Recent NYC fundings listed
AlleyWatch reported several fresh fundraises tied to the NYC scene: Pillar at a $20M seed, Gelu AI raising $2M, and Timeshifter taking $1.8M. The thread was presented as a signal of which verticals and teams are currently raising in the region. (x.com)
New York startup deal trackers this week pointed to three smaller but distinct bets: Pillar raised $20 million, Gelu AI raised $2 million, and Timeshifter raised $1.8 million. (alleywatch.com) AlleyWatch’s April 15 funding report listed Pillar as a seed round, Gelu AI’s raise as funding disclosed in a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing, and Timeshifter’s round alongside the same day’s New York startup deals. (alleywatch.com) Pillar said April 14 that Andreessen Horowitz, also known as a16z, led its $20 million seed round, with Crucible Capital, Gallery Ventures, and Uber Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi also participating. TechCrunch reported the company has raised $23 million total. (techcrunch.com) Pillar sells software for companies whose profits swing with commodity, currency, and freight prices, including businesses in metals, food, and airlines. Its pitch is that hedging can be automated instead of run through spreadsheets, bank calls, and manual approvals. (techcrunch.com) Gelu AI’s $2 million round came from one investor, according to AlleyWatch’s summary of the filing, and the company was founded in 2024 by Timur Abishev and Simon Alperovich. Gelu AI says it provides “fast and cheap” inference, the computing step that turns a trained language model into live answers for users. (alleywatch.com, gelu.ai) Timeshifter announced its financing on April 15 and said Skip Capital led the round, with participation from Nico Rosberg, Michael López-Alegría, Brian Kelly, and other strategic investors. The company said the money will be used to expand its circadian technology across travel, shift work, and healthcare. (timeshifter.com, prnewswire.com) Circadian technology is software built around the body’s internal clock: when to seek light, avoid light, sleep, nap, or use caffeine so the body shifts time zones faster. Timeshifter says its app is the most-downloaded jet lag app and is now pushing beyond frequent flyers into workers and patients whose schedules disrupt sleep. (timeshifter.com) The mix of deals lands after a strong month for the city’s venture market. AlleyWatch reported that New York City startups raised $3.94 billion across 97 deals in March 2026, up 293.6% from March 2025 and 55.6% from February 2026. (alleywatch.com) That March surge was driven by late-stage mega-rounds, but the April 15 list showed money still reaching earlier-stage companies in finance software, artificial intelligence infrastructure, and sleep and travel software. In New York, that leaves a picture of a market where both giant rounds and niche seed checks are getting done. (alleywatch.com, alleywatch.com)
