San Francisco-based AI procurement startup Zip is planting a big flag in Manhattan, signing a full-floor lease in Chelsea as it accelerates its East Coast push. The company’s first East Coast office at 245-249 W. 17th St. is expected to house a New York team that could reach roughly 100 employees by the end of 2026.
According to the New York Business Journal, Zip’s lease at 245-249 W. 17th St. will support a buildout to about 100 local employees by Dec. 31, 2026, and will serve as the company’s first office on the East Coast.
Zip's product and growth story
Zip describes itself as an AI platform for enterprise procurement and has been rolling out agentic products that automate contracts, invoicing and procure-to-pay workflows, according to a Business Wire release. Those launches, including a May rollout of "AI Automation for Procure-to-Pay" and a June unveiling of "Superagents," have accelerated customer deployments and, the company says, boosted demand for local engineering and customer-facing teams. Zip also counts enterprise customers such as OpenAI, T-Mobile and AMD among its early adopters.
Jobs and office life
Open roles tied to the New York expansion suggest Zip expects the Chelsea office to function as an in-person hub rather than a token address. A Built In posting for an IT support specialist specifies that candidates should "be onsite 5 days a week in our Chelsea NYC office." The same listing notes Zip’s headquarters are in San Francisco and pegs its total workforce at roughly 550 employees.
Why Chelsea makes sense
The property at 245-249 W. 17th St. is a multi-floor Chelsea office building with typical floor plates around 11,592 square feet and active listings, according to PropertyShark. Zip’s lease lands amid a broader wave of AI firms snapping up sizable chunks of space across Midtown South and Chelsea this year, a pattern highlighted by the New York Business Journal.
