Samantha Stokes/BI
Move over, San Francisco.
The West Coast city has long reigned supreme in tech innovation — and that’s certainly been true during the AI transformation that’s overtaken the industry over the last few years. But this year at New York Tech Week, the city’s startup and tech community had a message to deliver: New York isn’t just ready to get in on the game when it comes to AI. It’s already a big player.
“When it comes to New York, you have the whole spectrum to invest in. You have ecosystems, agents, and apps,” said Emily Fontaine, IBM‘s global head of venture capital, speaking on a panel discussion about venture capital investing in AI and quantum startups in New York on June 2.
While many big AI companies like OpenAI and Anthropic are headquartered in San Francisco, OpenAI has a new NYC outpost, and the city is already a stronghold when it comes to fintech, healthtech, legal tech, and consumer startups, all of which AI innovations are transforming. These signs show the city is already in the big leagues when it comes to developing and retaining AI talent, those in the NYC tech community say.
Fontaine added that not only does the NYC tech community include the entire AI tech ecosystem, but it’s also home to founders and startups laser-focused on their product and working hard to get to the revenue stage — something she’s excited about as an investor and that she doesn’t always see when comparing AI startups in San Francisco.
Fontaine said she was especially interested in New York entrepreneurs taking on AI apps, AI legal and contracts, and AI security startups.
One of her co-panelists at the IBM event, president and CEO of Tech:NYC Julie Samuels, said that she was excited about AI infrastructure and AI healthcare startups coming out of New York.
“People don’t come to New York to live in a group house and code all night and never see anyone else,” Samuels said in a nod to San Francisco’s famous “Hacker Houses.”
She added that the New York tech community was special because people participate in various arts and culture invites unrelated to their companies.
“New Yorkers hire,” she said. “People want to live here, have always wanted and will continue to want to live here.”
Tech Week participants were similarly excited about the Big Apple’s push into AI. Throughout the week, multiple event attendees told BI reporters either that they had relocated from San Francisco to New York or that they preferred NYC.
“I want to make it the biggest startup ecosystem in the world,” Somya Gupta, who cofounded an AI education startup Context, said of NYC. “SF, we’re coming for you!”
State and local governments are supporting New York’s AI push. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, at an Axios panel, announced plans to use AI to train 100,000 state employees in offices such as the DMV. Additionally, New York is building a $16.5 million AI supercomputer at the University at Albany.
Many AI startups are also headquartered in New York.
Affiniti, which is building AI agents that act like CFOs for small businesses, announced a $17 million Series A in May. Healthcare AI copilot Navina announced it raised $55 million in March. Legora, which uses AI to help lawyers draft and review contracts, announced it raised $80 million in May. And Series, an AI social network for young professionals, announced it landed a $3.1 pre-seed round in April.
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