Q1 in Review

This quarter we welcomed three new members to the Partnership Fund's Board of Directors: David Haber, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz; Geoffrey Smith, Managing Partner and founder of the Digitalis Group; and Steven Fulop, President & CEO of the Partnership for New York City. The Fund’s board brings together leaders from across finance, technology, entrepreneurship, and civic life — and these three additions deepen that expertise considerably. We look forward to the perspectives and networks they’ll bring to our work supporting NYC’s economy and neighborhoods.

On the portfolio side, we made a new investment in Ounce of Care, and we watched Radical AI begin building New York’s first fully autonomous materials science lab at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Across our Innovation Labs, accessibility tools developed through the Transit Tech Lab were awarded multiple procurements and will be operating at scale across the Port Authority and MTA. Both the Environmental Tech Lab and FinTech Innovation Lab have announced strong new cohorts. The initial contract value our Lab alumni have secured with the public sector has now surpassed $32M.

The Fund exists to back entrepreneurs and innovators who are building a more vibrant and inclusive urban economy. This quarter’s progress reflects exactly that: a company helping residents of affordable housing access the benefits they're owed, a deep-tech company creating over 100 high-paying jobs in Brooklyn, and Lab alumni making the city's transit system more accessible to every rider.

That breadth is what the Fund is designed to support: advancing technology in the public interest, and expanding opportunity for all New Yorkers. We’re looking forward to seeing how this mission continues to manifest in the results that come out of the Environmental Tech Lab and FinTech Innovation Lab cohorts.

- Maria Gotsch, President & CEO

Recent Investments + Portfolio News

New Investment: Ounce of Care

The Fund has invested in Ounce of Care, supporting the company's expansion across NYC. Ounce of Care helps residents of affordable housing navigate and access benefits — connecting tenants to programs that improve financial stability, housing security, and overall quality of life. The investment reflects the Fund's commitment to economic opportunity and to companies that deliver tangible services to underserved New Yorkers. (Read More)

Exit: Celmatix's Women's Health Portfolio Acquired by Gedeon Richter

Women's health has historically been under-researched and underfunded. When the Fund invested in Celmatix Therapeutics, we did so because we believe the entrepreneurs tackling overlooked, underserved health challenges are doing some of the most important work in medicine. 11 years later, Gedeon Richter — a leading European specialty pharmaceutical company with a long-standing focus on women's health — has acquired Celmatix's women's health discovery portfolio.

Congratulations to Dr. Beim and the entire Celmatix team. (Read More)

Milestone: Radical AI Establishes New York's First Autonomous Materials Science Lab at the Brooklyn Navy Yard

Portfolio company Radical AI is establishing New York's first fully autonomous materials science laboratory at the Brooklyn Navy Yard's Building 20. Backed by up to $2 million in Empire State Development tax credits, the facility will run approximately 100 AI-driven experiments per day and is expected to create 115 new high-paying jobs. The Fund invested in Radical AI's seed round. (Read more)

Series A: Lyzr Raises $8M Series A

Lyzr, an enterprise AI platform building an Agentic Operating System and a graduate of the 2025 FinTech Innovation Lab, has raised an $8 million Series A led by Rocketship.vc, with participation from Accenture Ventures and the Partnership Fund for New York City, among others. The platform allows enterprises to deploy coordinated AI agents across departments — HR, sales, compliance, and beyond — through a unified governance layer, replacing fragmented point solutions with a single operational system. (Read more)

The Latest from Our Innovation Labs

Our public sector Innovation Labs — the Transit Tech Lab, Environmental Tech Lab, and Buildings Tech Lab — connect government agencies with cutting-edge technology and give entrepreneurs an expedited path to real-world testing and deployment.

GoodMaps and Convo Communications Expand Across the Port Authority and MTA Systems

Two Transit Tech Lab alumni — GoodMaps and Convo Communications — have secured contracts to scale their accessibility technologies across the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the MTA.

Convo Communications has deployed live ASL interpretation via QR code at 16 Port Authority locations — including JFK, LaGuardia, Newark Liberty, and the Midtown Bus Terminal — and is expanding across all 30 MTA subway Customer Service Centers and select LIRR and Metro-North stations.

GoodMaps is rolling out its LiDAR-based indoor navigation tool across all PATH stations following a successful pilot at Hoboken terminal.

NJ Transit Launches Digital Bus Stop Sign Pilot with BusPas and Urban Solar

NJ Transit is piloting AI-powered digital bus stop signs at eight locations, featuring technology from two Transit Tech Lab companies. BusPas signs in Hudson County display real-time arrivals, service alerts, and occupancy data; and, Urban Solar is running a parallel pilot in Monmouth County. Both systems also provide NJ Transit with ridership analytics, including leave-behind detection — a new capability that captures how many customers miss a bus due to capacity. (Read More)

Program Updates

Transit Tech Lab: Cohort selection is underway: 138 applications received from 16 countries.
Environmental Tech Lab: The 2026 cohort is set — 10 companies selected to run proofs-of-concept with NYC DEP across operations optimization and emergency response challenges.
Buildings Tech Lab: Six-month pilots will begin in Q3 in partnership with NYC Department of Buildings.
FinTech Innovation Lab: The 2026 New York class has been announced: 11 companies, most focused on agentic AI applications in financial services. Demo Day is in late June at BNY.

News + Updates from Our Team

Maria Gotsch to Receive Visionary Award from the New York Academy of Sciences

The New York Academy of Sciences has named Maria Gotsch, President & CEO of the Partnership Fund for New York City, a recipient of its Visionary Award at the Academy's 2026 Spring Soirée. The Soirée recognizes pioneering changemakers whose work exemplifies the Academy's mission of advancing science for the benefit of society. (Read More)

Welcoming Three New Board Members

The Fund's board has grown with the addition of three new members who bring depth across AI, health technology, venture investing, and civic leadership.

David Haber — General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz and fintech founder — brings the perspective of someone who has built, sold, and invested in companies at the frontier of financial technology, right here in New York.
Geoffrey Smith — Managing Partner and founder of the Digitalis Group, which combines venture investing, nonprofit work, and applied research all focused on health technology — brings a rare combination of private-sector and public-interest experience, including prior roles at Mount Sinai's Institute of Technology and Icahn School of Medicine.
Steven Fulop — has served as President & CEO of the Partnership for New York City since January, and joins the Fund's board as a representative of our parent organization.

Welcoming Our Newest Investment Associate:

Matthew Horwitz has joined the Partnership Fund as our newest Investment Associate, supporting investment analysis, new investment opportunities, and initiatives across the FinTech Innovation Lab and our public sector Innovation Labs. Prior to the Fund, Matthew worked in Leveraged Finance Underwriting at Citi, and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business.