Thursday, December 4, 2025
In today’s digest, a Prospect Park sponge, a polar plunge, and NYC Series A rounds in November. 🅰️
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Prospect Park is getting a much needed upgrade to help reduce flooding in Brooklyn, basically turning it into one giant sponge. The city’s Bluebelt program will invest $68 million to add new ponds, rain gardens, and upgraded drainage to soak up stormwater. 🧽🌳 (Gothamist)
Heavy downpours currently overwhelm Prospect Park Lake, causing flash flooding in Windsor Terrace, Kensington, Prospect Park South, and Ditmas Park.
The new design, projected to wrap in 2032, reroutes floodwater into the park and away from Flatbush Avenue, where flooding has been a serious issue during recent storms.
Wanna be bold? Or rather, cold? Registration is now open for the 2026 Coney Island Polar Bear Plunge, where thousands will jump into the freezing Atlantic on New Year’s Day to raise money for local nonprofits. 🐻❄️ (Brooklyn Paper)
It’s been a cold week in New York City and it’s just getting chillier, with temperatures potentially reaching record lows and feeling like they're in the teens on Friday. 🥶 (CBS New York)
Friday temps will stay below freezing, and could even set records as they hover around the low 20s, teens, and single digits.
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In other reading:
Meet the 2025 SEEN 50 cohort (Visible Hands)
Is New York City ready for its stuffed bagel era? (Eater)
Aaron Judge and Jalen Brunson received votes for mayor: See their totals (Patch)
Series A: The November Class
Powered by Obviously NYC, presented by Gunderson Dettmer and PwC US.
’Tis the season to be jolly scaling — and NYC’s startups are delivering. 📈
This month’s Series A: A Series adds 12 new companies that just crossed the milestone — and together, they’re hiring for 50+ NYC-based roles.
From AI copilots for lenders to data governance for AI itself, this batch shows how New York founders are building the next layer of infrastructure for an economy powered by intelligence, automation, and trust. 🤝
Here’s what’s standing out this month:
🤖 Applied AI gets practical: The November class doubles down on AI tools:
Meanwhile, Model ML is redefining productivity in finance with AI agents that generate research and reports for banks and private equity firms — the kind of specialized AI that’s becoming NYC’s calling card.
🔒 Trust and transparency tech: As AI adoption grows, governance is becoming its own growth industry.
Teleskope helps companies manage the entire lifecycle of data security and privacy — even linking datasets to AI models to ensure compliance.
Similarly, Method Security is tackling full-spectrum cyber resilience, and Chargeflow is automating chargeback recovery to fight digital commerce fraud.
Together, they point to a clear trend: protecting the digital infrastructure that AI is building on.
🏢 The physical meets the digital: NYC’s reputation for blending real-world and tech-driven experiences continues.
💡 New frontiers in learning and creativity:
Why it matters: New York’s founders are making AI work, embedding intelligence into finance, security, housing, and education.
These are real, revenue-driving platforms designed for scale.
💼 Explore the full list, see who’s hiring, and zoom in on our map of NYC’s newest Series A companies here.
Did we miss your Series A raise? Let us know — we want to spotlight every NYC founder turning vision into venture.
In other reading:
A thread of members of congress’ Spotify Wrapped (Oriana Gonzalez/X)
Christmas shopping? AI tools can help you make the most of the holiday rush (Fast Company)
How AI is transforming work at Anthropic (Anthropic)
Supper, an NYC-based AI-powered platform designed to clean enterprise data, raised $11 million in seed funding. USV led the round and was joined by Inspired Capital, Box Group, Torch, and Avid.
December 7 & 11: Cornell Tech’s Open Houses for its Summer Innovation Intensives, offering pre-college students an immersive experience in artificial intelligence, ethics, and entrepreneurship. Register for the Open Houses 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 Descope. 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: Curated Founder Bowling (Seed+), a private bowling night for a curated group of founders from Seed+. 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: HubSpot for Startups x BusinessOutside’s Connection Walk, featuring rotating discussions regarding the achievement of fulfilling work-life integration and more intentional business success. 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 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.
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.
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 19: Founders & Investors Holiday Gala, an Innovation-meets-culture holiday celebration at a speakeasy in Soho. Register here.
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