New York has been enjoying a rebirth in technology startups recently. While this renaissance was slowed somewhat by the recession, it was hardly stymied. Among the hundreds of nascent tech companies that call New York home, five fast-growing startups in particular have flourished and are expected to command attention in the New Year.

Betaworks
John Borthwick and Andrew Weissman, former executives of Time Warner Inc. and AOL LLC, bristle when betaworks, the innovative company they founded in 2007, is labeled an incubator. They prefer to describe betaworks, which develops Web 2.0 technologies and invests in other companies that do the same, as a "next-generation media company." Either way, betaworks is becoming an increasingly important presence on the New York tech scene. Over the past two years, the firm has created a handful of social-media tools, such as the popular Web address shortener bit.ly, while also investing in about two dozen Web 2.0 companies, including gdgt.com, Hot Potato Media Inc., Biosocia, Inc., owner of OMGPOP, Outside.in Inc., someecards Inc.,StockTwits Inc., Superfeedr, Tumblr Inc. and TweetDeck Inc. Set up as an operating company with shareholders rather than as a VC firm with limited partners, betaworks has itself attracted some impressive investors, including RRE Ventures, a venerable New York venture capital firm co-founded by Jim Robinson IV, Stuart Ellman, AOL Inc. chief Tim Armstrong, former Vivendi SA CEO Jean-Marie Messier, former The Wall Street Journal publisher Gordon Crovitz and former BMG Entertainment Inc. CEO Strauss Zelnick. HuffingtonPost.com Inc. co-founder Ken Lerer is vice chairman of betaworks. The company logged its first exit in the summer of 2008, when it sold its real-time search engine Summize to Twitter Inc. for undisclosed terms that included giving betaworks a stake in the fast-growing San Francisco microblogging service.

Etsy Inc.
The new year promises to be an interesting one for Brooklyn's Etsy Inc. as its founder Rob Kalin gets back into the saddle as CEO, taking the reigns from Maria Thomas, who is leaving the company. The online marketplace for handmade goods is Kalin's brainchild, but in the past he found aspects of being the company's chief executive "not suited to my temperament," as he said when Thomas moved into the top spot 18 months ago. Under Thomas' leadership, Etsy has grown into a profitable company. In the past two years, revenue has increased seven-fold, she said. Other milestones for the company include its first acquisition (of ad platform operator Adtuitive, for an undisclosed amount) and the planned opening of offices in Berlin, which is expected in January. The company has raised nearly $32 million from Accel Partners, Union Square Venturesand others.

Gilt Groupe
Discount online retailer Gilt Groupe, which brings the limited-time sample sale concept to the Web, is on track to be one of the fastest growing Internet companies ever. The company was founded in 2007 and originally backed by AlleyCorp, the New York incubator of former DoubleClick Inc. executives Kevin Ryan and Dwight Merriman. In 2009, Gilt Groupe raked in $200 million in revenue; it's set to make $500 million next year, said CEO Susan Lyne. Among other stellar credentials, Lyne is credited with rescuing Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., from which she stepped down as CEO in 2008. In July, the fashion site raised a $43 million Series B from General Atlantic LLC and Matrix Partners at a reported $400 million valuation, bringing its total capital raised to $48 million.

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