Top 5 AI Companies in NYC (New York) for 2026

New York City has quietly become one of the most exciting AI hubs on the planet. While Silicon Valley still gets most of the headlines, NYC now hosts nearly 250 AI companies building everything from generative video tools to enterprise analytics platforms. 

But what makes NYC special for AI? It sits at the intersection of finance, media, healthcare, and advertising. Companies here solve real problems for real industries. They have access to world-class talent from NYU and Columbia. And they operate in a city where enterprise customers are just a subway ride away.

In this guide, we break down the top 5 AI companies making waves in NYC right now. Whether you need a custom AI development partner, a creative video generation tool, or an enterprise platform, these companies represent the best of what the city has to offer.

Company	Founded	Valuation	Specialty
Azumo	2016	—	Custom AI Development
Runway	2018	$3B	Generative Video AI
Hebbia	2020	$700M	Document Analysis
Hugging Face	2016	$4.5B	Open-Source AI Platform
Dataiku	2013	$3.7B	Enterprise AI Platform

Why NYC is Becoming an AI Powerhouse in 2026

Before we get into the companies themselves, it helps to understand why NYC has become such a magnet for AI talent and investment.

North America captured 35.5% of global AI revenue in 2025. The market is growing at a 30.6% compound annual growth rate and could reach $3.5 trillion by 2033. NYC is grabbing a bigger slice of that pie every year.

The city’s strength lies in its industry diversity. Financial services firms need AI for risk analysis and trading. Media companies need it for content creation. Healthcare organizations need it for diagnostics and patient care. NYC has all of these industries concentrated in one place, creating a unique ecosystem where AI companies can find customers across multiple verticals without ever leaving the city.

Investment is pouring in, too. AI led all sectors in Q1 2025 venture funding with $59.6 billion invested globally. NYC-based companies captured a significant portion of that capital, with several achieving unicorn status or raising major growth rounds.

1. Azumo

Company Overview

Azumo takes a different approach than most companies on this list. Rather than selling a software platform, they provide the engineering talent to build custom AI solutions from scratch.

Founded in 2016, Azumo specializes in nearshore software development with a deep focus on artificial intelligence. Their first customer was Twitter, and they’ve since completed over 100 AI projects for clients across gaming, healthcare, and enterprise sectors. The company holds SOC 2 certification and maintains strict GDPR compliance standards.

AI Capabilities & Services

Azumo’s technical breadth is impressive. Their team has expertise across 500+ AI models, libraries, and frameworks, covering just about every modern AI use case you can think of.

Key capabilities include:

• Generative AI solutions including chatbots and voice assistants
• Custom ML model development and training
• AI agent development for autonomous task completion
• Natural Language Processing (NLP) applications
• Computer vision and image analysis
• Predictive analytics and recommendation systems

The company has built generative AI voice assistants for gaming companies, automated knowledge discovery engines for enterprise clients, and semantic search systems using GPT models. Each project gets custom-made the client’s specific needs rather than forcing a one-size-fits-all solution.

What Sets Azumo Apart

The nearshore model is Azumo’s biggest differentiator. Traditional offshore development comes with time zone headaches, communication barriers, and cultural disconnects. Onshore development solves those problems but costs significantly more.

Azumo sits in the sweet spot. Their engineers work in U.S.-aligned time zones, communicate fluently in English, and understand American business culture. You get same-day collaboration without overnight delays. When you need a quick call to hash out technical details, it happens that afternoon rather than at 3 AM.

According to Clutch, clients consistently praise the quality of Azumo’s work and the smoothness of collaboration. The company assigns dedicated teams to each project, so you work with the same engineers from kickoff to launch.

Notable Projects & Results

Azumo’s portfolio spans multiple industries and AI applications:

• Gaming Industry: Built a generative AI voice assistant that handles player interactions naturally
• Enterprise AI: Designed and deployed an automated knowledge discovery engine that surfaces insights from massive document collections
• Search Technology: Implemented semantic search using GPT models to improve result relevance
• Operational Intelligence: Created AI-based platforms that help companies manage complex operations

These projects typically run 4-9 months from concept to deployment, depending on complexity.

