If you live in Illinois, or any other state that is experiencing economic tumult then you may have seen New York’s recent advertisements trying to woo entrepreneurs over to their state.

It promises to create the best possible conditions for a startup, even promising that moving a business or starting one in New York proper will come with ten years of tax immunity.

The following is a list of the five NYC startups to look out for in 2014, as listed and discussed by Mabbly.

5) Shadow





So this startup is a testament to technology use 24/7, even while you sleep! The application runs while you sleep, it is way more than just an alarm clock. It monitors your phases of sleep with one goal in mind: documentation of your dream world.

Shadow says that up to 95% of an individual's dreams are forgotten. Most people would confidently agree with this. Upon waking you can recall your dream the best and as such you record it onto the app. Retention is key in remembering dreams. Eventually when there is a substantial amount of recordings a user can identify patterns and ascertain things happening in the real world to why you had that nightmare, or dreamt of that special someone.

Shadow is proving to be wide awake in the city that never sleeps.

4) WunWun







WunWun is not necessarily a game changer in terms of concept. Delivery services in NYC and elsewhere have been an institutional mainstay for many years. From bike messengers to personal assistants, it has been done. What WunWun does is remove the time it takes to find someone that helps get those deliveries. All a user needs to do is signup, and your business can get free deliveries from stores and a $20 fee for traditional messenger services and food deliveries from restaurants, and anything else that is permissible in WunWun’s terms and conditions is deliverable, and it can all happen from the palm of your hand.

3) Quartz







Back in the 1890’s and going into ‘the turn of the century,’ newspapers and news sources were exploding. NYC was (and arguably still is) the publication powerhouse of the world. Its reign ceases to end. Quartz is a startup that aims to “publish bracingly creative and intelligent journalism with a broad worldview, built primarily for the devices closest at hand: tablets and mobile phones.”

That is what is wrong with the newspaper world these days. It is an industry that is having a personality breakdown. How readers get their news is changing, and providing essentially a digital copy of the paper is not enough. The news needs to be mobile centric and Quartz is trying to answer the call.

2) Oyster







Oyster, as many online reviews and publications call it, is Netflix for books. It’s a simple concept with extraordinary potential. All of the books are optimized as ebooks. Read anywhere for one price as much as you want. NYC has a history with publishing and Oyster is sailing on the same ship, and the course is set for the future!

1) WeWork







WeWork is an outstanding take on office space. Started in New York, it has quickly gone national. The concept behind WeWork is renting office space with other small businesses, early staged startups, and highly competent entrepreneurs. It creates an environment that is ripe for connections and ideas. With so many entrepreneurs interacting on a daily basis WeWork locations have some of the highest density in terms of innovative potential.

*Update: An earlier version of this blog said WunWun charged a monthly fee. This was incorrect, as they charge a flat fee for traditional messenger services. For more information please visit their website!





