Monday, January 12, 2026

Madison Avenue is getting a long-awaited bus-only redesign. 🚌 (Gothamist) 

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a… cargo drone! New York has begun trialing cargo drones between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Through January 23, a single cargo drone will fly scheduled weekday routes over the East River. 🛸 (Adafruit)

Bladders rejoice: NYC is expanding public bathroom access citywide. 🚽 (New York Times)

Prime chunk of Midtown becoming ‘fun’ locale — here are some of the destinations to discover (NY Post) 

Meet the new NYC Council members (City & State)

This East Village bar is officially the best bar in NYC (Time Out New York) 

Tech companies cut an estimated 1,461 jobs, leaving total sector employment at about 5.3 million.

Employment in tech roles across all industries fell by about 7,000 workers.

However, tech-sector unemployment dropped to 3.3%, well below the national rate of 4.4%.

More than 6.6 million workers are employed in tech occupations nationwide.

Employers posted nearly 380,000 active tech job listings, down about 10,300 from November.

Roughly 162,000 new postings targeted roles in software, data, infrastructure, systems, and AI.

Open tech roles citing AI skills jumped 111% year-over-year, reaching 94,067 listings.

AI requirements are showing up across nearly every job category, not just core engineering roles.

Gotham led all metros, with 11,076 tech job postings in December.

New York also ranked first nationally for AI and ML job titles last month.

Another nugget: NYC led the nation in hiring for public sector tech roles.

Explore the jobs board here.

We also post a weekly list of job openings from our Jobs Board on our LinkedIn — follow along!

Lego uses bricks to demystify AI (Axios)

10 breakthrough technologies 2026 (MIT Technology Review)

Looking for a new job in 2026? Here’s where the jobs are — and how to stand out (MarketWatch)

Senior Product Marketer — Courier Health ($150k-180k / year + equity): You’ll drive Courier Health’s product narrative, lead positioning strategy, mature their sales enablement motion, and establish a clear, repeatable release process. Apply here.

Senior Product Manager, Machine Learning (Ads) — Etsy ($164k-212k / year + equity): You’ll lead product strategy and roadmap definition for key ads problem spaces focused on helping sellers connect with buyers and grow their businesses. Apply here.

Manager, Product Strategy — Warby Parker ($100,625k-115k / year + equity): You’ll own relationships with external partners, work cross-functionally to operationalize a new business, and help inform the long-range planning for AI glasses. Apply here.

Protege, an NYC-based AI data platform, raised $30 million in Series A funding. a16z led the round and was joined by Footwork, CRV, and others.

Rain, an NYC-based developer of an operating system for stablecoin-powered payments (and Tech:NYC member!), raised $250 million in Series C funding. ICONIQ led the round and was joined by Sapphire Ventures, Dragonfly, Bessemer, Galaxy Ventures, and others.

Swap, an NYC-based provider of a commerce operating system, raised $100 million in Series C funding. The round was co-led by DST Global and ICONIQ.

Tucuvi, an NYC-based developer of an AI voice agent designed for care teams, raised $20 million in Series A funding. Cathay Innovation and Kfund led the round and was joined by existing investors Frontline Ventures, Seaya Ventures, and Shilling.

January 13: Tech HR Meet-up, where you can learn how to build an HR function capable of supporting explosive business growth. Register here.

January 13: NRF Networking Breakfast, a curated networking breakfast bringing together senior leaders across retail and consumer brands. Register here.

January 13: Community Board Mixer + Abundance Happy Hour, for prospective Abundance NY Community Board members to connect with current members and learn more about board service. Register here.

January 13: ​Couture & Code 3.0: The Official NRF After-Conference Mixer, bringing together innovators, founders, executives, creators, technologists, and industry shapers for an evening of collaboration and culture. Register here.

January 15: StartupExperts New Year Coffee Meetup, a casual, open space for operators (HR, finance, and operations) to swap insights, talk through challenges, and find ways to help one another. Register here.

January 16: The Age of Extraction: In Conversation with Tim Wu and Bradley Tusk, a discussion on Wu’s latest book, The Age of Extraction: How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity, a timely exploration of platform power and the fight for economic balance in the digital age. Register here.

January 16: New York Engineering, Energy, and Transportation networking event, for engineers, project developers, renewable energy specialists, urban planners, environmental consultants, and infrastructure leaders eager to expand their networks, exchange ideas, and explore solutions driving the future of sustainable development. Register here.

January 18: Capital & Crayons, Kids in Venture Playdate, bringing together the next generation of thinkers and their parents from the venture community. Register here.

January 28: Volume Four of Critical Mass: Continuums — the closing event of the Deep Tech NY conference — bringing together startups scaling hardware and software and developing critical technologies that are transforming legacy sectors. Register here.

January 29: Founder Breakfast, a private, highly curated breakfast for a curated group of 15 founders at Seed and Series A. Register here.

February 2: Beyond Engagement: Developer Experience, Databases & AI with Jay Gordon, digging into how AI is changing the developer experience from new search techniques to the way we create documentation, learn, and build every day. Register here.

February 4: What’s Next for Fintech and Crypto in 2026, a discussion on the emerging market trends, the evolving regulatory environment, and where the most compelling opportunities may emerge for retail investors. Register here.