The 19 hottest New York City startups to watch

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

Founders: Rich and Vicki Fulop

Funding: $10 million from

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

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

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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.

Bowery grows plants inside a giant warehouse farm l. 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, BoweryOS, 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.

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Citizen helps you avoid crimes in your neighborhood.

What it is: Citizen's goal is to keep you informed of crimes in your area. The app shows you a real-time map of incidents in your area sourced from 9-1-1 calls, and if you're in a quarter-mile radius of an incident, you'll get a push notification.

Users can get real-time updates about ongoing crimes, and watch and upload videos within the app.

Citizen first launched a year ago as an app called Vigilante. The app quickly went viral, but was pulled from the app store due to safety concerns. Vigilante relaunched in March as Citizen, and has since expanded to San Francisco after a six-month beta test in New York.

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Zola is an all-in-one wedding planning site.

What it is: Zola began as a modern, high-tech approach to wedding registries. The platform lets couples register for everything they want, then adds convenience features like delaying shipping until after the wedding. Users can even register for cash funds to pay for things like honeymoon airfares. The company makes money on every purchase made through its site.

Zola launched in 2013 and has recently expanded beyond registries with Zola Weddings, a free platform for all things wedding-related, like a building a wedding website, guest list, and tracking RSVPs.

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Quartet Health uses data to provide personalized mental health care.

What it is: Quartet Health

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Dandelion wants to make heating and cooling your home a lot cheaper.

What it is: Dandelion only recently made its debut on the startup scene after being spun out of X,

The company plans to provide services to qualified homes in New York state to start, then eventually expand in the Northeast and into the Midwest.

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Function of Beauty wants to give you better hair through customized beauty products.

What it is: Function of Beauty is a young startup trying to tackle an age-old problem: getting better hair.

The startup lets you create custom shampoos and conditioners based on your hair type and goals. If you want smooth, shiny hair, for instance, you can let the company know and they'll build a concoction that fights frizz. Customers can choose the color and scent of their products, then set up automatic refills for a monthly fee.

Function of Beautyis less than a year old, but it's already seen massive success: the company is already generating revenue and is valued at .

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Anchor is bringing radio into the digital era.

What it is: Anchor is a platform for recording and uploading audio content, and aims to be the digital-friendly version of radio.

Anchor is a lot like Instagram or Twitter in that it allows users to publish content to anyone who follows their feeds. But it's not about photos, videos, or text — instead, Anchor is all about your phone's microphone.

The app lets users record up to two minutes of audio, then publish it. Other users can interact with the audio by starting a discussion or giving virtual applause, and there's the option for users to "call in" to a station, much like a radio show. Anchor can also be used to create podcasts on your phone, which can then be published on the app itself, or on Google Play and Apple Podcasts.

People also use Anchor for anything from mini stand-up comedy routines to pretending to be characters like Yoda from Star Wars.

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Flip helps navigate the tricky world of apartment subletting.

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The Players' Tribune is helping athletes share their stories.

What it is: The Players' Tribune launched in 2014, one day after Derek Jeter announced his retirement from the New York Yankees. Jeter and cofounder Jaymee Messler created the site with the goal of letting athletes tell their stories directly to fans.

The site pairs athletes with editors in order to craft the first-person written stories they want to tell, like when Kevin Durant announced his NBA free agency in 2016, or when WNBA star Breanna Stewart shared her own story of childhood sexual assault. The Players' Tribune also creates podcasts, photo, and video content with athletes in sports ranging from hockey to football to e-sports.

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Eligible helps take the pain out of medical billing.

What it is: Millions of people in the US interact with Eligible on a regular basis, but they probably don't realize it.

Eligible acts as the middleman between healthcare providers and health insurance companies, figuring out whether a patient's insurance will cover a doctor visit. Eligible also helps determine how much a patient will pay out of pocket.

Companies like ZocDoc, Cleveland Clinic, and Oscar use Eligible's service.

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Drone Racing League is building a new kind of spectator sport.

What it is: Drone Racing League launched in 2015 with a straightforward mission: bring drone racing into the mainstream.

Two years later, the startup has inked a deal with ESPN to broadcast on their networks and has signed on sponsors and investors like Sky UK and the U.S. Air Force.

DRL's races feature remote control air crafts that fly at speeds over 90 miles per hour. DRL has had to build the drones itself — it acquired a company called Dronecraft, a designer of high-end racing drones — as well as design the race courses, and pull all of the technology together to make it happen.

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Transfix matches truckers with shipments to cut out wasted travel.

What it is: Transfix is one of several startups trying to become the "Uber for shipping" — matching truckers already headed somewhere with loads that need to be transported.

But Transfix aims to pull ahead of the pack with its tech savvy and environmentally friendly goal of cutting back on waste. The startup has a high-tech "fleet management system" that lets its customers track their shipments, message with drivers, and calculate fuel taxes. There's also an online marketplace that lets customers have some control over who they're matched with and what they're paying.

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Warp + Weft is an inclusive, low-cost denim brand.

What it is: Warp + Weft for the specific weave in fabricswas founded only a few months ago. It's part of a growing trend of direct-to-consumer denim brands, but its focus on inclusivity and reasonable prices are what set it apart.

The startup was founded by veterans of the premium denim industry who noticed a gap in the market: Low-cost, high-quality denim for people of all shapes and sizes. The brand offers jeans in women's sizes 0-24 along with petite sizing, and offers men's denim in sizes 28-40. Warp + Weft's jeans are sold online and all cost under $100.

only sells jeans and shorts right now, but plans to add

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Pilot helps small businesses get internet access.

What it is: Pilot works by finding unused fiber optic cable, leasing it, and switching it on, offering inexpensive, high-speed internet to small businesses.

The company was founded by Joseph Fasone, a high school dropout who joined WeWork as director of IT at age 16.

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Jopwell wants to help minorities land jobs in tech.

What it is: Jopwell is

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Hungryroot is making healthy "crave-able" food.

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The Wing is a social club especially for women.