The 21 hottest New York City startups to watch

New York City skyline

New York City has long been known as a hub for finance, ecommerce, and health care startups.

But recent years have seen a rise in another breed of startups tackling issues ranging from crime to housing, sports to beauty.

In many ways, New York has become a hub for diverse companies — with even more diverse founding teams.

Each year, Business Insider talks to industry insiders and venture capitalists to find some of the most exciting companies in the region. Their nominations, plus some fundraising data from PitchBook, help shape this list of startups to watch. To limit the list, we only included companies founded in the last five years and narrowed it down to startups headquartered within the greater New York City area.

The companies featured range from those that are just getting their start, to some that have already inked major deals and gained national exposure. All of the companies featured seem poised to do big things in the coming year.

Here are the hottest startups in New York to keep your eye on:

Brooklinen offers luxury bedding at non-luxury prices.

What it is: Brooklinen is the brainchild of husband-and-wife duo Vicki and Rich Fulop, a couple based in — where else — Brooklyn. The company was founded three years ago and initially sold its wares on Kickstarter.

The premise of Brooklinen is "luxury bedding at non-luxury prices." As an ecommerce site, the company wants to cut out all possible middlemen and avoid brick-and-mortar retail. In doing that, Brooklinen says it eliminates as much as $200 in costs — its bedding starts at $99, compared to what the company says can be more like $300 at traditional retailers.

Brooklinen now offers plenty of items for the bedroom, including sheets, comforters, pillows, and candles. But it has stuck to just two fabrics: classic percale, and "Luxe," which has a higher thread count.

Founders: Rich and Vicki Fulop

Funding: $10 million from FirstMark Capital

Elysium Health is developing supplements that could prevent aging.

What it is: Elysium Health wants to help people live longer, healthier lives through supplements. Elysium's first product is a supplement called Basis, which aims to boost levels of a specific protein found in cells. The protein, called "nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide" (NAD), may help prevent aging.

The supplements industry can be a tricky one to navigate. Supplements aren't regulated the same way prescription drugs are, which means they don't always contain what they say they do.

But Elysium is trying to change that. The company boasts an impressive board of scientific advisors and presents results of its clinical trials, which are intended to show that the supplement is safe.

Founders: Eric Marcotulli, Dan Alminana, and Leonard Guarente

Funding: Elysium Health has raised a $20 million Series B led General Catalyst and joined by Breyer Capital, Morningside Ventures, and Sound Ventures

Bowery is moving farming indoors.

What it is: Bowery isn't the first startup to venture into the world of urban farming, but it hopes to be the most innovative.

Located about 15 miles outside of New York in Kearny, New Jersey, Bowery grows its plants inside a giant warehouse. Because of that, the company estimates it can grow 100 times more greens per square foot than the average urban farm.

Bowery grows its plants under LEDs instead of sunlight and inside nutrient-rich water beds instead of soil. The startup even has its own operating system, FarmOS, to change the weather conditions in the warehouse.

Bowery now sells its plants at Whole Foods and Foragers locations in the New York City area.

Founders: Irving Fain, David Golden, and Brian Falther

Funding: $27.5 million from General Catalyst, GGV Capital, GV, First Round Capital, Box Group, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Tom Colicchio, and others

See the rest of the story at Business Insider