Monday, November 24, 2025
In today’s digest, new city committees, no hate for the restaurant wait, and a tech tale of retail. 🛒
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Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced the creation of 17 transition advisory committees made up of more than 400 people to help advise his incoming administration on a variety of issues — ranging from social services to housing, and, of course, tech. 🗽 (CBS New York)
There's a familiar name on the Committee on Technology: Tech:NYC’s very own President and CEO Julie Samuels! 💪
Holiday travel alert: Major subway, bus, LIRR, and Metro-North shifts start Wednesday for Thanksgiving travel. Here’s a quick rundown of everything you need to know before you go. 🚇 (Secret NYC)
In news we don’t actually believe: New Yorkers are willing to wait an average of 57 minutes for a restaurant table — the longest in the nation (by far), according to a new report. 🍽️ (Time Out New York)
NYC beats every major city: SF waits 34 minutes, Miami/Chicago 35, and LA gives up at 44.
Dining demand is surging in NYC: Overall reservations are up 8%, early-bird dining is up 13%, and group dining up 11%.
Last-minute bookings are also booming — “Notify Me” alerts are up 84% nationwide, led overwhelmingly by NYC.
Related: Here are the toughest reservations in NYC right now (and how to get them).
In other reading:
New projects set to transform top end of Manhattan office market (New York Post)
Five takeaways from the President Trump-Mamdani White House meeting (Patch)
Wall Street wants everyone using AI — except job applicants (Crain’s New York)
Black Friday, But Make It Smart: Retail Tech’s NYC Moment
As Black Friday approaches, let’s take a look at the tech angle: The data, AI, and the new wave of tech-powered storefronts reshaping how New Yorkers shop. 🛍️
From “mass to micro”: The industry is increasingly using data and AI to hyper-personalize experiences, even as growth stays in the low single digits and margins remain tight.
Retailers that deployed gen AI tools like chatbots over Black Friday last year saw conversion rates improve by about 15%.
Seven in 10 retail execs expect to have AI capabilities in place to personalize experiences this year.
📈 Holiday spending is still growing, but more slowly: Deloitte projects U.S. holiday retail sales to rise 2.9-3.4% this season, to roughly $1.61–$1.62 trillion, with e-commerce up a healthier 7-9%.
😵💫 The twist: About 80% of all shopping still happens in physical stores, and shopping-center vacancy is at its lowest in two decades as retailers double down on in-person experiences.
That’s exactly what we’re seeing on the ground in NYC:
Meta, tm:rw, Intel, Back Market, and others are opening highly produced, tech-forward spaces that feel more like interactive labs than traditional stores.
Retailers are investing in “smarter” stores: digital screens, AR try-ons, data-driven layouts, and AI in the back office for demand forecasting and inventory.
🗽 Why it matters for NYC’s tech ecosystem: New York is becoming a tech retail hotspot — from applied AI and computer vision to payments, logistics, and in-store experience design.
Because where’s the best place to test your consumer products? Obviously where your customers are — New York.
In other reading:
Behind the AI bubble, another tech revolution could be brewing (Financial Times)
Beehiiv’s CEO isn’t worried about newsletter saturation (TechCrunch)
How the internet rewired work — and what that tells us about AI’s likely impact (Wall Street Journal)
AI One, an NYC-based company that connects enterprise data systems for AI initiatives, raised $11 million in seed and Series A funding from backers like Vestigo Ventures and Nadia Partners.
Made Card, an NYC-based credit card designed for homeowners, raised $8 million in seed funding from Jump Capital, Village Global, and others.
Method Security, an NYC-based dual-use company combining cyber expertise with artificial intelligence speed, raised $26 million across its seed round and Series A. Andreessen Horowitz led the seed round; General Catalyst led the Series A round. The company's other backers include Blackstone Innovations Investments, Crossbeam Venture Partners, Forward Deployed Venture Capital, and Pax Ventures.
Stuut Technologies, an NYC-based AI platform that automates accounts receivable work for companies, raised $29.5 million in combined Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Activant Capital, Khosla Ventures, 1984.vc, Page One Ventures, Vesey Ventures, Carya Venture Partners, and Valley Ventures.
December 1: NYC VC Early Stage Investors Dinner, an intimate dinner with fellow NYC VC investors — connect over good food and meaningful conversation. Register here.
December 2: NYC FinTech Breakfast: Innovation & Market Entry, bringing together founders, investors, and ecosystem partners at the intersection of fintech innovation and U.S. market entry. Register here.
December 2: The Future of DevRel with Abby Mitchell, an interactive roundtable with Meta’s Abby Mitchell exploring the evolving landscape of developer relations and technical community building. Register here.
December 2: The Element 46 Accelerator’s Fall Cohort Demo Day, where you can hear directly from the 10 startups selected for the fall 2025 cohort and engage with other members of the Westchester entrepreneurial community, including founders, advisors, mentors, and investors. Register here.
December 3: Using AI to Go From Prototype to Production, for builders with working prototypes that are ready to become reliable, scalable products, using case studies, demos, and a framework for getting real traffic, real data, and real users. Register here.
December 3: Claude Code Anonymous NYC, a series of lightning talks from hackers using LLMs for daily coding. Register here.
December 4: NYC Tech Networking: Coffee & Career Transitions, for tech professionals actively on the hunt for their next opportunity. Register here.
December 4: The SEEN Summit, the ultimate gathering for NYC-based founders, investors, and advocates of diverse-led teams, designed to foster networking, collaboration, and growth. Register here.
December 4: H-1Bs: Who Wins and Who Loses? A lively, high-stakes debate between a Rutgers professor and the Executive Director of an immigration think-tank on whether H1Bs and other non-immigration visas help American innovation more than they hurt American labor. Register here.
December 8: NYC AI Demos, the largest recurring AI demo series in New York, hosted by Tech:NYC, Pensar, and The Refinery @ Domino. The series spotlights how AI is being built, applied, and adapted to serve both the NYC tech community and the city at large, and this month features demos from OpenRouter, Promptfoo, Slingshot AI, Waymo, Pensar, and others to be announced soon. Register here.
December 8: All Tech Is Human's Responsible Tech Mixer, where ATIH community members will come together to reflect on the year's achievements and celebrate what's ahead. Register here.
December 9: Tech Ladies NYC Meetup, a night of thoughtful connections and inspirational programming with other women in tech. Register here.
December 9-10: 2025 NYC Employment and Training Coalition Conference, bringing together the city’s premier policymakers, practitioners, and leaders, including Tech:NYC’s Julie Samuels, to focus on career pathways, emerging industries, and the vital link between workforce and economic development. Register here.
December 10: AI Security Fireside Dinner, designed specifically for executive-level peers who are leading technical, security, or AI strategy in their organizations. Register here.
December 10-11: The AI Summit New York, a platform for enterprise leaders and tech innovators to explore and apply commercial AI, featuring Flybidge’s Jesse Middleton, NYCEDC’s Jonathan Schulhof, and Tech:NYC’s Julie Samuels discussing NYC’s startup ecosystem. Register here.
December 11: The Future of Applied AI in Finance and Banking, an annual one-day, invite-only conference blending elements of TEDx, Foo Camp, and Summit to bring senior managers, C-suite executives, and top AI/ML researchers together for curated sessions on applying the latest technology to problems in finance, banking, and insurance. Register here.
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