Why Choose Azumo

Best for: Companies that need custom AI development rather than off-the-shelf software. Mid-sized to large enterprises that want high-quality engineering without the cost of building an in-house AI team.

Differentiator: The nearshore advantage. You get enterprise-grade AI development with simple collaboration, all at a price point that makes sense.

If you’re looking to build custom AI solutions, Azumo’s team can help you move from concept to production without the typical friction of outsourced development.

2. Runway

Company Overview

Runway represents everything exciting about generative AI in creative industries. Founded in 2018 by Cristóbal Valenzuela, Alejandro Matamala, and Anastasis Germanidis at NYU, the company has grown into a $3 billion powerhouse with over 300,000 users.

The growth numbers tell the story. Runway’s revenue jumped from $4.5 million in 2022 to $300 million in 2025. That’s 67x growth in three years. Investors noticed. The company raised $308 million in its Series D round from backers including Google, Nvidia, and General Atlantic.

AI Capabilities & Services

Runway builds AI models that generate and edit video content. Their flagship product, Gen-4, creates video from text prompts or still images with consistent characters and environments.

Core technology includes:

• Gen-4: Latest video generation model with improved consistency
• Gen-4 Turbo: Faster, more cost-effective version for production workloads
• Act-One & Act-Two: Performance capture without motion-capture equipment
• Text-to-video generation: Create video content from written descriptions
• Image-to-video conversion: Animate still images into video sequences

The technology is professional-grade. Runway’s tools were used in the Oscar-winning film “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and for power editing for “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”

What Sets Runway Apart

Runway has locked in partnerships that validate their technology at the highest levels. Lionsgate signed a deal to develop a custom AI model for film and TV production. AMC Networks became the first cable company to partner with Runway for AI content creation. IMAX hosts an AI Film Festival showcasing Runway-generated content.

These aren’t experimental pilots. Major entertainment companies are integrating Runway into their production workflows because the technology actually works.

Notable Projects & Results

The company’s impact on Hollywood and media production keeps expanding:

• Oscar-winning film “Everything Everywhere All at Once” used Runway tools for visual effects
• “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” uses Runway for editing workflows
• Lionsgate develops custom AI models in partnership with Runway
• Getty Images provides licensed content for Runway model training

Why Choose Runway

Best for: Media companies, creative agencies, filmmakers, and advertisers who need AI-powered video generation and editing tools.

Differentiator: Hollywood-validated technology with partnerships that prove enterprise readiness. No other video AI company has achieved this level of industry adoption.

3. Hebbia

Company Overview

Hebbia tackles one of the most tedious tasks in professional services: reading through mountains of documents to find specific information. Their AI platform analyzes massive document repositories and answers complex questions that would take humans hours or days to research.

Founded in 2020 by Stanford PhD student George Sivulka, Hebbia achieved something rare for an AI startup: profitability. The company hit $13 million in annual recurring revenue while maintaining profitability. That helped them raise $130 million at a $700 million valuation from Andreessen Horowitz, Google Ventures, and Peter Thiel.

AI Capabilities & Services

Hebbia’s core product, Matrix, works like an AI analyst that never sleeps.

Key features include:

• Process unlimited file lengths without truncation
• Deliver insights in a spreadsheet-like format for easy analysis
• Analyze SEC filings, regulatory documents, contracts, and PDFs
• Perform comparative analysis across companies and competitors
• Provide transparent, verifiable responses with source attribution

The platform handles complex multi-step questions that simpler AI tools can’t manage. Ask it to compare revenue trends across 50 competitors, and it will pull the relevant data from thousands of pages of filings.

What Sets Hebbia Apart

Hebbia has achieved remarkable penetration in financial services. 33% of top global asset managers by assets under management now use their platform. Clients include Centerview Partners, Charlesbank, Oak Hill Advisors, and American Industrial Partners.

The company also expanded beyond finance. Law firms use it for due diligence. Pharmaceutical companies use it for regulatory research. Even the U.S. Air Force signed on as a client.

