NYC’s Top Venture Capital Firms for Early-Stage Internet & Mobile Startups – Based on 2010 Deal Activity

Which venture capital firms are writing checks to early-stage internet and mobile companies in NYC? Below is a handy list for all of you NYC startup entrepreneurs. Please note that the rankings are not of the top NYC-based venture firms. If you are an early-stage internet company in NYC, you probably do not care where the investor has their office but instead, you want to know who is providing funding to startups based in New York city irrespective of where they are based. As you’ll see in the list of firms, 1/3 of the top firms do not have an office in NYC (SV Angel, Spark Capital, Lowercase Capital and True Ventures.) SEE LIST ON WEB SITE!

And so without further ado, here is the list of the most active early-stage venture capital firms investing in NYC companies through Q3 2010 based on announced deals. Early-stage for the purposes of this analysis are Seed VC and Series A rounds. If you are thinking of pitching these investors, we always recommend doing your own investor reverse due diligence.

If you are seeking funding, try the Funding Recommendation Engine(FRE). It’s free and takes 5 minutes so you have nothing to lose and a list of potential investors to gain. Learn more about the FRE here.

Renowned Startup Factory TechStars Opens New York City Branch

TechStars, one of the best known and most successful startup accelerator programs, is expanding to New York City. Applications are now open for its inaugural NYC class, which will start in January.

TechStars founder and CEO David Cohen is temporarily relocating to the city to oversee the innaugural class; angel investor David Tisch is signed on as the New York City director.

TechStars now operates in four cities, but only has one active class at any given time, and limits its class-size to 10 companies, which David says is essential to giving each startup all the mentorship it needs.

The new program has a very impressive line-up of investors and mentors, with an emphasis on NYC VCs, angels, and entrepreneurs. Investors include DFJ Gotham, AOL Ventures, First Round Capital, FirstMark Capital, IA Ventures, RRE Ventures, and Lerer Ventures (and we could keep going). Mentors already signed on include Dennis Crowley, Chris Dixon, Fred Wilson, Albert Wenger, Zack Klein, and Sam Lessin (again, we could keep going).

Just a few weeks ago, New York's first accelerator program, SeedStart, graduated its innaugural class. Now it already has company. That's great news for New York tech.

TechStars is a mentorship-driven seed stage investment program that runs a three month long program in Boston (MA), Boulder (CO), New York City (NY) and Seattle (WA) once each year. The company is very selective – hundreds of companies apply and about ten companies per city are chosen. These companies get up to $18,000 in seed funding, three months of intensive top-notch mentorship, and the chance to pitch to angel investors and venture capitalists at the end of the program.