Monday, August 4 2025

August 04, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

Monday, August 4, 2025 

In today’s digest, new “tree tech,” the dogs of NYC’s politicos, and companies that raised Series A rounds in July. 💸

Was this digest forwarded to you? Subscribe here.

  • “Tree tech” is here. 🌳 The NYC Department of Parks & Recreation will deploy cars equipped with ground-based light detection and ranging scanners to help with the upcoming tree census and to assess the health of the 600,000+ street trees across NYC. (Gothamist)

    • Once the parks department collects the scans, officials will use AI to compile information on the trees’ size, species, location, and health.

    • The cars will be dispatched by next spring.

  • Starting September 7, 11 more library branches across the city will be open seven days a week, thanks to funding included in the city’s fiscal year 2026 budget. 📚 (6sqft)

    • With these additions, the city will have more than 30 library branches open on Sundays.

  • Dogs 🤝 politics? Dogs are a part of the NYC life, where you never need to walk more than a few blocks to run into a pup. Check out this roundup of the politicians leading our city and the furry advisors behind them. 🐶 (City & State)

👑 Referral royalty: Big thanks to Haris Naveed, Jay Sehgal, and Jill Bernstein Montagna, for referring subscribers to the Tech:NYC Digest this week! Join them and win swag by participating in our referral program — details at the end of this email.

In other reading:

  • This New York City island was once a military base. Now it’s becoming a climate solutions hub – in pictures (The Guardian)

  • The very best ice cream in New York City (Condé Nast Traveler)

  • A secret garden: The beauty you're not seeing at Brooklyn Botanic (Gothamist)

Last month, we launched “Series A: A Series,” a monthly spotlight on NYC startups crossing that pivotal fundraising milestone. Now we’re back with 21 more companies that secured their Series A rounds in July and are ready to scale. 🚀

So what did we learn from this latest crop?

🤖 Nom, nom, nom: AI is eating enterprise and New York’s strength in applied AI is on full display.

  • Slingshot AI ($53 million) and Vellum ($20 million) are building foundational tools for deploying and managing AI systems.

  • Zip Security ($13.5 million), Heka ($14 million), and Heron Data ($16.6 million) are using AI to target compliance, fraud detection, and financial automation.

  • Deeto ($12.5 million) and OffDeal ($12 million) are bringing AI into customer success and SMB M&A, respectively.

🏥 Healthcare and fintech are scaling smart: Startups like Fortuna Health ($18 million) and C8 Health ($12 million) are rethinking Medicaid access and hospital systems — areas where NYC’s public health footprint offers a big testing ground.

  • Meanwhile, companies like Retirable (retirement planning), Ambrook (agri-accounting), and Castellum.AI (preventing financial crime) show how NYC’s fintech founders are continuing to find market (and funding).

💼 Want in? These companies are hiring, building, and raising, and now’s the time to get on their radar. 

  • All told, there are 60+ (!) NYC-based job openings from these companies, including roles like software engineer, product manager, growth marketing manager, partnerships lead, and many more.

  • You can also check out Tech:NYC’s jobs board, which features 3,500+ jobs from 385+ tech companies.

Where are all these startups located? There’s a map for that. 🗺️

Did we miss your Series A raise? Let us know — we want to spotlight every NYC founder turning vision into venture.

In other reading:

  • SEO is dead. Say hello to GEO (Intelligencer)

  • Behind the curtain: The AI super-stimulant (Axios)

  • The quality employees need most right now from their leaders may surprise you (Fast Company)

  • Carbyne, an NYC-based provider of cloud-native emergency communications and response solutions, raised $100 million in funding from AT&T Ventures, Axon Enterprise, Cox Enterprises, Global Medical Response, Hanaco Growth, Hercules Capital, and others.

  • Journey, an NYC-based loyalty platform for leading independent hotels, luxury resorts, and private rentals, raised $7.7 million in seed funding. The round was co-led by Lerer Hippeau and Slow Ventures, with participation from Brian Kelly (founder of The Points Guy), Chris Burch (Co-Founder of Tory Burch), Kim Perell (entrepreneur and author), and Bulletpitch.

  • Legion, an NYC-based browser-native AI Security Operations Center (SOC) platform, emerged from stealth with $38 million in Seed and Series A funding. The round was led by Coatue, with participation from Accel and Picture Capital (co-leads on the earlier seed round), along with angel investors from leading tech companies, including Google, Crowdstrike, and Wiz.

  • North Pole Security, an NYC-based cybersecurity platform, raised $4 million in seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz. 

  • Pensero, an NYC-based AI-powered developer intelligence platform, raised $5 million in funding. Mighty Capital and ICONIQ Capital led the round.

  • Stable, an NYC-based layer 1 blockchain network powered by USDT and designed to achieve seamless financial transactions through stablecoins, raised $28 million in seed funding. Bitfinex & Hack VC led the round and was joined by Franklin Templeton, Castle Island Ventures, eGirl Capital, Bybit-Mirana, and others.

  • August 5: August Tech Rooftop Mixer, for founders, investors, and tech professionals to enjoy an evening of sunset views, conversations, and connections. Register here.

  • August 5: Fashion & Fashion-tech Mixer, where you can connect with fashion-tech innovators and disruptors. Register here.

  • August 7: Early-Stage Poolside Founder Event, bringing together early-stage founders for a relaxed poolside hang. Register here.

  • August 7: August Founder Breakfast, a private breakfast for a curated group of pre-seed to series A founders. Register here.

  • August 8: New York City Tech Mixer and Social, for afterwork drinks and networking with tech workers in NYC. Register here.

  • August 8: Deep Dive Into LLMs Watch Party, an all-day watch party and discussion of Andrej Karpathy’s video on LLMs. Register here.

  • August 14: AI Agent Buildathon, for builders, AI-nerds, tech-enthusiasts, and investors. Register here.

  • September 10: NYC Summit, Primary’s annual invite-only conference, bringing together 2,000 top founders, VCs, and LPs. This year’s speakers include Larry Fitzgerald (Arizona Cardinals), David Karp (Tumblr), Toyin Ajayi (Cityblock Health), Lina Khan (FTC), Kareem Amin (Clay), and more. Apply to attend here.

  • September 23: Deep Tech Forum + Startup Showcase in NYC, bringing together deep tech startups from across the globe alongside corporate innovation leaders, investors, and ecosystem partners, for a full day of mainstage sessions and startup exhibitions. Register with promo code TECHNYC for a 20% discount here.

Daily Digest Rewards 🎁 

Treat yourself: Send subscribers our way, and we’ll send swag your way.

1 Referral: Shoutout in the Digest
5 Referrals: Obviously NYC Hat
10 Referrals: Obviously NYC Tote Bag
25 Referrals: Obviously NYC Sweatshirt

You currently have 0 referrals, only 1 away from receiving a Shoutout in the Tech:NYC Digest.

Or share your personal link with others: https://technycdigest.beehiiv.com/subscribe?ref=PLACEHOLDER

Any feedback or suggestions of things to add? Get in touch here.
Was this digest forwarded to you? Sign up to receive it directly here.