Investing in Polimorphic: Easing the Burden on Local Government Workers

Local government is arguably the most impactful layer of government in terms of daily living, overseeing fundamental services from public transit and snow removal to EMS and fire departments.

Despite overseeing such invaluable services, the sector is struggling. Local governments have seen over half a million job losses since the beginning of the pandemic three years ago, while more than one-third of remaining government employees are considering quitting their jobs—largely due to stress, fatigue, bureaucratic overwhelm, and burnout.

Polimorphic is looking to change that, harnessing the power of AI to ease government workers’ administrative load so they can focus on the human-driven work they do best. In a notoriously manual and paper-heavy space, Polimorphic integrates with governments’ existing tools and websites to digitize manual processes and help constituents more easily navigate local services.

“I’m sure a lot of folks have seen the TV show Parks and Recreation, and it’s not an entirely inaccurate depiction,” says Co-Founder & CEO Parth Shah. “Municipal government is full of your local Leslie Knopes and Ben Wyatts—folks trying to do the best work they can for their community. By automating hours of busywork, we’re helping them do just that.”

Polimorphic is already in action in cities like Danbury, CT, St. Albans Town, VT, and Prospect Park, NJ—and it’s adding a new city or county every two days. Since launching its AI-powered search solution last month, its waitlist has grown to 40+ cities across the country.

The company’s raise comes on the heels of an executive order calling for safe, secure, and trustworthy artificial intelligence solutions, as well as several pieces of AI legislation circulating around the Capitol this session—signals of the government’s increasing readiness to understand and make the best use of AI technology.

"Inefficiency is an expensive pain point in any bureaucracy, and this is particularly true for government,” says M13 Partner Latif Peracha. “Polimorphic’s solutions digitize every facet of the constituent-to-city relationship. Parth, Daniel, and their capable team are helping constituents and departments spend less time on inefficient paperwork and focus on enhancing their communities, removing trillions of wasted dollars and time out of the system.”

The company also has a personal connection to its mission.

“My grandfather worked in local government as a utility director—managing water, utilities, sewage—and I saw the lengths he would go to to provide people with these fundamental needs,” says Parth. “And when I worked at a smart city startup, I saw how these tech advancements were sort of overlooking the needs of local governments. At Polimorphic, we are bringing these advancements, such as AI, to cities and counties across the United States in a way that is built specifically for their needs

He adds, “It's a big motivator, knowing that this is something that my grandfather would be excited about.”



We’re proud to lead the $5.6M seed funding round to Polimorphic, investing alongside our peers at Shine Capital and Pear VC.