NYC Tech Transit Lab names 12 startups for 2025 cohort
New York City’s Tech Transit Lab on Tuesday announced the 12 startups selected for its 2025 cohort. As part of the lab, the companies will be paired with an NYC-area public transportation agency to test out solutions.
Back in January, the lab shared that it was looking for tech startups to take part in the accelerator’s seventh annual competition series, which is an eight-week program run by the Partnership Fund for New York City. The companies will partner with one area transportation agency — such as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the New Jersey Transit Corporation or the NYC Department of Transportation — to test solutions to two challenges.
The first challenge called for technologies that could help the agencies analyze ridership and travel demand data to improve ridership and transit schedules. The other challenge seeks ways to optimize inspections and maintenance through digital innovations.
Three companies were selected to participate in the ridership improvement challenge, including Matawan, a French company, which will partner with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to explore its WanData solution. It uses data analytics and artificial intelligence to optimize transit operations by aggregating previously siloed data sources into one platform, and aims to give the transportation agency access to real-time ridership data and predictive analytics to enhance service quality management.
The other companies selected for the ridership challenge are Jawnt, a Philadelphia company that helps simplify transit pass enrollment to help more people access and use public transportation, and Libelium Comunicaciones, a Spanish company that predicts, detects and provides real-time alerts on overcrowding events in transit facilities based on passenger movement data. Both will partner with the MTA to pilot their technologies.
For the inspections and maintenance optimization challenge, the companies include Kinexio, a New York City startup, which will partner with both the MTA and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Kinexio’s technology is software for property management, which uses near-field communication tags to assist the agencies in verifying scheduled maintenance inspections, adhering to regulations and enhancing their security protocols.
Also selected for the inspections and maintenance optimization challenge are Censys Technologies, Flip AI, Previsico, Routora, SafetyCulture, Sahay AI and Tomorrow.io.
Startups in this year’s NYC Tech Transit Lab were selected from 112 applications from across the world, and selected by the Partnership in collaboration with more than 200 public sector evaluators. Since the program’s inception in 2018, more than 1,000 companies have applied to participate in the program, 81 companies have tested their technologies and 30 solutions have been commercially scaled or helped to inform commercial procurements.
