Monday, June 9, 2025

June 09, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

Monday, June 9, 2025 

In today’s digest, your ranked-choicing voting questions answered, important ice cream tech news, and how we can harness AI for impact in NYC. 🤝

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  • Get ready to vote, New York! The NYC primary election is almost upon us (early voting begins June 14 and primary day is June 24), and this will be the second year with ranked-choice voting. Get the answers to all your ranked-choice voting questions here. (Gothamist)

    • If you’re still confused, you can practice ranked-choice voting by voting for NYC’s most iconic bagel. 🥯 (WNYC)

  • Looking for a new apartment? You’ll no longer have to set aside money for the broker fee, as a new law banning the fees is set to take effect Wednesday. (Secret NYC) 

    • Check out what to expect when the law goes into effect in this guide from (Tech:NYC member!) StreetEasy.

  • Very important ice cream tech news: Mister Softee has re-launched an interactive ice cream truck map. 🍦 (PIX11)

    • The map is available through the Mister Softee app, and gives real-time updates on the location of every truck in the five boroughs.

    • Not saying they’re related, but this news comes on the heels of our Mister Softee truck at Axios’ AI+ NY Summit in partnership with Tech:NYC. 

In other reading:

  • New York City’s best chefs pick their favorite restaurants (New York Times)

  • The most memorable moments of the 2025 Tony Awards (Time)

  • Tom Felton will play Draco Malfoy again — this time, on Broadway (PIX11)

New York’s tech-for-impact ecosystem got a major jolt of energy today at the Robin Hood Opportunity x AI Summit, a gathering that made clear that AI is about more than productivity gains. It’s also about closing opportunity gaps, reimagining public infrastructure, and building a more equitable city. 🤖

Held in Manhattan, the Summit brought together nonprofit leaders, technologists, educators, and investors to explore how AI can — and must — serve low-income New Yorkers. 

Here’s what stood out:

🤝 AI + nonprofits = the real innovation economy.

  • Jake Porway (Decoded Futures) highlighted how AI can be used to rewrite the rules to scale nonprofit impact when it comes to literacy support, grant applications, case management, and more.

  • His message: Nonprofits need access to AI talent and infrastructure. That’s where initiatives like Decoded Futures at the Tech:NYC Foundation come in.

🧠 Everyone’s an AI expert now (or needs to be).

  • Indeed’s Hannah Calhoun reminded the room that every job will soon involve AI, because navigating tools like ChatGPT will become as essential as email.

🏙️ AI and equity aren’t mutually exclusive.

  • From re-entry assistants helping parolees navigate bureaucracy to legal helplines powered by generative tools, speakers emphasized how AI can amplify human support systems. 

  • But building that future means designing with communities.

🌍 Climate change and cascading risks? AI might help there too.

  • Renaissance Philanthropy’s Joshua Elliott gave a sobering climate talk, making the case for AI-powered early warning systems and anticipatory disaster response, especially in vulnerable NYC neighborhoods.

🍽️ AI can help low-income communities.

  • Propel’s Jimmy Chen (a Tech:NYC board member) demo’d how SNAP recipients can use AI to determine if their food purchases are eligible for the benefits program.

What’s next: The Tech:NYC Foundation, Robin Hood, and partners are scaling up AI-for-impact programs across sectors, with continued focus on workforce development, equity, and institutional readiness. Stay in the know by signing up for Decoded Futures’ Substack here.

🗣️ Jake Porway said it best: “By bridging the gap between nonprofits and technologists, we can go from from wondering: ‘Oh my God, how's my life going to change with AI agents,’ and realize that we actually are the agents of change.”

In other reading:

  • Hundreds gather for experimental shorts at Runway’s AI film festival (Tech Brew)

  • New research busts six AI myths: Artificial intelligence makes workers ‘more valuable, not less’ (CNBC)

  • Will AI finally make the four-day workweek a reality? (Inc.)

  • AgentSmyth, an NYC-based trading and investment agentic AI platform, raised $8.7 million in seed funding. FinTech Collective and Thomson Reuters led the round and were joined by BNY.

  • Runwise, an NYC-based maker of software and hardware for managing building energy and water consumption, raised $30 million in Series B funding. Menlo Ventures led, joined by MassMutual Ventures, Nuveen Real Estate, Multiplier Capital, and Munich Re Ventures, Soma Capital, Alumni Ventures, Helium-3, Cooley, and Fifth Wall.

  • Thread AI, an NYC-based AI-powered platform for enterprises to build, connect, and manage workflows and agents, raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Greycroft, with participation from Index Ventures, Scale Venture Partners, Plug-and-Play, Meritech Capital, and Homebrew.

  • June 10: June Climate Tech Mixer, an evening of conversations and connections to spotlight founders building solutions to climate’s toughest challenges. Register here.

  • June 11: How I Raised My Seed, an open discussion with best practices for raising a Seed round. Register here.

  • ⭐ June 16: The latest installment of our Cornell Tech @ Bloomberg speaker series, featuring Hayley Barna, Partner at First Round Capital, who will share her journey from startup founder to venture capitalist, offer her take on the next wave of breakout startups, and explore what it means to back bold ideas from day one. Register here. ⭐

  • June 16: Fireside Chat with Ramp CPO Geoff Charles, who will discuss how Ramp keeps teams small and scrappy by emphasizing autonomy, focus, and smart tooling to do more with less. Register here.

  • ⭐️ June 18: From Policy to Progress: The Future of Tech Investment in New York City, a discussion featuring policymakers, tech leaders, and community advocates exploring how digital innovation and bold policies are shaping the future of NYC. 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 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.

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