This is the fourth of the six-part "SA 100 Insider" series, looking at the passions, hobbies, and pursuits of Silicon Alley's tech elite. "SA 100 Insider" is sponsored by Mercedes. Read more posts in the series »
The tech scene is booming in Brooklyn.
Over the summer, 3D printing company Stratasys acquired MakerBot, the hot 3D printing startup, in a $400 million deal.
"We're so proud to be doing this in Brooklyn," MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis said in June. "I don't think we could've done this any other place."
In Brooklyn's DUMBO area, there is a growing community of tech startups. The area, which stands for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass, is home to more than 500 tech companies.
Makeably is a marketplace for one-of-a-kind handmade products.
Anastasia Leng
Anastasia Leng, co-founder at Makeably
Makeably aims to help makers utilize their underlying skill set to further expand their product offerings and range, and take the risk part of it out. At the same time, it's enabling everyday people to purchase one-of-a-kind items.
Potential buyers browse through site's various sections — home, apparel, kids, hobby, and weddings. Once you see something you like, you can request to get a custom version made.
Makeably founder Anastasia Leng formerly worked at Google before starting Makeably.
"Google’s a phenomenal company," Leng previously told Business Insider. "But I just needed to do this."
Maker's Row wants to bring manufacturing back to the U.S.
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Maker's Row is an online marketplace that connects manufacturers with product-based businesses of all sizes. It's essentially a matchmaker for fashion designers and manufactures.
Back in July, Maker's Row raised $1 million from Index Ventures, Comcast Ventures, Alexis Ohanian, and Joanne Wilson.
Etsy is a marketplace for buying and selling goods.
Etsy is a fast-growing indie-goods marketplace that has been rumored to go public for a while now.
Its biggest traffic source is Pinterest, Etsy CEO Chad Dickerson tells Business Insider. Etsy's success is dependent upon its makers's success. That's why the startup aims to be as transparent and honest as possible.
As of this month, Etsy has 1 million active sellers and 30 million buyers on the platform. Etsy also recently announced some changes to its guidelines. All of those changes were to ensure that successful sellers on Etsy feel comfortable continuing to use the site, Dickerson says.
Flocabulary teaches through hip-hop music.
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Flocabulary creates educational hip-hop songs and videos for students K-12. The goal is to encourage and motivate students to learn through fun activities.
Flocabulary writes songs that use and define vocabulary words, tell stories about historical events like the Civil War, World War II, and the Industrial Revolution.
Flocabulary also has a "This Week in Rap" section, which turns the news events of the week into rap songs.
INDMUSIC is one of YouTube's largest music network.
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INDMUSIC allows independent music content creators to make money on YouTube without having to sacrifice creative control or rights. Its partners include Decon, Mad Decent, IAMSOUND, okayplayer, and others.
INDMUSIC is the network that helped Baauer make money off of the Harlem Shake.
Bondsy is a mobile app for selling, donating, and trading goods.
LinkedIn
Diego Zambrano, founder at Bondsy
Before Bondsy even launched, it had already secured funding from Thrive Capital, Betaworks, Chris Dixon, Patrick Keane, Jared Hecht, and Steve Martocci.
It's arguably a safer version of Craigslist since only the people connected to you can see what you're selling. It also doesn't require a cash-only exchange, meaning you could offer to "sell" a bike in exchange for a dinner on the buyer's dime.
HowAboutWe has a unique approach to online dating.
HowAboutWe
HowAboutWe lets members post and view date ideas, like "how about we....go kayaking in the Hudson River." If you're interested in a specific date, you can contact the person and then potentially meet up.
HowAboutWe has about 1.5 million users and touts more than 100,000 dates posted per month. To date, the startup has raised $22.3 million.
Pontiflex is a thriving online advertising startup.
Pontiflex powers a new type of mobile ad platform called Signup Ads, which allows people to opt-in to hear more about the brands they like.
Earlier this year, the company raised $7.7 million for its mobile signup ads. Pontiflex has raised $19.5 million to date and has been profitable since 2011.
Aereo is truly trying to disrupt the television industry.
Aereo, the paid service that lets you watch live network television on the Internet, has hundreds of thousands TV antennas crammed into its single floor office in Brooklyn.
These dime-sized, tiny antennas are part of what makes it possible for Aereo to stream live television to its one million customers.
As part of the service, every subscriber rents a pair of those tiny antennas so they can watch live TV while recording another show, or watch live TV on two different devices at the same time.
BioLite makes stoves that allow you to charge your electronics.
BioLite
BioLite stoves make cooking on wood as clean and safe as possible. As you use the stove, the energy it generates can charge phones, lights, and other electronics. You can use the stove to charge your cell phone. Yup, all you need is a bit of wood and your cell phone's charge cable.
It has a couple of products. The HomeStove is a low-cost biomass stove that needs to only use half as much wood as a standard stove, eliminates black carbon to protect the climate, and converts waste heat into electricity for charging gadgets and lights. Its CampStove is geared toward, unsurprisingly, campers.
Storyhunter helps freelance video journalists tell stories.
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Storyhunter helps video journalists distribute their content to premium publishers. Already, Storyhunter has partnered with Yahoo! News, The Economist, AOL, Miami Herald, and MSN.
Storyhunter handles all the sales and distribution. As a journalist, all you need to do is focus on the content.
Lifebooker is a daily deals site with a focus on health, beauty, lifestyle, and fitness services and products.
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Lifebooker helps you find and book discounted health and beauty appointments.
Back in 2011, Lifebooker was valued at around $75 million.
Docracy is creating a database of legal documents and contracts.
Earlier this year, Docracy unveiled its Document Genome project. Eventually, the service will allow people to upload lease agreements, M&A contracts, etc. to compare and contrast. But for now, users can compare and analyze competing patents.
Docracy, which was born out of TechCrunch Disrupt's 2011 hackathon, has been hailed by investors as one of the most revolutionary company's of our time.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/hottest-brooklyn-startups-2013-9?op=1#ixzz2glmgTTBO
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