Monday, July 21, 2025

July 21, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

Monday, July 21, 2025 

In today’s digest, subway barriers, Adam Sandler lookalikes, and how AI-ready is NYC? 🤖

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  • Subway barriers have officially been installed at over 50 subway stations, with additional installations planned for the future. 🚧 Stations with barriers are located throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, and those with higher ridership and island platforms were given priority. (amNY)

    • An MTA customer survey showed that 59% of riders want the barriers installed throughout the system.

    • Major crimes in the subway system have dropped by 3% since last year and by almost 10% compared to pre-pandemic levels.

  • Speaking of public safety, Mayor Eric Adams announced plans yesterday to establish a verified city-run account on Citizen, the safety-focused social media app that provides residents with real-time notifications about nearby crimes. 🦺 (ABC New York)

    • The account will publish public safety-related announcements, alerts about major incidents or weather emergencies, safety tips about crime patterns and scams, and updates to high-profile incidents.

  • The most important contest of the summer goes down this week! That’s right, an Adam Sandler lookalike contest will be taking place in Soho this Friday at 3pm. Check out all the deets, including what the grand prize winner will take home.  🏌️ (Secret NYC)

Special shoutouts: Big thanks to Ashley Bittner, Robert Coombs, Aviva (Buechler) Mendelson, and Fernando Montejo 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:

  • What to see in NYC galleries in July (New York Times)

  • NYC is in its quirky bar era — here are five to check out with turtle races, horror-fueled dolls, ‘Moby-Dick’ chic, and more (New York Post)

  • ‘Late Show’ lament: For Midtown businesses, Stephen Colbert cancellation marks the end of an era (amNY)

A new Brookings report lays out a six-tiered framework for measuring metro-area AI readiness across three pillars: talent, innovation, and adoption. 

The takeaway: NYC is an AI juggernaut with top performances across all three pillars. 🗽

💡 Some key highlights: The New York metro area is a “star hub,” the second-highest ranking among metro areas due to its strong AI ecosystems, which balance key talent, research, and enterprise uptake. 

  • There are $1.4 million graduates in the NYC metro area with bachelor’s degrees in computer science, engineering, and mathematics and 4,397 PhD students enrolled in those programs.

  • There have been 4,885 AI patents granted.

  • There are 43,134 job postings requiring AI skills.

  • There are 2,265 startups creating AI-driven products and 1,585 VC deals.

🚨 But the report also sounds an alarm: More than half of U.S. metros fall in the bottom two tiers of AI readiness, signaling a future where innovation and economic opportunity could become even more concentrated.

  • Lagging regions have gaps that limit workers’ and communities’ ability to reap the rewards of AI due to lost pools of talent, underdeveloped research and innovation, and too slow adoption.

That’s why New York’s approach stands out. 💪 

  • Between Governor Kathy Hochul’s Empire AI initiative and NYCEDC’s newly launched AI Nexus program, New York is investing in both tech and equity: job training, AI literacy, and inclusive entrepreneurship.

➕ One more thing: As you know, Tech:NYC closely watches the impact of policy on tech and innovation. Potential federal funding cuts will negatively impact research and development — contact your reps and tell them to reject funding cuts here. 

In other reading:

  • AI vs. AI (New York Times)

  • Hybrid work no longer dominant policy of Fortune 100 companies (Bloomberg)

  • Using Gen AI for early-stage market research (HBR)

  • BQP, an NYC-based simulation software company, raised a $5 million seed round led by Monta Vista Capital, joined by New York Ventures, Arc Ventures, Armory Square Ventures, Emergent Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Arka Venture Labs, Transpose Platform, Gainangels, and Pranatech Venture Capital.

  • Ephemera, an NYC-based company with an open-source messaging protocol, raised $20 million led by Union Square Ventures, a16z crypto, and Lightspeed Faction. Coinbase, Offline Ventures, Sound Ventures, and Distributed Global participated.

  • Receive, an NYC-based small business financing company, raised a $4 million seed round led by NGVP, and joined by Blank Ventures, Verissimo Ventures, Insight Partners, Corner Ventures, and Clocktower Technology Venture.

  • July 22: Vibe Coding After Dark: Building AI Agents, an interactive workshop where you'll learn to code using natural language for Shopify integrations and extensions. 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 24: Growth Marketing Playbook: Social, Content & Distribution, a workshop for early-stage founders looking to scale distribution, diving into tactical frameworks for building distribution engines, going viral, and leveraging partnerships. Register here.

  • July 24: Product Builders in Health and Wellness Tech Happy Hour, a chance to connect with builders and major players in healthcare and wellness tech and discuss your ideas and projects. Register here.

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

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

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

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