Business

Boston $uck$

The Jets versus Pats isn’t the only hot New York-New England rivalry right now.

The competition between the two is also heated in the tech sector as they battle for venture capital dollars and Internet prestige — and The Big Apple has just jumped ahead of Boston for the first time to become the No. 2 city in the country for tech, The Post has learned.

A strong fourth-quarter deal market in New York pushed the city ahead of Boston. Only Silicon Valley has a larger market for tech enterprise, according to a report from the venture capital data firm CB Insights, which is expected to be released today.

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In the final three months of 2010, New York tech startups struck 50 deals worth $332.8 million, while Massachusetts firms only tallied 39 deals worth $219.8 million, according to the report. Although the statistics are for Massachusetts, most of the tech firms in the state are based in and around Boston.

While New York’s tech sector was hot in the fourth quarter, CB Insights’ report uses a five-quarter time frame to rate the country’s hottest tech markets, as a way of smoothing out one or two particularly hot or cold quarters . By that measure, ending Dec. 31, New York rang up 208 tech deals, just ahead of Massachusetts’ 207 — the first time New York topped its Northeast rival over five quarters.

Over the same period, tech venture capital raised in New York topped the capital raised in Massachusetts: $1.22 billion versus $1.21 billion.

“This is the first time over a five-quarter span that New York topped Massachusetts in tech,” said Anand Sanwal, CB Insights’ co-founder. “The big thing here is staying power. New York is now the No. 2 destination for tech venture capital.”

The numbers show New York’s edge is in tech entrepreneurship, which includes sectors such as Internet, mobile and software. When you include cash-heavy industries such as healthcare, Massachusetts beats New York in overall venture capital. However, even in the total numbers, New York’s star is rising.

Across all sectors, including green tech, biotech and healthcare, New York raised $466 million in the fourth quarter on 66 deals and $286 million on 41 deals a year earlier. Massachusetts, meanwhile, saw deals and dollars decline over the same period.

New York startups are attracting cash like never before. Manhattan-based AppNexus, for example, which builds technology for online ad firms, sealed the largest local deal last quarter with $50 million raised, including some Microsoft cash.

“It’s the biggest investment in our industry in a while,” AppNexus CEO Brian O’Kelley said. “It’s possible to build a real global enterprise software company in New York. This isn’t just some blip. This is being blessed by a major player [Microsoft].”

What does AppNexus plan to do with its cash windfall? Hire.

The firm plans to more than double its staff this year by adding about 100 people, O’Kelley said.

New York’s tech prowess can’t be ignored, according to David Silverman, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

“You’re going to find a number of West Coast VCs and Boston VCs spending more time in New York,” Silverman said. gsloane@nypost.com