Monday, November 3, 2025
In today’s digest, how NYC is preparing for those at risk of losing SNAP benefits, New Yorkers shatter early voting records, and H/L Ventures’ Oliver Libby on investing in companies that protect or promote people or the planet. 🌎
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The Trump administration said today it would send only partial payments this month to the roughly 42 million Americans who receive food stamps, including the 1.8 million New Yorkers who rely on SNAP benefits. (Patch)
Simultaneously, New York lawmakers are calling on Governor Kathy Hochul to cover SNAP benefits with state surplus funds.
Early voting for this year’s elections is officially over. More than 735,000 New Yorkers cast early ballots ahead of Tuesday’s mayoral election, marking the highest early in-person turnout for a nonpresidential election in New York history. 🗳️ (New York Times)
More than four times as many early ballots were cast in this year’s mayor’s race than in the last mayor’s race in 2021.
Sunday, the final day of early voting, saw about 151,000 early voters, the most of any day since the polls opened.
Here are four takeaways from the early voting numbers, and here’s where to vote tomorrow if you haven’t already.
But wait, that’s not the only race in town! ICYMI: The NYC Marathon yesterday came down to a wild photo finish 📸 (ABC New York)
In the closest finish in the history of the New York City Marathon, men’s winner Benson Kipruto of Kenya beat fellow Kenyan Alexander Mutiso on Sunday by three-hundredths of a second!
The women’s race also set records. Kenya’s Hellen Obiri set a course record with a time of 2:19:51.
Some 55,000 people came out to race through the five boroughs Sunday — take a look at the highlights in photos and videos.
Celebrities 🤝 NYC Marathon. Take this quiz to see if you can match the celeb with their marathon time.
In other reading:
NYC events in November 2025 (Time Out New York)
The funniest NYC Marathon signs that could only exist here (amNY)
Harlem’s remarkable new Studio Museum redefines 125th Street (New York Times)
VC Spotlight: H/L Ventures’ Oliver Libby
Oliver Libby, Cofounding Managing Partner at H/L Ventures, didn’t start with a traditional VC background.
Oliver grew up surrounded by family members who were physicians, Nobel Prize-winning scientists, and military veterans.
Oliver, himself, was drawn to military history and national security in college, and was even selected to join a CIA program while in school.
So how did he ultimately find himself in the venture capital industry? Call it a combination of working with startups (originally as a consultant) with a passion for helping people grow companies that protect or promote people or the planet — the four Ps, as he calls it. 🌍
Oliver’s upcoming book, Strong Floor, No Ceiling (out November 11), lays out a vision for the United States — and the tech sector is deeply intertwined in that vision:
“Our tech sector has a huge role to play in creating a positive, inspiring vision for our country,” he says. 🇺🇸
We caught up with Oliver to discuss his career, who he hopes picks up his book, the most common mistake he sees from founders when pitching to investors, and much more.
Here’s a preview of what he had to say:
🤝 On how H/L Ventures differs from other VC firms:
“Active engagement is why we started the H/L family of companies, and it is the beating heart of our business.”
“I want to emphasize that most VCs I know do try to help with varying degrees of success, but we are purpose-built for a different level of engagement.”
📘 On how he hopes his book will reshape the conversation among entrepreneurs, investors, and social impact leaders around their role in civic and policy engagement:
“I’ve always believed that the tech and startup world is perhaps one of the most intertwined in government, policy, opportunity for our people, and making the engine that is America work.”
💡 On the most common mistake he sees from founders when pitching investors:
“Founders often spend WAY too long on establishing the problem, and not enough time on the solution, its unit economics, and why it works as a business.”
🌱 On investing in companies that drive impact:
“We simply believe that we can have non-concessionary market returns and also invest in companies that are aligning good values and strong integrity with generating economic value.”
🍕 And, of course, on the best slice in the city:
“Joe’s is a huge favorite at home (my son loves the little pepperoni), but there’s also a slice shop down the block from our house that does the trick for me.”
In other reading:
Notable leaders in health care technology 2025 (Crain’s New York)
Los Angeles ramps up AI ahead of the World Cup, Super Bowl, and Olympics (Axios)
AI researchers ‘embodied’ an LLM into a robot — and it started channeling Robin Williams (TechCrunch)
Bevel, an NYC-based AI health companion, raised $10 million in Series A funding. General Catalyst led the round and was joined by others.
Teleskope, an NYC-based AI security platform, raised a $25 million Series A led by M13. Primary Venture Partners and Lerer Hippeau, which invested in previous rounds, also participated.
November 4-5: SmartCon’s Finance, Reimagined conference, bringing together governments, financial institutions, and top Web3 projects in New York to shape how blockchain is transforming finance, markets, and public services worldwide. Register here.
November 7: AcceleratorCon, for top early-stage founders connect directly with investors, accelerators, and ecosystem partners. Register with promo code NYCDIGEST for a 30% discount here.
November 10: NYU Tandon Future Labs x Morrison Foerster Catalyst SS25 AI Startup Showcase: The Elevator Pitch, an evening of AI innovation and networking where NYC’s VCs, angels, and founders gather to watch nine pre-seed AI startup demos perform live elevator pitches (yes, in an actual elevator) and a competition to crown the Top New AI Startup of the Night. Register here.
November 11-12: Urban Tech Summit, offering insights and examples of how researchers, companies, governments, and communities can continue to drive innovation, and how urban tech can help cities do more with less as they prepare for the future. Register here.
November 12: From Lab to Launch: Female Founders Building in Deep Tech, a curated cocktail hour followed by an intimate panel discussion with female founders and leaders in the deep tech space. Register here.
November 13: Curated Founder Breakfast (Seed+), a private breakfast for a curated group of founders that have raised a Seed round. Register here.
November 17-18: Momentum AI Finance 2025, bringing together 300+ senior financial leaders to share real-world strategies for scaling intelligent automation, building trusted AI stacks, and driving responsible innovation across the industry. Register here.
November 19: Join Glean and The Atlantic’s CEO Nicholas Thompson for Beyond Pilots: How Organizations Can Turn AI Into Real Results, a summit on AI produced by Glean. Apply to attend in person here.
November 19: Decoded Futures Build Day, a day of collaboration between technologists and nonprofit organizations to explore practical, hands-on ways to apply AI to real challenges. Register here. Want to volunteer? Apply 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 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 10: The AI Summit NY Healthcare Happy Hour, a mixer for healthcare and pharma professionals after day one of the AI Summit in New York. Register here.
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