with customers and aggregate responses. It improves the efficiency of customer service teams. Supported by investors including Tiger Global Management, Kustomer has raised USD 174 million funding since it was founded in 2015.

By providing a consumer intelligence platform, Suzy connects companies with their target audience to help receive adequate feedback. Pre-February 2020, Suzy received USD 38 million in aggregate funding. Stylitics is an SaaS platform that enables retailers to automatically distribute visual contents. The platform supports companies’ marketing, CRM (Customer relationship management), and E-commerce. Stylitics has also raised more than USD 20 million in aggregate funding.

Besides customer connection, there are more services that CRM providers can offer. In customer-financing, Octane Lending offers a platform for sales financing in niche consumer markets. Supported by a USD 279.8 million debt financing, Octane has raised more than USD 390 million in aggregate funding. In advertising, ROKT integrates market technology for E-commerce companies to create personalized experiences for customers. In October 2019, ROKT raised USD 48 million in Series C funding. In the post-purchase sector, Bond - The Post Purchase Company, founded in March 2019, is a remarkable startup. It provides high-quality post-purchase solutions for sellers to increase retention rate and brand loyalty.