New York City venture capital delivered $2.01 billion across 75 companies in May 2026, a 12.0% increase from April fueled by one of the city’s strongest multi-deal months on record. Seven NYC startups each raised $100 million or more — a concentration of large rounds rarely seen outside months anchored by a single outlier raise. Modal Labs led with $355 million for its AI cloud infrastructure platform, but the month’s character was defined less by any one deal than by the breadth of capital flowing into mature, revenue-stage companies across healthcare, insurance, fintech, and AI infrastructure. Four of the top 10 deals — Vi Labs, Reserv, Garner Health, and Nourish — collectively raised $471 million, underscoring a quiet but substantial reorientation of NYC late-stage capital toward health and insurance technology. AI-identified companies captured 66% of all funding deployed, with $1.32 billion spread across 32 startups spanning clinical AI, insurance automation, investment management, and cybersecurity.

NYC Venture Capital Activity by Stage — May 2026

Stage	Deals	Total Capital	% of Total	Avg Deal	Median Deal
Early-Stage	36	$158.7M	7.9%	$4.4M	$2.5M
Series A	18	$277.6M	13.8%	$15.4M	$15.2M
Series B	9	$454.9M	22.7%	$50.5M	$33.0M
Late-Stage	12	$1.11B	55.6%	$92.9M	$64.0M
Total	75	$2.01B	100%	$26.7M	$10.0M

Top 10 NYC Venture Capital Deals — May 2026

#	Company	Amount	Stage	Industry
1	Modal Labs	$355M	Late-Stage	AI Infrastructure, Cloud Computing
2	RADAR	$170M	Series B	Retail Technology, Computer Vision
3	Vi Labs	$146M	Late-Stage	Agentic AI, Healthcare, Life Science
4	Reserv	$125M	Late-Stage	Insurance, Financial Services
5	OpenRouter	$113M	Series B	Artificial Intelligence, Software
6	Garner Health	$100M	Late-Stage	Health Care, Employee Benefits
7	Nourish	$100M	Late-Stage	Health Care, Nutrition, Telehealth
8	Moment	$78M	Late-Stage	FinTech, Risk Management, AI
9	Frame Security	$50M	Late-Stage	Cybersecurity
10	Daloopa	$47M	Late-Stage	Financial Services, AI, Analytics

Modal Labs Leads a Strong Month for AI Infrastructure

Modal Labs’ $355M late-stage round was the defining deal of May, cementing the company’s position as one of NYC’s most heavily backed AI infrastructure plays. The serverless cloud platform, which enables developers to run machine learning and data processing workloads without managing infrastructure, has become a critical layer in the AI development stack. At 17.7% of all NYC capital deployed in May, Modal’s raise single-handedly elevated the month’s headline figure and anchored a broader pattern: AI infrastructure and tooling companies attracted a disproportionate share of late-stage investment in May.

OpenRouter’s $113M Series B added another dimension to the AI infrastructure story. The platform, which routes AI applications to large language models and cloud hosting providers, raised at a moment when enterprises are actively building out multi-model strategies. Together, Modal and OpenRouter alone accounted for $468M — nearly 23% of all NYC capital in May.

Series B Activity Surges on Retail and AI Bets

May’s Series B cohort stood out as the most active by average deal size, with nine rounds totaling $454.9M at a $50.5M mean — well above what the stage typically produces in NYC. RADAR’s $170M raise was the key driver. The retail technology company, which uses computer vision and RFID to automate in-store inventory tracking and checkout, raised one of the larger Series B rounds seen in the NYC market this year. RADAR and OpenRouter together represented 61.2% of all Series B capital in May, which skewed the stage average significantly; the median of $33.0M is a more representative figure for the rest of the cohort.

AI Captures Two-Thirds of NYC Capital

Thirty-two of 75 funded NYC companies in May were identified as AI-focused, accounting for $1.32B — 66% of all capital deployed locally. The concentration is notable not just for its magnitude but for its spread across verticals: Vi Labs ($146M) applies AI to healthcare and life sciences, Reserv ($125M) uses it for insurance claims processing, Moment ($78M) for investment management, and Frame Security ($50M) for cybersecurity. The month illustrated how AI has moved from a descriptor for foundational model companies to an operational layer embedded across insurance, health, finance, and enterprise software.

Of the top 10 NYC deals in May, seven involved companies with AI at the core of their product — a ratio that reflects both investor appetite and the continued maturation of AI-native business models in the city’s startup ecosystem.

NYC vs. US National Venture Capital Activity — May 2026

Stage	NYC Deals	NYC Capital	NYC % of Capital	US Deals	US Capital	NYC Share
Early-Stage	36	$158.7M	7.9%	236	$1.07B	14.9%
Series A	18	$277.6M	13.8%	92	$2.71B	10.3%
Series B	9	$454.9M	22.7%	40	$2.52B	18.1%
Late-Stage	12	$1.11B	55.6%	41	$60.74B	1.8%
Total	75	$2.01B	100%	409	$67.03B	3.0%

NYC accounted for 3.0% of US venture capital by dollars in May 2026, a figure significantly compressed by Anthropic’s $50B Series H — the largest venture round in recorded history — which single-handedly concentrated the national headline. Stripping out Anthropic, NYC’s share of the remaining $17.03B in US activity would be approximately 11.8%, a more historically representative reading of the city’s standing. NYC’s 18.3% share of national deal count reflects a market that punches above its weight at the volume level. The city’s strongest competitive position was at Series B, where it captured 18.1% of national capital across 22.5% of deals.

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Looking Ahead

With $2.01B deployed in May, NYC has now posted back-to-back months above $1.7B — a level of consistency that signals healthy underlying demand rather than episodic spikes. The Series B cohort’s strength is worth watching: nine rounds at a $50.5M average suggest a group of companies that raised Series A capital in 2023 and 2024 are now reaching the scale inflection where larger follow-on checks are warranted. If that pipeline holds, June could see continued Series B activity as more of that cohort completes their fundraising cycles. The health and insurance verticals, each producing two top-10 deals in May, have emerged as recurring themes in NYC’s late-stage market and bear watching as AI-native applications in both spaces continue to attract investor interest.

Methodology

Data for this report is sourced from AlleyWatch proprietary funding data (funding.alleywatch.com) and covers venture capital rounds announced or closed in May 2026 by NYC-headquartered startups. Deals are classified into four stages: Early-Stage (pre-seed, seed, angel, accelerator, and incubator rounds); Series A; Series B; and Late-Stage (Series C and beyond). AI company classification is based on the presence of relevant keywords across company description and industry fields. All figures are in USD.