Sitting Shiva for Rise NYC...
...and a Hearty Chapeau for the Community it Inspired
Last week the news broke that that by mid-year Rise NYC will close its office in the city, according to Banking Dive. Rise was an incubator started by Barclays 10 years ago with an office in the Flatiron district (London and India as well) designed to be an accelerator and coworking space for fintech startups.
The incubator helped launch many successful fintechs over the years, but it also became the unofficial capital and meeting spot for all things fintech in New York. It gained this reputation over the years because the office’s main floor was built with a large networking space and adjacent room with a stage and seating. This is why it always seemed to be hosting some kind of fintech event from the company itself and from many other companies/industry associations.
I’ve been metaphorically sitting shiva for the past week since hearing the news and ironically, I ended up attending one of Rise’s monthly coffee events the morning after the news broke. Suffice to say, it was the first thing my friends and I talked about, as we all warmly spoke of the many times over the years we met in that same room to network, learn about fintech trends, and catch up with our peers. We also lamented how it felt like the end of an era, that fintech in NYC (or in general), no longer needs a locus for us to gather - that the closing is a sign the industry has grown up and fully become a part of mainstream banking.
Perhaps. But I still will miss knowing that our community had our own version of Cheers, a place where (mostly) everyone knew our names and why we were there. A place where the fintech community could put faces to the names we read in the news and learn about what was really happening in our industry. A place that the local industry could call home.
The news also makes me think of the word "chapeau" which means “hat” in French, but in professional cycling means more than that. It is a term of respect or admiration you say to a cyclist who had good day on a race stage or for their career in general.
For that I say…chapeau to Rise NYC!!!