This post is a conversation starter.
We’ve been covering Brooklyn for a year now. If you’ve followed our coverage, you may have noticed we usually get an employee count into our stories about tech companies. We think it’s an important part of the story, especially in terms of how those numbers change over time.
So, we thought, which companies are the biggest tech employers in the borough?
We decided to base the list on the number of employees in Brooklyn, first, and then also the total number of employees. All the figures listed below were supplied to us by company representatives, save for one.
It’s a close call among the top three. We may have left a company out. If so, please let us know.
(Below the rankings, you can read more on our methodology.)
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Here’s the list:
➉ Solidoodle
The Carroll Gardens 3D-printer maker has 40 employees at the moment. More than 50 employees were reported by Forbes in July, down from over 60 reported by TechHive in March 2013. We didn’t get current hiring projections from the company.
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➈ Big Spaceship
The Dumbo creative agency has 75 employees, all in Brooklyn, including a growing cadre of technologists. The company has four open positions posted on its site right now.
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➇ Crye Precision
According to a contact at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where the maker of high-end military apparel and body armor is based, Crye Precision has about 80 employees. The company was recently caught up in a Department of Defense flap over military camouflage, as Gizmodo recently detailed. “Over the past fourteen years, Crye Precision has produced millions of protective items for the US Army and other branches of the Department of Defense,” Crye said in a rare statement earlier this year.
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➆ Livestream
The streaming and video hosting service has 140 employees globally, with 80 in East Williamsburg. No specifics on hiring plans, but the company has grown quickly and, we were told, has no intention of slowing down.
A new anchor to the Brooklyn tech community, we recently visited their new headquarters in the former 3rd Ward warehouse.
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➅ Kickstarter
The crowdfunding leader employs 90, all at its Greenpoint HQ. The company had ten positions open when we reached out and says more hiring is on the way.
We featured the impact Kickstarter might have on its neighborhood here.
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➄ Etsy
The ecommerce site for independent-goods makers has approximately 600 employees. We were told that the majority work in Brooklyn, but the company has at least seven offices around the world, and may employ a number remotely as well. No information was given on projected hiring, though Etsy has a lot of positions open.
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➃ VICE Media
The media giant has over 1,500 employees total, with approximately 400 in its Williamsburg office. The company has committed to create more than 500 additional jobs here over the next five years, as we reported earlier, which would suggest that VICE could soon move way up on this list.
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➂ MakerBot
The 3D printing hardware subsidiary of Stratasys has over 500 employees, of which we’re told probably 95 percent are in Brooklyn. No specific hiring numbers were given, but the company is consistently adding staff, with no signs of stopping. Its parent company has more than 2,500 employees, total, according to a press release.
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➁ Huge
With 900 total employees and over 500 in Brooklyn, the creative agency occupies a big place in the borough — often serving as host for local tech mixers. The company expects to increase its local staff by at least 50 this year. There are currently about 90 open positions across all Huge offices, according to the company’s careers page. The Brooklyn office, on Main Street, is also in the middle of a major expansion.
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➀ Amplify
With more than 1,000 employees total and more than 500 at its Dumbo headquarters, the edtech subsidiary of News Corp narrowly takes the title of largest tech company in Brooklyn. The hardware and software firm currently has about 80 job openings on its careers page.
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Methodology
You can debate how we made this list: Should a company get more weight if its headquarters are here? What matters more: total employees or employees in Brooklyn? What about money?
If those factors were taken into account differently, one or two companies could have moved up or down a notch or two.
The data in this list is based on emails received in the last two weeks, straight from someone at each company, with the exception of Crye Precision.
We queried about 20 companies for this list and after No. 10 the sizes are all roughly the same. These companies (in alphabetical order) could all arguably contend for the eleventh spot: BioLite, Farmigo, Flocabulary, Genius, Good Eggs, Northside Media, Tinybop and VHX.
We may be missing someone entirely. So, if you’re part of a midsize tech company in Brooklyn, please let us know. You can reach us at brooklyn@technical.ly.
