Startups in B’klyn: A bridge too far

Brooklyn’s startup scene is booming thanks to tax credits and ample incubators, but some company founders find that growing in the borough can be tricky.

Transit problems, tech-talent shortages and real-estate limitations can hold back adolescent companies that have outgrown accelerators, according to a study scheduled to be released Sunday by Center for an Urban Future, a nonpartisan think tank.

There were more than 1,200 tech startups in Brooklyn in 2018, up from 264 a decade earlier.

“It’s in everybody’s interest to keep this going, but there are some challenges to growth,” said Jonathan Bowles, executive director of Center for an Urban Future.

One part of keeping it going will be renewing tax incentives that lure companies to Brooklyn, Bowles said.

Two key tax-credit programs will stop taking applications next year unless lawmakers renew them.

Carmera, a tech company founded in 2015, chose Brooklyn over Silicon Valley or Pittsburgh partly because of tax incentives. The firm develops high-definition maps for selfdriving vehicles, and Brooklyn’s difficult, dense streets offered an exciting challenge, Chief Executive Ro Gupta said.

As Carmera grew from a handful of employees based in a co-working space to a staff of more than 25 in its own office in Dumbo, however, Gupta began to notice some of Brooklyn’s limitations.

He couldn’t find enough local engineers with top geographical and information-systems skills, for example, and ended up opening a satellite office in Seattle.

“When we realized we needed a lot of that talent, we just couldn’t find them in New York,” he said.

A recent survey of 400 tech executives by industry group Tech:NYC found that 85 percent are planning to increase tech hiring next year.

Transit challenges have also been a drain on productivity at Carmera, Gupta said.