Friday, September 12, 2025

September 12, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

Friday, September 12, 2025 

Welcome to another Friday edition of the Tech:NYC Digest, featuring our favorite five highlights in New York tech this week.

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Meet the NYC lute player serenading the Shakespeare in the Park line since 1976 (Gothamist)

  • Every morning in the summer, hundreds of people wake up at the crack of dawn to wait outside Central Park’s Delacorte Theater for a chance at free tickets to Shakespeare in the Park. And for the last 50 years, Garald Farnham has been right there with them, serenading line-waiters with his lute playing. 🎶

    • Even if he’s not seeing the show himself, he’s happy to continue entertaining audiences for as long as he can.

    • “At this point in my life, this is where I want to be,” he said.


Ramp at $1 billion (Not Boring Substack)

  • Ramp, the NYC-based fintech company (and Tech:NYC member!), announced this week that it has crossed $1 billion in annualized gross revenue while doubling year-over-year and generating positive cash flow. 

    • Read this deep dive into how the company has grown so quickly, and how it plans to maintain its growth trajectory. 🚀


Mayor Adams, alongside Yankees star Jazz Chisholm Jr., announces 350K free computers for NYC students (NY Post)

  • ICYMI: In an effort to bridge the digital divide, the city is donating 350,000 Chromebooks to underserved K-12 students. 💻

    • The devices will be given out first to schools with device coverage needs, and then to students in temporary housing and high-poverty areas.

    • Good week for kids in general — while students went back to school, smartphones did not. Phone-free schools are here.


Nights at the museum are coming back (New York Times)

  • Somebody wake Ben Stiller — nights at the American Museum of Natural History are back! After the 2006 “Night at the Museum” film debuted, the museum began hosting sleepover nights for children and their parents. 

    • The museum discontinued the event during the pandemic, but will revive them starting Oct. 24.

    • Just don’t expect the giant whale on the ceiling to come alive at night. (But there’s only one way to find out…) 🐳


The most miraculous animal migration is happening in the middle of New York City (Vox)

  • “If I can make it here, I’ll make it anywhere.” — Frank Sinatra, and also monarch butterflies.. 

    • Monarch butterflies are threatened nationally, but are surprisingly abundant in NYC, finding refuge in small urban green spaces.

    • How is this the case? It turns out that helping wildlife is a lot easier than you might think. 

Fly onward this weekend, New York! 🦋

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