Monday, July 14, 2025

July 14, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

Monday, July 14, 2025 

In today’s digest, the Waldorf Astoria returns, public bathrooms increase, and AI drives enterprise software. 💻

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  • After eight years and a near-total $2 billion renovation, the Waldorf Astoria hotel has reopened in all its glory. 🤩 The hotel now boasts 375 hotel suites and 372 condos, and rooms start at $1,500 per night. (New York Times)

  • Starting today, specially trained law enforcement from the NYPD’s new Quality of Life Division are being sent to every precinct in Manhattan to address the city’s low-level issues, such as illegal vending, reckless scooter riding, and blocked sidewalks. 👮 (Gothamist)

    • The expansion follows a two-month pilot in six precincts that officials said led to more than 6,100 summonses, 357 arrests, and improved 311 response times by an average of 16 minutes.

    • The program will roll out to the other boroughs over the next six weeks, with full deployment expected by Labor Day.

  • Coming soon: More public bathrooms! 🚽 The number of public bathrooms in NYC is set to double over the next 10 years to more than 2,000 restrooms, thanks to a new City Council bill that went into effect over the weekend. (Spectrum News 1)

    • A separate bill also aims to build 50 new public drinking fountains in the next 10 years. 💦

    • You can find a map of all NYC public restrooms here.

➕ One more thing: Big thank you to Briana Bunn and Michael Moses 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:

  • Stamp prices increase to 78 cents (Axios)

  • And just like that … New York City has great tacos (New York Times)

  • Casinos for NYC will be chosen by year’s end. Here’s how (The CITY)

As macroeconomic conditions remain uncertain (hello, tariffs) and an exit environment challenging, the going is good in the enterprise software venture ecosystem. 

According to a new report from Silicon Valley Bank, AI/ML is a big force propelling the companies developing software for large orgs to maintain and streamline business ops. 

🔢 Key stats from the sector:

  • VC investment in enterprise software companies has grown 43% year-over-year.

  • 1 in 6 VC enterprise software deals involve AI/ML startups (up from 1 in 12 deals pre-pandemic).

  • 307 VC-backed unicorns are enterprise software.

  • That 307 number ^ accounts for 40% of all U.S. VC-backed unicorns last year, up from 31% five years ago.

It’s not just the large, name-brand, core AI businesses that are redefining the enterprise software sector. AI company formation and disruption have spread across all layers of the software stack.

  • This ranges from the data layers and infrastructure, to the application layer, to the cybersecurity solutions seeking to secure organizations against evolving threats and attack surfaces. 

🗽 The NYC angle: It should come as no surprise that NYC has created a first-rate enterprise tech ecosystem thanks to a large population of Fortune 500 buyers, tech talent, and investors. 

📊 Straight from Tech:NYC’s research corner: M&A is on the up and 🆙. In the last 90 days alone, NYC saw over 100 software acquisitions with several notable deals involving some of tech’s top companies including:

  • Stripe acquired the NYC-based startup Privy, a data control tool that creates simple powerful APIs for managing user data. 

  • Snap acquired the NYC-based startup Saturn Technologies, a scheduling software for high schoolers that also connects students with the people and information that are most important to them.

  • Hebbia acquired the NYC-based startup FlashDocs, an API-first solution that lets developers and product teams create Google Slides and PowerPoint presentations directly from code.

  • DoorDash acquired NYC-based startups Symbiosis and SeverRooms.

    • Symbiosis is a retail media platform designed to unlock the middle of the retail media funnel by enabling marketing alignment between retailers and brands.

    • SevenRooms is a CRM, marketing, and operations platform designed for restaurants and other hospitality businesses.

Bottom line: Enterprise software is undergoing its AI moment, and NYC is well-positioned to lead the charge.

In other reading:

  • Bilt, an NYC-based rent credit card provider, raised $250 million at a $10.75 billion valuation led by General Catalyst and GID.

  • Helios, an NYC-based AI-native tech startup for public policy professionals, raised $4 million in funding. Unusual Ventures led the round and was joined by Founders, Inc., Alumni Ventures, and others.

  • Knox, an NYC-based federal managed cloud provider, raised $6.5 million in seed funding. Felicis led the round and was joined by Ridgeline and FirsthandVC.

  • LGND AI, an NYC-based earth data business, raised $9 million led by Javelin Venture Partners, with participation from AENU, Space Capital, Overture, Ridgeline, MCJ, Coalition Operators, and Clocktower Ventures.

  • NetBox Labs, an NYC-based network and infrastructure management company, raised $35 million in Series B funding led by NGP Capital, with participation from Sorenson Capital, Headline, Flybridge Capital, Notable Capital, Mango Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Two Sigma Ventures, and IBM.

  • Vellum, an NYC-based AI development platform, raised $20 million in Series A funding. Leaders Fund led the round and was joined by Socii Capital and existing investors Y Combinator, Rebel Fund, Pioneer Fund, and Eastlink Capital.

  • Zip Security, an NYC-based cybersecurity business for SMEs, raised $13.5 million in Series A funding. Ballistic Ventures led and was joined by Silver Buckshot, The Chainsmokers' Mantis VC and return investors General Catalyst, Box Group and Human Ventures.

  • July 15: How to Form an Effective Board, a free breakfast event designed to help startup founders — from pre‑seed through Series A and beyond — build and manage high‑impact boards. Register here.

  • July 15: Using AI To Supercharge Our Companies, featuring speakers who will dive into how they’re using artificial intelligence to drive innovation and tackle problems within their companies. Register here.

  • July 16: Live Demos, featuring demos from Databricks, Pensar, LastMile AI, and Nomic. Register here.

  • July 16: Brderless’ July Founder Breakfast, ​for seed-stage founders who have raised or are in the process of raising series A, and are now focused on scaling — building the team, refining GTM, and shaping the story for the next round. Register here.

  • July 16: Pitch Deck Bootcamp: Build, Test, & Perfect Your Founder Pitch, where you can build, present, and refine your deck with real feedback from experienced judges and fellow founders. Register here.

  • July 16: Get AI-ready for Q4: Ecommerce AI Lab, a look at how AI agents are reshaping commerce — from support to marketing to sales to insights to operations. Register here.

  • July 16: Justworks’ Small Business Soirée, where you can connect with fellow entrepreneurs and key players in a relaxed, open-air setting. Register here.

  • July 17: How the RAISE Act Affects You, where you can learn how New York’s RAISE Act would impact open-source AI innovation, and how you can get involved. Register here.

  • July 19-20: Agentic AI App Hackathon, a two-day event to build and deploy your own agentic applications on Google Cloud with Cloud Run. Register here.

  • July 23: Digital Art Salon, a monthly meetup for artists, builders, and creative technologists working across AI, AR, generative systems, and digital debris. Register here.

  • July 31: Healthcare x AI Agents Hack & Learn, ​a hands-on sprint to build safer, smarter AI agents for healthcare. Register here.

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