Thursday, December 11, 2025
In today’s digest, Christmas tree prices, Ramp rockets, and VC Nihal Mehta on his networking superpowers. 🦸
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Ramp is now the largest tech unicorn in New York City. 🦄 The corporate spending automation platform (and Tech:NYC member!) just snagged the No. 1 spot on Crain’s annual list after hitting a $32 billion valuation earlier last month. 💰 (Crain’s New York Business)
Since launching in 2019, the company has raised $2.3 billion in venture capital.
Ramp also crossed $1 billion in annualized revenue this year, up from $500 million last year.
Rounding out the top five: Prediction marketplace Polymarket, valued at $13.5 billion, cybersecurity company Wiz ($12 billion), prediction marketplace Kalshi ($11 billion), and payments and commerce network Bilt Rewards ($10.75 billion).
A new analysis shows that Empire AI is about to supercharge New York’s economy. The state’s $500-million-plus public-private partnership to build an artificial intelligence computing center could amount to more than $2.7 billion in R&D productivity over 10 years, according to a report conducted by HR&A Advisors Inc. 🤖💸 (Politico New York)
The initiative brings together public and private universities and leading philanthropies to establish an AI computing hub at the University at Buffalo.
Brace yourselves: The Santas are coming. One of the most popular (and despised) events of the holiday season is back this Saturday — SantaCon. 🧑🎄 (PIX 11)
Each December, this bar crawl sees thousands of people dress in holiday costumes and swarm midtown bars for a daylong celebration.
Here are all the bars participating to visit (or avoid).
In other reading:
VC Spotlight: Nihal Mehta
If you’ve spent five minutes in NYC tech, you’ve probably heard of Nihal Mehta, Co-founder and General Partner at Eniac Ventures. He’s known to many as “the human Rolodex” for his expertise in building and sustaining relationships with founders, brands, and execs. 📇
What’s the secret sauce to becoming a human Rolodex?
“The framework is surprisingly simple: be a good human,” he told us.
Nihal knows a thing or two about building relationships with founders because he is one. He co-founded his first startup in 1999 from his undergrad senior-year house in Philadelphia.
While that startup ultimately shut down and filed for bankruptcy, it was, as he says, “where I earned real empathy for founders — and learned, viscerally, what resilience and grit actually feel like.” 🥵
For our latest VC Spotlight, we caught up with Nihal to discuss his career, how he spots breakout companies early on, how to effectively increase access to early capital for overlooked builders, and much more.
Here’s a preview of what he had to say:
📈 On how and why Eniac was born:
“The real catalyst was our lived experience as founders. We’d seen both sides of venture, and — frankly — had accumulated plenty of ‘what not to do’ moments with VCs. Eniac was built to be the opposite: truly founder-first, deeply engaged, and most impactful at the very beginning of a founder’s journey — when support matters most and decisions compound fastest.”
🚀 On what he looks for in breakout founders:
“At the earliest stages, it’s really about whether the founder can break through walls: survive inevitable downturns, endure skepticism, and keep moving when the playbook doesn’t exist yet.”
🌱 On how to increase access to capital for underrepresented founders:
“We need more diversity among the people writing the checks and shaping those networks in the first place. More diverse managers create more diverse trust loops — new patterns of access, pattern recognition, and belief.”
🤔 On the most common mistake he sees founders make when pitching to investors:
“Founders don’t spend enough time answering two of the most important questions: why them, and why now.”
🍕 And, of course, on the best slice in the city:
“Scarr’s in the LES!”
In other reading:
You’re a knowledge architect? Why modern careers are so hard to explain (Wall Street Journal)
41 gifts for achy people (The Strategist)
ChatGPT’s ‘adult mode’ is expected to debut in Q1 2026 (The Verge)
Channel3, an NYC-based platform designed to automatically generate and maintain AI-ready product data, raised $6 million in seed funding. Matrix led the round and was joined by Ludlow Ventures and others.
Parallel, an NYC-based teletherapy and special education provider for K-12 schools and districts, raised $20 million in Series B funding. Valspring Capital led the round and was joined by existing investor Rethink Impact.
SuperCircle, an NYC-based textile waste management platform, raised $24 million in Series A funding. Foundry led the round and was joined by BBG Ventures, Renewal Fund, and Elemental Impact.
December 13: PMs of New York – Saturday Morning Coffee, a chance to meet more product professionals, learn from each other's experience, and start the weekend right with some good coffee and conversations. Register here.
December 14: Vibe Coding Hackathon, featuring prizes for the winning teams. Register here.
December 16: Newlab’s “Do Less” Maker’s Fair, a celebration of creativity and community featuring around 50 makers, artists, and companies showcasing crafts, products, and projects that reflect the spirit of innovation and creation. Register here.
December 17: NYC Startup + Tech Holiday Party, including a white elephant exchange. Register here.
December 17: ICONS: Fashion & Founders Mixer, a curated mix of founders, designers, marketing pros, digital folks, directors, and CPG + retail experts, engineers and builders across fashion, design, and tech. Register here.
December 17: Latino Tech Mixer 2025 Last-Dance, a gathering to celebrate 2025, connect with the community, and vibe together as we start thinking about what we want to build in 2026. Register here.
December 19: Holiday Tech Happy Hour, a low-key way to connect with the NYC tech and startup community to discover shared interests, explore areas for collaboration, and find your next co-founder or key hire. Register here.
December 19: Founders & Investors Holiday Gala, an innovation-meets-culture holiday celebration at a speakeasy in Soho. Register here.
January 7: Women with Saas: Female Founder Coworking Day, an opportunity to work alongside other female SaaS and AI founders to brainstorm, and build a more powerful network. Register here.
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