Thursday, April 17, 2025

April 17, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Thursday, April 17, 2025 

In today’s digest, cleaner streets, preschool programs live on, and AI x mayoral campaigns. 🤖

  • Programming note: We’ll be away tomorrow for Good Friday and back in your inbox on Monday.

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  • Trashcan tech! New bins have been placed outside eight schools in Upper Manhattan as the city continues its work of keeping sidewalks clear of trashbags as part of Mayor Adams’ “trash revolution”. These “Empire Bins” — which are locked and can only be opened with electronic keycards issued by the city — will be added to parking spots in Harlem and Morningside Heights by June. 🗑️ (Gothamist) 

    • New bins means a new fleet of garbage trucks, which can lift containers from the side. 

  • Mayor Adams has reversed the planned $167 million in cuts for preschool programs for 3-year-olds and children with disabilities. The announcement comes as the nation is facing a childcare crisis and amid efforts across the country to protect early childhood services. 🌱 (New York Times)

  • Earlier this week, former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s mayoral campaign was mocked for using ChatGPT. But we should want our leaders to make use of new technologies, says Tech:NYC President and CEO Julie Samuels. (City & State NY)

In other reading:

  • A guided tour of Printemps, New York’s latest shopping hotspot (Architectural Digest)

  • Amazon inks massive lease at PBC’s 10 Bryant tower (The Real Deal)

  • How well is congestion pricing doing? Very (Curbed)

It’s been a wild Q1 for venture capital — and no surprise, NYC continues to hold its own. While macroeconomic jitters and tariffs have cooled fundraising nationally, New York's tech scene is showing strength and resilience.

Here’s the Q1 2025 snapshot, via the latest PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor:

  • 🗽The New York metro area brought in $7.1 billion across 441 deals, making it the second-most active VC ecosystem in the country, just behind the Bay Area.

  • 💸 That total puts NYC well ahead of hubs like Boston ($3.7 billion) and LA ($2.4 billion), reinforcing the city’s place as a magnet for innovation — even in uncertain times.

  • 👩‍💼 NYC also continues to lead in female founder deal count, with 372 deals involving all-female teams — more than any other U.S. region.

  • 📈 Deals in NYC represented nearly 8% of all U.S. venture capital dollars in Q1.

Yes, there’s turbulence: Nationally, dealmaking remains concentrated in mega-deals (Tech:NYC member OpenAI’s $40 billion round alone skewed Q1 totals), and overall fundraising hit just $10 billion raised across 87 funds.

But NYC’s steady performance stands out: AI is the standout sector — 71% of all VC dollars in the U.S. this quarter went to AI startups, and the city remains a top destination for AI capital, talent, and dealmaking.

NYC’s VC engine is humming — and looking a little more future-proof than most. 


In other reading:

  • Reclaiming the office lunch (The Economist)

  • Dozens of tech firms now let their AI agents work together on complex tasks (The Logic)


➕ One more tech thing: Our friends at Company Ventures have kicked off a year-long event series, AI Review, with an emphasis on demos and applied learning for even the most capable tech founders.

  • Next up on April 29: Hear from Databricks' Chief AI Scientist, Jonathan Frankle and Anthropic technical teams, followed by a hacker event with Anthropic, Patronus, and others. RSVP here.

  • Atomic, an NYC-based AI-powered supply chain planning platform, raised $3 million in seed funding from DVx Ventures and Madrona Ventures.

  • Chapter, a NYC-based Medicare navigation company, raised $75 million in Series D funding. Stripes led the round and was joined by insiders XYZ Venture Capital, Susa Ventures, Addition, Narya Capital, and Maverick Ventures.

  • Crux, an NYC-based capital markets technology company for the clean economy, raised $50 million in Series B funding. Lowercarbon Capital led the round and was joined by Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures, MassMutual Ventures, OMERS Ventures, existing investors a16z, Ardent Venture Partners, CIV, and others.

  • Finch, an NYC-based pre-litigation startup for injury law firms, raised $3.75 million in seed funding. Sequoia Capital led the round and was joined by Roar Ventures and Liquid 2 Ventures. 

  • Glider, an NYC-based crypto investment company, raised $4 million in funding. a16z CSX led the round and was joined by Coinbase Ventures, Uniswap Ventures, First Commit, and others.

  • April 23: Attention in the Age of AI with Gary Vaynerchuk, a discussion and Q&A on marketing oneself in the age of AI. Register here. 

  • April 23 and April 30: A 90-minute Masterclass: “Ace Your Financials and Use Them to Strengthen Your Pitch”. Register with promo code TECHNYC25 here. 

  • April 27: hackNY Spring, a one-day conference for early- to mid-career developers who want to level up in tech. Register with promo code techNYC here.


  • April 28-29: Momentum AI New York 2024, to connect with people who are pioneering global AI transformation. Register here.


  • April 29: New AI Frontiers & A Hacker Night: An Evening with Databricks, Anthropic, Timescale, Patronus & Weaviate, an AI Review event. Register here.

  • April 30: Empower & Elevate Your Workforce Talent Mixer, for employers seeking to connect with the brightest emerging talent in social media marketing, Python, IT, data, and cybersecurity. Register here.

  • May 6-7: AI Agent Conference, for leaders driving the next era of autonomous artificial intelligence, featuring 300+ world-class AI leaders, senior execs and top founders. Register with promo code TECHNYC15AI here.

  • May 9: Founders.NYC, by Union Square Ventures, Lux Capital, First Round Capital, and BoxGroup, bring together NYC’s best builders from the most iconic companies – founders from MongoDB, Warby Parker, Ramp, Ro, and others — to talk about lessons learned, off-the-record-tips, and well-trodden tales with the goal of helping NYC’s big next wave. Apply to attend here.

  • May 15-16: Black Women Talk Tech hosts its 9th Annual Roadmap to Billions Conference. Register here and save 20% with code RTBPARTNER20.