Thursday, June 26, 2025

June 26, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

Thursday, June 26, 2025 

In today’s digest, LGBTQ+ founders making a splash, the next phase of Empire AI, and New York dogs are (officially) family members. 🐶

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  • The Empire State Development Board has approved $40 million to launch the second “beta” phase of the state's Empire AI initiative. 🗽 (NY1)

    • This second phase will be 11 times more powerful than current capacity, which will allow hundreds of researchers from the now 10-member institutions to continue to advance AI research, especially critical during this time of federal research cuts.

  • A Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice ruled that, in the eyes of the law, New York dogs are not property but rather “immediate family.” ❤️ (In the eyes of Tech:NYC, they were always considered family.) (TimeOut New York)

    • Historically, pets have been treated like personal property, meaning damages were limited to their monetary value. 

    • Now, if a dog is struck while being walked on a leash, family members can seek compensation typically reserved for those who witness a close relative’s injury or death.

  • Pride Month is coming to a close soon, but the party’s just getting started. Enjoy the NYC Pride March this Sunday, starting at 11am. The March begins at 26th Street and 5th Avenue, then continues through the city until it breaks up at 15th Street and 7th Avenue. 🌈 (ABC New York)

In other reading:

  • The 21 best croissants in New York City right now (New York Times)

  • Tax relief checks of up to $1.5K are heading to 3 million New Yorkers as early as next week (Secret NYC)

  • The 'first-ever competitive eating contest between goats' comes to NYC in July (Gothamist)

Despite political headwinds facing the LGBTQ+ community, startup founders identifying as LGBTQ+ have not been deterred:

  • 10% of all new companies founded in 2024 were headed by LGBTQ+ owners, outpacing the 9.3% of the U.S. population who identify at LGBTQ+. 

  • Businesses launched last year by LGBTQ+ community members doubled their levels from 2023, and were higher than the 7% recorded in 2021.

☀️ And NYC is a shining example:

  • New York City’s annual Pride March is this Sunday and is one of the largest LGBTQ+ civil rights demonstrations in the world.

  • From 2000-2022, LGBTQ+-led startups in NYC raised $1.27 billion and created 16,000 jobs.

This month, we’re excited to showcase five LGBTQ+ founders who are making waves in NYC and innovating to disrupt industries.

Here’s what each had to say about why they chose to build in NYC. 🗽

📚 Julia Dixon, founder of ESAI, which helps students tell their stories for college and beyond using AI. 

  • “New York is a city of storytellers. We’re building a platform that helps students from all backgrounds find and share their voice — there’s no better place to do that than NYC.”

🍎 Mike Piscadlo, cofounder of Haven Health, a primary care company designed for LGBTQ+ people.

  • “As the birthplace of the modern queer rights movement, [NYC] makes perfect sense for us to anchor Haven here and launch something new for our community.”

💲 Priyanka Misra, cofounder of Stratlab, an AI-powered strategy development platform that helps emerging funds go from idea to live trading in days.

  • “[NYC is] the most fast-paced, intellectually stimulating and motivationally inspiring place to be for founders.

🕯️ Erica Anderson, cofounder of The New Savant, a modern scent studio born in Brooklyn, that is challenging the Euro-centric, legacy-driven fragrance world.

  • “The energy in NYC is electric. Go hard, but don’t forget to tap into the things that inspire you. We are so lucky to have so much at our fingertips.”

⚖️ Brandon Burns, founder of Thurgood, which helps employees with discrimination, whistleblower, and wage and hour claims get justice.

  • “I’ve done stints in cities from Detroit to Beijing, but kept coming back to NYC. At this point, I’ve given up on trying to leave.”

In other reading:

  • Employers are buried in AI-generated résumés (New York Times)

  • If AI saves time at work, what should employees do with it? (Forbes)

  • Why your workplace needs more ‘Gracious Professionalism’  (Fast Company)

  • Certify, an NYC-based provider data intelligence company, raised $40 million in Series B funding. Transformation Capital led the round and was joined by SemperVirens and existing investors General Catalyst and Upfront Ventures.

  • Elfie, an NYC-based health monitoring and rewards app, raised $12 million. White Star Capital led the round and was joined by LifeX Ventures and existing investors Integra Partners, FEBE Ventures, and Hustle Fund.

  • Kalshi, an NYC-based prediction market, raised $185 million in Series C funding at a $2 billion valuation. Paradigm led the round and was joined by Multicoin Capital, Sequoia, Neo, and Peng Zhao.

  • Qunnect, an NYC-based quantum networking startup, raised $10 million in Series A extension funding led by Airbus Ventures, with participation from Cisco Investments and Quantonation.

  • Sitch, an NYC-based AI-powered matchmaking app, raised $5 million in seed funding. M13 led the round and was joined by existing investor a16z SpeedRun.

  • June 27: Healthcare AI Coffee, a morning of caffeine and conversation with fellow builders at the intersection of AI and healthcare. Register here.

  • July 1: Build Games Meetup, an evening of gaming, networking, and sharing use cases on building with AI developer tools. Register here.

  • July 2: AI Builders Lunch w/ Next Wave NYC, an intimate lunch bringing together NYC-based AI founders, engineers, and product builders. Register here.

  • July 5: Reverse Networking (AI) Event — Linkedin First, Meet Later, where select ticket holders will be listed on the event page with their LinkedIn profile so attendees can connect in advance and show up with purpose. Register here.

  • July 8-9: What Businesses & Communities Need to Know about the NY Health Information Privacy Act, avirtual webinar series featuring expert panelists who will explain the potential implications of New York State Bill S929 on your organization, should the legislation be enacted. Register here.

  • July 16: Borderless’ July Founder Breakfast, ​for seed-stage founders who have raised or are in the process of raising series A, and are now focused on scaling — building the team, refining GTM, and shaping the story for the next round. Register here.

  • July 16: Pitch Deck Bootcamp: Build, Test, & Perfect Your Founder Pitch, where you can build, present, and refine your deck with real feedback from experienced judges and fellow founders. Register here.


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