In May 2025, Hebbia acquired FlashDocs to add document-to-draft generation capabilities to its platform.

Notable Projects & Results

Hebbia’s customer list reads like a who’s who of finance and professional services:

• Centerview Partners: Uses Matrix for deal research and due diligence
• Fenwick: Legal firm leveraging AI for contract analysis
• U.S. Air Force: Government client for document intelligence
• Multiple PE firms: Charlesbank, Oak Hill Advisors, American Industrial Partners

Why Choose Hebbia

Best for: Financial institutions, law firms, and corporations that need to analyze large document collections quickly and accurately.

Differentiator: Specialized for high-stakes financial and legal analysis with transparent AI that shows its sources. The early profitability signals a sustainable business model.

4. Hugging Face

Company Overview

Hugging Face has become the central hub for the AI developer community. Often called the “GitHub of AI,” their platform hosts over 120,000 pre-trained models and 20,000 datasets that developers can use to build AI applications.

Founded in 2016 by Clément Delangue, Julien Chaumond, and Thomas Wolf, the company raised $235 million in August 2023 from Salesforce, Google, Amazon, Nvidia, and others. That round valued Hugging Face at $4.5 billion. Over 10,000 companies now use the platform.

AI Capabilities & Services

Hugging Face provides tools and infrastructure for every stage of AI development.

Platform offerings include:

• Hugging Face Hub: Repository hosting for AI models and datasets
• Transformers Library: Industry-standard tools for NLP models
• HuggingChat: Open-source ChatGPT alternative
• AutoTrain: Automated model training without coding
• Inference API: Cloud hosting for neural network deployment
• Enterprise Solutions: Custom deployments with dedicated support

The Transformers library has become the most popular tool in the AI community for working with language models. It supports models from every major AI lab and makes it easy to fine-tune pre-trained models for specific tasks.

What Sets Hugging Face Apart

The company takes a model-agnostic approach. They don’t push their own AI models. Instead, they provide infrastructure that works with models from OpenAI, Google, Meta, Anthropic, and open-source alternatives.

Major projects like BigScience/Bloom brought together over 900 researchers to build an open-source multilingual model that competes with GPT-3. StarCoder, developed with ServiceNow, generates code. LeRobot aims to democratize robotics with a $100 robotic arm.

Strategic partnerships span every major cloud and chip provider. Nvidia, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google Cloud all integrate with Hugging Face to make model deployment easier.

Notable Projects & Results

Hugging Face has driven significant open-source AI initiatives:

• BigScience/Bloom: Open-source multilingual model built by 900+ researchers
• StarCoder: Code generation AI in partnership with ServiceNow
• SafeCoder: Enterprise-grade code generation
• LeRobot (2025): Making robotics accessible with affordable hardware

Why Choose Hugging Face

Best for: Developers building AI applications, data scientists who want flexibility, and enterprises seeking to avoid vendor lock-in.

Differentiator: The largest open-source AI community and model repository. If you want choice and flexibility in your AI stack, Hugging Face is the platform.

5. Dataiku

Company Overview

Dataiku calls itself “The Universal AI Platform,” and they back up that claim with one of the most comprehensive enterprise AI offerings on the market. Founded in 2013 with headquarters in both Paris and NYC, the company has grown to over 1,600 employees serving 750+ organizations globally.

Dataiku’s revenue hit $350 million in 2025, up from $64 million in 2021. That consistent growth helped them raise over $1 billion in total funding from Tiger Global, Battery Ventures, and CapitalG (Alphabet’s growth fund). The company is now preparing for a U.S. IPO in 2026.

AI Capabilities & Services

Dataiku provides a platform where business users, data analysts, and data scientists can all work together on AI projects.

Core platform features:

• No-code, low-code, and full-code capabilities in one environment
• Collaborative workspace for diverse skill levels
• Automated ML model building and deployment
• Built-in AI governance and compliance tools
• Support for Python, R, SQL, and other languages
• Integration with 80+ data sources and tools

The platform works across all major cloud providers (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud) and supports on-premises and hybrid deployments. It connects with Databricks, Snowflake, SAP, and most enterprise data infrastructures.

