Monday, June 16, 2025

June 16, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

Monday, June 16, 2025 

In today’s digest, early voting begins, the state of foodtech and restaurant tech, and a beef gets settled. 🌭

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  • New Yorkers, early voting is underway for our city’s Democratic primary for mayor, along with other races, including comptroller, borough presidents, and City Council. 🗳️ Get all your questions about the election answered here, including who’s on the ballots and how to use the ranked-choice voting system. (New York Times)

    • As a reminder, early voting runs from June 14-22, and primary day is June 24.

    • Who’s running for City Council? Learn more about your district and its City Council candidates here.

    • Find your polling place for both early voting and primary day here.

  • The Uptown Night Market, one of NYC’s most popular and largest food festivals, will permanently close down after this season. But there’s still time to enjoy it before it’s gone! (Secret NYC)

    • You can check out the final markets at the Old Fairway Parking Lot on Thursdays July 10, August 14, September 11, and October 9.

  • Return of the king: Competitive eating star Joey Chestnut has settled the beef and will return to compete in Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Competition on Coney Island on July 4. Chestnut was barred from last year’s contest after a dispute over a sponsorship deal he signed with another hot dog brand. (NY Post)

    • Chestnut has won the contest a record 16 times. 👑

In other reading:

  • Crowning New York’s top ‘pigeon’ (New York Times)

  • Pedro Pascal lookalike contest: NYC dad wins big with burritos (Yahoo!)

  • A new documentary looks at 50 years of iconic SoHo restaurant Raoul’s (Gothamist)

Newsflash: NYC has thousands of incredible food options. The search recently became easier with the New York Times’ 100 best restaurant in NYC list.

  • The top spot this year went to Semma, the Indian restaurant in Greenwich Village.

In honor of the rankings, let’s pull a Tech:NYC move and look at the state of foodtech and restaurant tech. 

Good timing, too: PitchBook recently released a pair of new reports on the latest foodtech and restaurant tech scenes. Let’s dive into it. 🍽️

📉 Yes, foodtech and restaurant tech VC funding slowed in 2024 and into 2025.

  • National VC funding for foodtech fell to $10.3 billion in 2024 and is only at $1.4 billion, as of the first quarter of this year.

  • VC funding for restaurant tech fell to 1.3 billion in 2024.

☀️ NYC, though, is a bright spot.

  • VC funding for NYC-based foodtech was at its highest level last year since 2018 at $1.6 million across 38 deals, according to PitchBook data.

  • This year is shaping up to be another record year — VC funding during the first half of 2025 is at $885,500, already more VC dollars than four of the last six years.

  • VC funding for NYC-based restaurant tech also saw a record last year at $1.1 million.

  • Since 2019, the largest deals in NYC-based food tech and restaurant tech have come from (Tech:NYC member!) Wonder Group, an operator of a cloud kitchen platform intended to provide high-profile chef recipes.

🤖 What about AI?

  • Foodtech has seen fewer AI-native startups close major rounds, but AI applications in restaurant management software, food intelligence & production, and supply chain traceability could reignite interest in the sector.

  • For restaurant tech, the digitalization of restaurant operations has created new data with promising applications in AI. Think: delivery robots, B2B SaaS platforms, and voice AI ordering innovations.

🗽 Why it matters for NYC: New York is home to more than 25,000 tech-enabled startups, many intersecting with food and hospitality.

  • The city's legacy of small restaurants, fast pivots, and diverse culinary innovation makes it fertile ground for the next wave of tech adoption, from back-of-house automation to personalized ordering experiences.

Bottom line: NYC startups at the intersection of AI, automation, food, and hospitality are serving up the next course of innovation.

Dig deeper into PitchBook’s foodtech report here and restaurant tech report here.

In other reading:

  • Google, Meta and Snap think this tech is the next big thing (CNN)

  • How to use AI to quickly catch up at work after a vacation (Fast Company)

  • Fast-casual food places conquering Midtown as workers return to office (New York Post)

  • Antimetal, an NYC-based cloud infrastructure management startup, raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Sound Ventures.

  • Clay, an NYC-based sales automation startup, raised Series C funding led by CapitalG at a $3 billion valuation.

  • Lemony, an NYC-based on-premise AI device, raised $2 million in seed funding. True Ventures led the round and was joined by Alumni Ventures, JetBrains, and angel investors.

  • Olyzon, an NYC and Paris-based agentic AI CTV advertising platform, raised $3.8 million in seed extension funding. Cassius Capital led the round and was joined by existing investors Ventech, Eurazeo, and angel investors.

  • Ramp, an NYC-based financial operations platform (and Tech:NYC member!), is raising around $200 million led by Founders Fund at a $16 billion valuation (up from $13 billion in a secondary sale earlier this year).

  • ⭐ June 17: Decoded Futures Demo Day, a showcase of creativity, collaboration, and innovation featuring participants who have been exploring how AI can elevate nonprofit and social impact work during our 7-week Decoded Futures AI accelerator. Register here. ⭐

  • June 17: VC Best Practices: Building Your First Institutional Fund, an educational series for new investors who want to be exposed to the best venture and startup thinking. Register here.

  • June 18: AI Show Not Tell - Ditch The Deck, a social meet-up curated for NYC-area technologists, founders, developers, and investors. Register here.

  • June 18: HackwithNewYork, an 8-hour hackathon bringing together the brightest minds in tech, creativity, and innovation. Register here.

  • June 20: NYC Tech Night, to connect with fellow tech enthusiasts, share ideas, and explore the latest developments in agentic AI. Register here.

  • June 24: NY Enterprise Tech Meetup: AI-Powered Hypergrowth in Healthcare with Adonis & Tennr, a chance to learn firsthand from founders who’ve navigated it all: product-market fit, go-to-market motion, fundraising, and building with AI. Register here.

  • June 25: Techie Tapas, to give techies a space to network, collaborate, and build community. Register here.

  • June 25-26: Fundraising Strategy & Storytelling, a two-day workshop for early-stage founders to tighten their pitch, refine their deck, and get live feedback on fundraising strategy from top investors and operators. Register with promo code BRDERLESS20 here.

  • June 26: When AI Meets Affordable Housing – Justice Through Code Graduation Showcase, a virtual showcase featuring four affordable housing AI solutions developed by fellows from Columbia’s Justice Through Code program. Register here.

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