Tuesday, January 6, 2026
In today’s digest, safer New York streets, MetroCards are selling for thousands, and the latest stats on the state of startups. 🚀
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The data is in: New York streets are getting safer. Traffic fatalities hit their lowest total since 1910, dropping 19% from 2024. 🚦 (The Morning Sun)
Motor vehicle occupant fatalities and cyclist deaths fell across the board.
Traffic-related injuries have fallen, as well. Injury data lags about two weeks, but is on track for an 8% decrease compared to 2024.
It’s not just traffic that’s safer: Last year also saw the lowest number of shootings in NYC history.
Manhattan’s office market just had its best year since COVID. Leasing hit 41.9 million square feet in 2025 — up more than 25% from 2024 and just shy of 2019 levels. 📈 (Crain’s New York Business)
The office rebound was helped by an uptick in demand from various industries, including finance, tech, legal, education, medical, nonprofit, and government.
NYC’s most delayed subway line of 2025 was… the train you’re currently waiting for. Just kidding, it was the B train, which arrived on time 78.5% of the time. (NY Post)
Taking the W for the most punctual train this year was, ironically, the L train, which had a 90% on-time rate. 🚇
Overall, the subway system is in a good stretch — the 84.4% system-wide on-time average in November was the best November in modern history outside of the pandemic era.
Check out all the MTA performance metrics, including ridership numbers, bus speeds, and more, with this nifty tool.
In other reading:
MetroCards sold for thousands of dollars online days after discontinuation (ABC New York)
26 New York movies that bring the city to you (Vogue)
Governors Ball 2026 lineup: Lorde, Kali Uchis, A$AP Rocky headlining in Queens (Gothamist)
More Money, Fewer Rounds: Carta’s State of Startups Deep Dive
Carta’s 2025 State of Startups report offers a snapshot of a venture market that hasn’t stalled, but has clearly changed shape. 📐
It’s 100+ slides of hard numbers on how companies are actually raising, diluting, hiring, and exiting in today’s market. Here’s what you need to know:
The big picture: Fundraising is tougher, but not frozen.
Dollars are up: Startup fundraising on Carta’s platform topped $100 billion in 2024, with 2025 on track to edge higher.
In our eras tour: The report literally labels 2021 as a “major outlier,” a reminder that we’re in a new, more rational era rather than a return to peak-mania era.
Fewer rounds, bigger checks: Overall, we’re seeing fewer mega-rounds, more scrutiny, and a market rewarding discipline over speed. 🤑
Translation: investors are concentrating capital into fewer companies instead of spraying small checks across the board.
Seed rounds now involve more capital and higher valuations but fewer total rounds, as startups bundle what once might have been multiple financings into a single raise.
💼 On the talent side:
Layoffs have decreased slightly since 2022, and hiring is trending up.
Startups are also hiring a greater share of individual contributors as compared to managers and executives.
Yes, but: Team sizes are trending lower by the year.
The average number of full-time, equity holding employees at Series B software startups in 2025 hit 48.2, down from 57.6 in 2024.
Series A teams dropped to 16.8 from 19.4.
The NYC angle: All of this lands in a city that’s gaining share of the national pie. 🥧
New York accounted for over 14% of the $29 billion invested into Seed and Series A startups on Carta from Q3 2024-Q2 2025, good for second in the nation.
Gotham leads the U.S. in healthtech funding, garnering 20.6% of capital raised.
The top three metros when it comes to salary: SF, San Jose, and, of course, NY.
📌 The takeaway: New York founders are raising larger rounds, and competing in one of the only markets where early-stage capital, tech sector strength, and top-tier salaries all converge.
In other reading:
Hospitals are a proving ground for what AI can do, and what it can’t (Wall Street Journal)
Everything announced at CES 2026 (Engadget)
How World Cup champion Mario Götze built a parallel career as an angel investor (TechCrunch)
Welcome to our weekly jobs section, where we spotlight a selection of the NYC tech jobs from our Jobs Board — all recently posted. 🔥
This week we’re spotlighting operations roles! Here are three senior operations-focused roles from NYC tech companies for job seekers to consider:
Director, Security Operations — Squarespace ($255,500-$365k / year + equity): You’ll partner with teams to iteratively improve the organization’s security posture and programs. You will also lead the implementation of new security programs. Apply here.
Associate Director, CRM Marketing & Operations — Wonder ($174k-$183,500 / year + equity): You’ll lead a team of marketers responsible for building communication and lifecycle programs to increase retention and engagement of customers via email, push notifications, and in-app messaging. Apply here.
Group Product Manager, Internal Tools and Operations — Justworks ($210k-$262,500 / year): You’ll lead and advocate for teams that have full ownership of significant parts of the product suite. You’ll leverage your relationships and expertise to empower your cross-functional team(s) to succeed, overseeing high-impact initiatives. Apply here.
Pluto Financial Technologies, an NYC-based AI-powered lending platform for private markets, raised $8.6 million in seed funding from Motive Ventures, Portage, Apollo, and Hamilton Lane.
January 11: RTM Nexus’ Leadership Breakfast, where you can kick off day one of NRF with a breakfast designed exclusively for retail and brand leaders. Register here.
January 11: Founder Game Night, for those who are building something new, like to win, and want to meet other sharp minds in infra and AI. Register here.
January 12: NYC Tech Poker: A series of friendly no-rake small-stakes Poker games hosted in the Lower East Side. Register here.
January 13: Tech HR Meet-up, where you can learn how to build an HR function capable of supporting explosive business growth. Register here.
January 13: NRF Networking Breakfast, a curated networking breakfast bringing together senior leaders across retail and consumer brands. Register here.
January 13: Community Board Mixer + Abundance Happy Hour, for prospective Abundance NY Community Board members to connect with current members and learn more about board service. Register here.
January 13: Couture & Code 3.0: The Official NRF After-Conference Mixer, bringing together innovators, founders, executives, creators, technologists, and industry shapers for an evening of collaboration and culture. Register here.
January 14: Tech Ladies × Resident Company Club: NYC Coworking Day, a relaxed coworking day designed to help you get things done and meet other thoughtful, ambitious women in tech. Register here.
January 15: StartupExperts New Year Coffee Meetup, a casual, open space for operators (HR, finance, and operations) to swap insights, talk through challenges, and find ways to help one another. Register here.
January 16: The Age of Extraction: In Conversation with Tim Wu and Bradley Tusk, a discussion on Tim Wu’s latest book, The Age of Extraction: How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity, a timely exploration of platform power and the fight for economic balance in the digital age. Register here.
January 18: Capital & Crayons, Kids in Venture Playdate, bringing together the next generation of thinkers and their parents from the venture community. Register here.
January 20: Greenpoint <> Williamsburg Tech Happy Hour, a festive evening in the heart of Brooklyn’s creative and tech-forward hub. Register here.
January 21: Building a Personal Brand in the Age of AI, where you can learn how AI can help you create content faster, understand your audience better, and stay authentic while standing out. Register here.
January 22: Capital Conversations: Women Who Lead, an intimate fireside chat featuring Nami Baral, Co-Founder & CEO of Niural, and Alexa von Tobel, Founder & Managing Partner at Inspired Capital, and Alison Moore, CEO of Chief. Register here.
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