What Sets Dataiku Apart

Dataiku’s strength is democratizing AI across entire organizations. The platform makes it possible for business analysts without coding skills to build and deploy models alongside data scientists writing custom code.

Customer success metrics back this up. Dataiku reports a 98% customer retention rate. Clients include Unilever, GE, and FOX News Group.

The upcoming IPO signals market maturity. If Dataiku goes public in 2026, they’ll be among the first major enterprise AI platforms to reach public markets.

Notable Projects & Results

Dataiku serves Fortune 500 companies across multiple industries:

• Unilever: Consumer goods analytics and forecasting
• GE: Industrial AI applications
• FOX News Group: Media analytics and optimization
• 750+ organizations: Global enterprise deployments

Why Choose Dataiku

Best for: Large enterprises that need a comprehensive AI platform supporting users at every skill level, with strong governance and compliance features.

Differentiator: The most complete enterprise AI platform with no-code to full-code flexibility. Approaching IPO signals stability and long-term viability.

Other Notable NYC AI Companies to Watch

The top 5 only scratches the surface of NYC’s AI ecosystem. Here are a few more companies doing interesting work:

1. Rokt optimizes e-commerce transactions using AI. Trusted by Live Nation, PayPal, and Uber.
2. GumGum builds contextual advertising technology that uses AI without relying on personal data.
3. Multimodal automates financial services workflows with 4x speed improvements over manual processes.
4. EvolutionaryScale develops frontier AI models for life sciences. They’ve raised $142 million.
5. Pinecone provides vector database infrastructure for ML applications. A foundational layer for many AI systems.

The city hosts dozens more AI companies at various stages, from seed-funded startups to established players.

How to Select the Right AI Company for Your Needs

With so many options, how do you pick the right partner? Start by answering a few questions about your specific situation.

Define Your AI Use Case

Are you looking to buy software or build something custom? A platform like Dataiku or Hugging Face works if you have internal teams who can implement and maintain AI solutions. A development partner like Azumo makes more sense if you need to build from scratch and don’t have the in-house expertise.

Evaluate Technical Capabilities

Match the company’s strengths to your requirements. Need video generation? Runway. Document analysis? Hebbia. General-purpose enterprise AI? Dataiku. Custom solutions? Azumo. Open-source flexibility? Hugging Face.

Consider Business Factors

Budget, timeline, and ongoing support all matter. Enterprise platforms require significant investment and internal resources. Development partners can scale up or down based on project needs.

Here’s a quick reference:

Your Need	Best Fit
Custom AI Development	Azumo
Video/Creative AI	Runway
Document Analysis	Hebbia
Open-Source Flexibility	Hugging Face
Enterprise Platform	Dataiku

The Future of AI in NYC: 2026 and Beyond

The NYC AI ecosystem shows no signs of slowing down. Several trends will shape the market over the next few years.

Pragmatic AI Implementation: The hype phase is ending. Companies want AI that solves specific business problems, not flashy demos. This benefits NYC companies that have always focused on enterprise use cases.

AI Agents and Automation: Autonomous AI agents that complete tasks without human supervision are moving from research to production. Companies like Azumo and Dataiku are well-positioned to help enterprises build and deploy these systems.

Regulatory Evolution: AI governance will become more important as regulations develop. Platforms with built-in compliance features (like Dataiku) and development partners who understand security requirements (like Azumo) will have advantages.

Open Source vs. Proprietary: The lines between open-source and proprietary AI will blur. Hugging Face’s model-agnostic approach lets companies use the best tool for each job without vendor lock-in.

Leading the AI Revolution from NYC

These five companies represent different approaches to AI, but they share common traits. They solve real problems for real businesses. They’ve attracted significant investment based on actual results. And they contribute to an NYC ecosystem that keeps growing stronger.

Whether you need custom AI development, creative video tools, document intelligence, open-source infrastructure, or an enterprise platform, NYC’s AI ecosystem offers world-class options. 

Different approaches, different strengths—but each of these companies reflects the depth, maturity, and momentum shaping New York’s AI landscape in 2026.